'Deadpool' is less irreverent than self-congratulatory
鈥淒eadpool鈥� isn鈥檛 exactly dead in the water, but it鈥檚 strictly for Marvel聽Comics fans who like their characters sloshing in R-rated territory.聽Weirdly funny at best, it鈥檚 just exhaustingly weird most of the time.
Ryan Reynolds is Wade Wilson/Deadpool, a mercenary who is bioengineered by big bad guy Ajax (Ed Skrein) into a fighter incapable of聽dying. Whenever he is shot or maimed or de-limbed, Deadpool, costumed聽in red-and-black spandex to resemble a cut-rate Spider-Man, simply heals聽himself. He doesn鈥檛 like to call himself a superhero, but what else would聽you call him? Super-anti-hero, I guess.
Reynolds brings a lewd flippancy to the role, and director Tim Miller聽and his writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, have some fun at Marvel鈥檚聽expense. But this fun is a essentially a rebranding of the brand; it seems聽less irreverent than self-congratulatory. Grade:聽C+ (Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity.)
