By Ian Bonham

Deadpool (15)

Starring : Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein

Director : Tim Miller

Writers : Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Screenplay), Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza (Character)

Duration : 1hour, 48 Minutes

Showing at Kings Bastion Leisure Cinemas to 24^th February

I've never had to start a review with a history lesson before, but I think the story of this one is so fascinating. It shows what can happen if fans get together using social media, proving to studios that there is an audience so they take the gamble on a financially high-risk movie. I've put a marker in if you want to scroll down quickly down to the actual 'review'...

Some movies have a complex route to the big screen, and Deadpool is one of those movies for various reasons. First of all, you need to know that Deadpool is a risky character for Fox/Marvel to bring to the cinema. Simply because in the comics, he is one of Marvel's most subversive, complex characters on their entire roster – and for that reason one of the most adored by fans, myself included!

Deadpool got his first cinematic outing in 2009 in the not so great “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, played by Ryan Reynolds. For some utterly inexplicable reason though, Fox decided to sort of re-invent the character to sanitise him slightly for the cinema, and the fans were utterly livid. I was one of those fans - a much loved character had been messed with so badly it was almost an insult to us.

Reynolds is also a huge Deadpool fan and felt really bad about how he had been forced to misrepresent the character on screen but at least he had his foot in the door. Discussions between Fox and Marvel lead to a script being developed for a solo Deadpool movie, where they gave him a proper origin story true to the character from the comics. It was going to be a MASSIVE risk though, as to be true to the character it would be at least 15 rated in the UK (R rated in the USA), which immediately cut the potential audience down. How many people aged over 15 would go and watch a comic book movie? Some test footage (called a 'sizzle reel') was shot to test with the studio execs so they could get a feel for what they might be funding....

Next in the story, along came “Green Lantern” in 2011 from Warner Brothers & DC Comics, and the lead character 'Hal Jordan' was played by the one and only Ryan Reynolds. This one tanked, badly. Critics hated it and the audiences queued up to avoid it. It cost around $200m to make, and to this day has only made back around $116m. Ryan Reynold's rising Hollywood star came crashing down to Earth, and Fox/Marvel quietly put the Deadpool script to the back of the filing cabinet...

It was well known in Hollywood that Deadpool was director Tim Miller's pet project however, and Ryan Reynolds was desperate to make it as he loves the character and wanted to atone for the appearance in Wolverine, doing the character justice, but after the disaster of 'Green Lantern' it seemed all roads were dead ends. Roll forward to 2014, and something unexpected happened. The test footage that had been shot in 2010 'somehow' leaks on to YouTube (to this day no one admits to who did that), and the fan response was utterly incredible. In this 12 minute piece we suddenly saw the Deadpool we knew and loved, Twitter was #FULL of demands for a full Deadpool movie. Fox/Marvel actually noticed this, and got the spreadsheets out. Less than five days after the leaked footage, director Tim Miller and star (and chief campaigner) Ryan Reynolds had a (small) budget and “Deadpool – The Movie” was announced.

====> Actual review starts here!!!

Here we are then. 2016 and Deadpool opened last night. I sat down in Leisure Cinemas and was actually quite nervous. I love the Deadpool comics, they are so subversive and different to anything else out there I was desperate that would translate to the big screen. So much could go wrong. Deadpool the character knows he is in a comic and often will stop a story to talk directly to the reader, how would that work on the screen? He is completely uninhibited, in language, sexuality, political correctness, and ways to kill people, I was SURE the studio would have toned things down a bit ruining our favourite “Merc with a Mouth” again. We could NEVER see true, proper Deadpool on a cinema screen? It's impossible! The studio would be insane to take that risk.

Crikey, was I wrong!

From the very beginning, “Deadpool” starts as it means to go on. Just read the titles! No one in it gets a name check, just a very sarcastic nod to their character stereotype. Even Stan Lee gets a gentle ribbing here. If by the end of the titles you are not giggling to yourself it's not the movie for you. This film takes the entire Comic-Book movie genre and turns it upside down; it knows every ingredient in the genre and subverts every single one. Even the overall story is a cheeky two fingers to the rest of the bunch, this time it's not “Save the World” just a very simple “Save the Girl” story. This is SO refreshing, it's not an epic battle for planet Earth, it's just a super powered guy with a grudge trying to save 'his girl'. No cities need to be destroyed; it's on so much of a smaller scale in that respect. Yes, there is collateral damage in the process (!), but not on the standard 'Epic' scale we are used to.

The story is very simple. Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a mercenary and he falls in love, sadly a year later he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. A shady organisation seeks him out and offers him a cure (using the weapon X program that created Wolverine), but of course this comes with a terrible cost. He then goes on a raging campaign of revenge in an attempt to get back the Love of his life. See? Simple!

Set in the same movie universe as the X-Men series of movies, we have additional characters joining him from the X-Men, but please be aware, this is NOT an X-Men movie for the kids!! Last week I was complaining about the filth in “Dirty Grandpa” being utterly crass, but argued that when that sort of humour is delivered properly by characters you can feel sympathetic to, it can work. This movie is a perfect example of that. The comic timing here is not just good - it's microsecond perfect.

Shockingly graphic in its violence, to a level it becomes cartoonish? Perfect!

Hugely rude language, that suits the situations the characters find themselves in? Spot on!

It drips sarcasm and constantly takes the mickey out of the Comic Book movie genre. Deadpool knows he is in a movie and constantly holds things up to have a chat with you, the viewer. He even takes time to have a go at Ryan Reynold's less successful movie outings.

Me and the people I watched it with were honestly aching when we left the cinema from laughing so hard, and although the people I went with did not really know the character before going in, we were making plans to go again this weekend. If you want a really, really good laugh I hugely recommend this one. It is a wonderful refreshing treat for me, when I was reaching Marvel Movie overload. It really is just so, so good on so many levels.

Just DO NOT take the kids....!!

P.S. Spot the Stan Lee cameo, and also, stay to the very end of the closing titles... ;)