2. Deadpool
Why I Liked It: (Bill Bodkin) The knee-jerk reaction to why I liked this movie is “it’s funny.” But, a lot of Marvel movies are peppered with humor. Ask our film editor Dan Cohen, he can go on for days about he hates the humor of Marvel Cinematic Universe films. However, Deadpool is able to deftly blend humor, and harrow, moronic behavior and just gut-ripping sequences. This is why Deadpool isn’t good — it’s great.
Ryan Reynolds is a damn quip machine in this film, but the character makes no bones about how much suffering he’s going through. We see Wade Wilson get tortured both physically and emotionally throughout the film, and he readily admits that humor is masking his pain. So now there’s a bit of a sting of sadness to his jokes. They’re funny as hell, but the pain behind it is real and palpable.
The skewering of the comic book movie genre is kicked into high gear here, but never does it take a massive dump on the genre. It embraces the obvious awkwardness of everything — particularly how the film’s budget was tight and how there were only two X-Men in this film and nobody else. The breaking of the fourth wall is awesome, and only Ryan Reynolds could pull this off.
Oh, and let’s not forget this is a marvelously well-shot and well-directed film. Tim Miller, who is sadly not on board for the sequel, really works some visual gymnastics here. Go back and watch this film for the action and not the chuckles, and you’ll see what I mean.
Best Performance: Ryan Reynolds — because of course he is. He is this entire film. This is his baby. He is this character and he owns every second he’s onscreen. If he didn’t knock this out of the park, the entire film dies.
Best Scene: Ouch, that’s a tough one. Probably the sequence where he’s eviscerating bad guys and recognizes his old friend from Jacksonville. They talk about the guy’s wife’s cooking and bring back the TGI Friday’s joke. It’s a small scene but it encapsulates how great the film is.
Best Line: Stop it. There’s no way I can even pick one line out of a countless sea of pure gold.
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