Deadpool * * * *

This blog cost me nothing to set up and costs nothing to run. Not a cent. At that price I can afford to be flippant. Though some days I really do think about the film I have seen and try to write something serious. (Sorry if it doesn’t look that way but I really do).  

Anyway, today I saw $50 million dollars of flippancy - and it was pretty good! Actually with that sort of money invested in it Deadpool probably wasn’t being flippant at all. It just cleverly looked that way.

If you go to see Deadpool you might have a similar experience as myself.  I was cracking up with laughter during the opening credits.   A couple in the next row looked at me cautiously (didn’t bother me, I’m used to that).  But I don’t think they, or any other person in the cinema, was reading what was on the screen. If they had, the would be laughing too: it was very, very, funny - and a great start. (Perhaps not many people bother reading opening credits?)

Apparently Deadpool is taken from a comic book and is part of the X-men series, whatever that is.  I think it is all to do with a continuing franchise of comic books. (I’ve never been interested in comics). But it’s a really enjoyable film even when taken out of that context - at least, I had a good time.

It’s about a “superhero” called Deadpool. He is an ex special agent so he always was a bit tough. He slaps people around for a living when we first meet him.
Diagnosed with terminal cancer he agrees to an experiment that will supposedly save his life, not knowing that the private clinic is run by evil men who are more interested in making slaves than healthy people. He is turned into some kind of weird mutant, with super-hero skills and strength. His skin looks like he has third degree burns.  After escaping from the clinic by destroying it, he now seeks vengeance on those that made him look his way.

Where Deadpool works is the self-mocking way it tells its own story. There is nary a scene or a line which isn’t delivered without mirth and ironic humour and a flippant attitude. The writers wouldn't even let him be properly romantic with his Girlfriend.

It is visually spectacular: plenty of buildings blowing up, cars crashing and brutal punch ups for your viewing pleasure. It also has a lot of fun showing us that which we are due to see much later and then rewinding and catching up.

I normally wouldn't bother with a film based on a comic book, but I’d heard nothing but good things about this film and I have to concur, it’s a lot of fun; especially if you’re up for a bit of mindless entertainment - which you probably are, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading a blog of this caliber.