Deadpool  movie (beware – here there be spoilers)

Oh Deadpool! What are we going to do with you? Well actually it wouldn’t matter at all- he’d just heal himself and then go right back to butt kicking.
Yes the reluctant red (kinda) hero has finally hit the big screen… do you hear the nerds scrambling back to the cinema for their second, possibly third, viewing?
In the latest of the ‘marvel adapted masterpieces,’ Deadpool has certainly broken to mould – and records- grossing in $284.5 million globally in just it’s opening weekend, easily covering its $58 million budget.

Ryan Reynolds starred as the title character in X-men origins, back in 2009. He liked the character so much he spent over a decade convincing Fox to make the film, but also said that it was to be made on his terms (with an R rating) to reflect the ‘true Deadpool’ instead of the more restricted version in the PG13 rated Origins, as with most of the superhero movies.
The plot is pretty predictable but great fun, from the opening credits, Reynolds slips into role easier than the spandex suit. Early on in the film you get a taste of what’s to come as the credits roll in over a super slow motion car crash all the while building anticipation of when you just know it will speed back up to a fantastic smash to open the film – which of course it does.
The fun thing about the plot is that it seems scattered slightly, just enough to keep your attention as Deadpools origin story is revealed. Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a mercenary with attitude who falls for the beautiful but feisty  Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin).

Told through a series of flashbacks, eventually catching up with real time, the couple are perfectly happy in life until their world is torn apart when Wade is told he has terminal cancer. Contacted by a strange source, he is promised not just to be cured but to be made better than an average human being… a ‘superhero.’ So in the darkness of the night, Reynolds flees his love only to find himself walking into a trap.

Wade undergoes a series of brutal tests performed by the real master behind the operation: Francis Freeman / Ajax (Ed Skrein). The treatment is designed to bring out the inner mutant lingering in his DNA, or kill him in the process.
Whilst undergoing the torture Wade is told that he is not being made into a superhero at all but more a super slave who will sold to the highest bidder as a weapon, to be used and controlled against their will. Wade is eventually reactive to one particularly draining torture tactic and transforms into his alter ego. He is now self- healing to the point he can even re-grow limbs but at a terrible price, his whole body is now scarred and burned almost beyond recognition. Ajax only laughs at his plight but tells Wade he is likely to be the only one able to reverse the treatment but won’t, simply because he doesn’t want to. In a daring escape the newly mutated Wade manages to get away from his captors and begins to track down Ajax hoping to be turned back so he can reunite himself with Vanessa. So the reluctant heroes journey begins.

Considering the trauma he’s been through Wades twisted sense of humour remains unchanged, serving as his own comic relief as well as his co-stars. The film also breaks the fourth wall on a regular basis which is faithfully true to the comics as well.

For those that are expecting a full blown old fashioned x-men movie, there may be some disappointments. Two of the -xmen do star for a majority of the movie; Stefan Kapicic as the voice of ‘Colossus’ and Brianna Hildebrand as ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead.’ When treated for the spinoff it is however – it’s perfectly acceptable and makes sense. And it is for those reasons that the film works. Deadpool is his own person. He’s out for his own gains and not necessarily for the good of mankind. He will think nothing of mowing down his victims in a blaze of glory (in a very un-superhero-like manner) yet despite this you just can’t help but love the ‘D’!

A sequel has already been confirmed and as the highest grossing x-men movie (spinoff or not) it will have a lot to live up to. Reynolds and fans alike are pumped for this and are eagerly anticipating what the heroes next bloodstained, sword wielding gun-toting adventure will be…