Deadpool Movie Review

My Little Deadpool Movie Review

Deadpool is one of those comic book characters that just doesn’t seem to fit in the cinematic universe that Marvel has been building. He’s vulgar, hilarious, violent with the joy of a kitten playing with string, and he knows that he is a comic book character. If Marvel had tried to take Deadpool and make a movie with the same sort of tone it has used thus far, it would have been a catastrophic failure.

But lucky for us, the Deadpool movie is a completely different sort of chimichanga. Here is my review.

First, The Story

Let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat. If you go into Deadpool looking for a compelling story full of twists, turns, and an ending to rival A Walk to Remember *ahem* The Dark Knight, you’re going to be disappointed.

On its most barebones level, the origin story of this incarnation of the merc with the mouth is nothing extraordinary. Take your generic superhero origin story, change up the names, and you have something fairly akin to what you receive here. But that doesn’t matter. I didn’t show up expecting Shakespeare, and if you’re at all familiar with the character, I doubt you did either.

Fourth Wall SMASH!

From the opening credits, you know what sort of movie you’re in for. Without going into any spoilers, let me just say that within thirty seconds, the filmmakers had set a tone that was strong, unapologetic, and undoubtedly in keeping with the history of Deadpool.

Not only do they break the fourth wall every few moments, there are moments when they do it with such alacrity and just pure joy that you can’t help but smile. There is one sequence in particular, you’ll know it when you see it, that they take the concept of breaking the fourth wall, smash it into bits, blow it up, stomp on it a few times, and then shoot it into space.

I may be exaggerating. But then, maybe I’m not.

What About The Characters?

When the first Wolverine movie hit the theatres, I remember people being excited when it was revealed that Ryan Reynolds would be playing Deadpool in that movie. The level of snark and I-don’t-care-I’m-just-going-to-say-what-I-want that we are used to from the comics seemed right in line with Ryan Reynolds’s comedic style.

But we all know how that turned out.

Just rest assured that this time, what we get matches up with those early expectations. Ryan Reynolds is pitch-perfect as Deadpool, and you could feel with every line just how much fun he was having. This is one of those cases when the actor seems to have been genetically-engineered to play a particular character. Like Robert Downey Jr with Tony Stark. Or Judi Dench with… everything.

Seriously, have you seen Judi Dench act? Amazing stuff. Too bad she’s not in this movie. That would have been amazing.

We also have Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, the love interest whose subplot drives much of the film. While we may be used to her playing elegant, dignified characters a la Inara from Firefly.

Hoo boy, does she not do that here.

Not that she doesn’t do a great job or portray a likeable character. Vanessa may be a ball of crazy, but she’s an adorable ball of crazy, and it’s obvious why our titular character loves her so much.

But what I like most about her performance is that she isn’t just the damsel in distress or the woman waiting at home for her man to come back to her. No, this is a character with some agency. And yes, while she may or may not get kidnapped at one point in the film, she is no wilting flower. This is a woman who knows what she wants and fights for it. I just wish more female characters in media could be portrayed in such a way.

I don’t have much to say about the villain. Sure, he was a bit generic, but the movie does a great job of making you hate him almost as soon as he appears on the screen. Nothing compelling, but plenty enough to give you something to root against.

And, of course, there are all manner of minor characters. Colossus, the straight man. Negasonic Teenage Warhead (cool name) as the moody teen. TJ Miller in what for him is actually a somewhat low-key performance, but still solid. Even Blind Al, Deadpool’s roommate. All these characters add to the whole in a way that keeps things interesting and provides plenty of opportunities for that classic Deadpool snark to show itself.

And The Spectacle

From start to finish, the Deadpool movie is a joy to behold, a symphony of vulgarity and violence such has never graced a comic book movie before.

Sure, there is quite a bit of CG, and some of that CG varies in terms of quality, but I think that’s part of the charm. You’re never meant to believe that what you are seeing is real. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that separation seems appropriate for a movie about someone who knows that he’s in a movie.

Oh, And One More Thing

Whatever you do, make sure you stay until the end of the credits. There is a post-credits sequence that may be my single favorite in the history of movies.

Stay and watch it. You won’t be disappointed, especially if you’re in the demographic that the movie aims for.

And if you don’t get it, I’m sorry. You missed one hell of a reference.

Well, I guess that’s all I have to say about the Deadpool movie. I know this is a movie review, but I don’t think I’m going to give it a star rating. I enjoyed the beans out of it, and it made me forget for two hours just how sick I was at the time, but your mileage may vary.

But I would never even think to allow anyone under 18 to see this movie. No way.

