I saw Deadpool today in a weekday afternoon matinée. Beside myself and my other unemployed friend, there were about three other people in the theatre. I’ve said it before and I’ll write it again, the empty midweek afternoon matinée is one of the best benefits of not getting a paycheque.
The movie is fantastic and I enjoyed myself immensely. I know the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies try to be humorous but Deadpool is on another level of funny. As the title character is allowed to break the fourth wall, the jokes that are made at the expense of other Marvel characters and indeed real-life actors, really made the movie for me. It also earned its R-rating, though it was technically 14A in British Columbia. The violence wasn’t necessarily gratuitous but it was necessary to tell this particular story.
I also enjoyed it for its many layers of local flavour. The movie was shot in Vancouver and I was delighted to see many parts of the city that I frequently hang out in, namely the Georgia viaduct, Chinatown, and the No. 5 Orange strip club. There was also a huge shout out to Regina, Saskatchewan where apparently Wade Wilson hails from. That makes two huge Fox characters Canadian, the other one being Wolverine. Last but not least, Ryan Reynolds was born and raised in Vancouver, so for him to come home to shoot this movie that meant so much to him was great. You can almost see his happiness come off the screen. Reynolds and I are almost the same age, so many of the 80s and 90s pop culture references he put into the movie really resonated with me. From the Juice Newton song in the title sequence to the obscure Bernadette Peters reference later on, it hit the right notes for me.
Deadpool is definitely not a film for everyone but for this kid, it was awesome.