Deadpool takes the average superhero origin story and turns it into a raunchy, violent and inappropriate affair that should please fans of the source material. 

Deadpool is one of the most popular Marvel characters that most non-comic book readers do not know about. Nicknamed the ‘Merc with a Mouth,’ Deadpool is a wise-cracking, fourth wall breaking, violent anti-hero who is not only immortal, but a highly trained assassin.

In the first movie to feature Deadpool as a main character (the character made a brief, forgettable appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Deadpool follows Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a former mercenary, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. When he’s offered not only the chance of a cure but to also gain mutant powers, he takes the opportunity. The torturous procedure is effective, but has a tremendous cost as he is forced to hunt down the people responsible for making him the way he is.    

The film’s plot is told in non-linear fashion as it relies on flashbacks to tell most of its origin story. This tactic has been seen in countless other superhero movies, but Deadpool mostly gets away with it because of its fast-paced humor and the charm of Ryan Reynolds. 

The appeal of Deadpool is not in its plot, but rather its tone and style. It is well-known at this point that the film is a hard R, and it very much earns that rating. The humor is constant and incredibly consistent, meaning that there never seems to be a dip in quality throughout the film.

The best humor, however, is when the characters poke fun at themselves and the studio. The meta jokes are sometimes too quick to catch, and not all viewers will understand them, but for those who followed the production of the film and know how hard it was for this movie to get made, will appreciate it.

Along with the raunchy humor, the violence and action of Deadpool also leads to its hard R rating. The action is very impressive, especially coming from a first-time feature length director Tim Miller. The action never gets too out of control (except for maybe one moment in the climax), but the violence is over the top and adds to the film’s humor. 

The humor and action are certainly highlights of Deadpool, but the main highlight of the film is without a doubt Ryan Reynolds. The delivery of his lines in combination with his charm are something that seemingly only he could pull off. Deadpool says some nasty things and if they were delivered any other way than the way Reynolds delivers them, it could have been taken completely different and the film would have lost its playful tone.

Deadpool does something pretty miraculous; it’s able to hide a pretty straightforward superhero origin story inside a ridiculously inappropriate and entertaining action film. It’s a movie that seems to be immensely re-watchable with all of its quick references and fast paced humor. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re in for a different kind of superhero flick, then you should definitely take a ride with Deadpool.      

GRADE: B+