If you are a fan of the character at all, if you like heaps of sarcasm served up with a mountain of comedy and drenched with extreme violence, or if you want to see the comic book movie formula blown up, you’re in for a great time.

So, have you seen the movie yet? If so, let me know what you thought about it in the comments below. If you haven’t, what is your favorite comic book movie and why?

That’s all from me. Full steam ahead!

Photo Credit

A Rad Time At The Con: RadCon 2016 Recap

Like many of you, I’m something of an introvert. Public speaking makes me wish I were a turtle so I could hide in my shell (or fight crime, if I were the ninja variety), and I don’t like crowds, so the idea of attending a science fiction and fantasy convention presented a certain measure of dread. This was compounded by the fact that J and I were attending as active members of the Central Washington Authors Guild (and me as the reluctant shepherd of this particular group of authorcats). So, it was with a mountain of apprehension and a belly full of nerves that we set out across the central Washington desert in search of the raddest (not to mention most radioactive, hence the name) of cons, RadCon 7.

Now, safely back within the confines of my fortress of solitude, I would like to take a few minutes and ruminate about the events of the past weekend. The good, the bad, the indifferent, and the cosplay.

We arrived on Thursday night, ahead of the actual con, in order to be on-site when our author group assembled early Friday morning to build our little bookstore. The convention hotel was built in another time, and we could feel the weight of those years as we shuffled down the corridor, laden with luggage. The ancient elevator chugged and strained to raise us to the third floor, and the scent of burning wire and electricity raised a few hairs by the time the doors opened, but we reached our destination without too much incident.

The next morning, that elevator, the only semi-functional one in the hotel as far as I knew, coughed its last and was thus festooned with miles of caution tape to ward away any convention-goers in search of modern conveyance. Since our last trip down that elevator that morning involved a brief drop followed by a more leisurely descent to the ground floor, we felt that perhaps the stairs were the much safer option. Still, for a gentleman of such significant proportions as myself, that presented an entirely different set of challenges.

Still, the weekend was filled with far more than back pain and falling death-traps. We attended a variety of panels featuring artists, authors, and podcasters (including Scott C. Brown and Andy Dopieralski of Dead Gentlemen and Two Bards in a particularly funny panel about getting started as a podcaster). We ate some excellent Chinese-American food from a local restaurant (whose delivery man was intensely confused by all the cosplay when he arrived) that was nearly as good the second day. But the highlight of the weekend was attending a talk hosted by Toby Froud that included a screening of his short film Lessons Learned.

You may remember Toby as the baby from the brilliant Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, which featured both David and his Bowie. Since those long-ago days, Toby has grown into a charming young man (gin and pickles, did I just say that?) and an excellent artist in the vein of his parents, both of whom were highly influential during those early days of the Jim Henson Company. He demonstrated how muppet-style puppeteering works and showed off a pair of puppets he used during the production of his film. It was a great time, and everyone seemed to have fun. Frances Pauli, in particular, nearly fangirled herself to death when she actually got to play with one of those puppets.

But despite all the great panels, fascinating guest speakers, and cosplay in all shades of kawaii to terrifying, our group was there to work, sell books, and make contacts with local authors. For weeks, I have been thrashing from one bundle of stress to another in trying to prepare for setting up and running the Radcon bookstore. Looking back at it now, most of that worry was completely unfounded.

The store we set up looked great, and there was very little drama in either the setup or execution. While we did not make up the cost of the room in overall sales, it was by far our best sales year since we began attending, and everyone in the group sold at least one book. I have to admit a little thrill when a sweet lady bought a copy of My Name Is Michael Bishop and asked me to sign it after J pointed out that I was the author. I’m still really proud of that book. Maybe I should write another.

Somehow, I managed to get through the weekend without spending myself into oblivion. Other than food expenses, the only trinket I purchased during my stay was a pose-able rubber dragon that looked very much like one of the characters in an upcoming story.

Needless to say, the final return to our single-story home was such an immense relief that I celebrated with fourteen hours of sleep. Of course, now I’m awake and struggling to return to the normalcy of Life Before the Con. While it may have the benefits of effective air conditioning and a decided lack of stairs to climb, it is certainly less colorful and runs at a far slower pace.

Bring on RadCon 2017.

We Are Go For Launch!

After several revisions, a bucket of elbow grease, and a particularly difficult delve into the dungeon of design, the new and improved TRGoodman.net is finally ready for prime time. I’m quite happy with how it turned out, and I hope to fill it with all sorts of interesting and entertaining content, from flash fiction to musings on the true meaning of peanut butter to all the new books and stories I hope to release.

So, what do you think of the new design compared to the old one? Better? Worse? Is there anything you’re looking forward to seeing on these pages in the future? Let me know in the comments below.