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The Anti-Superhero

If the Academy awarded an Oscar to a film for having the best opening credits, "Deadpool" would be a frontrunner for that prize. I won't give the reason why but the entire opening sets the tone for the movie, which is a brash entry into the Marvel world.

"Deadpool" was either going to go one of two ways. After an extensive, somewhat ingenious marketing campaign (Ryan Reynolds' red leather-clad anti-hero was seen every way you looked), the movie was either going to make good on its promise as a fun, hard R-rated action movie or it was going to flop entirely. It is my pleasure to report that "Deadpool" is a blast.

This is director Tim Miller's feature debut - he has two short films to his name - and what a way to introduce yourself to Hollywood. From the start, "Deadpool" is packed with action, propulsive and cheeky fun. We meet Deadpool (Reynolds), who is in the back of a cab waiting to arrive at where he thinks some bad guys will be. This simple bit, in particular, is hilarious. Look at any other superhero we've met. They fly, glide, teleport, etc., through the air and get where they need to be. Not Deadpool. He arrives via cab and his form of payment is a high five.

Things get bloody quick. After dismembering a few baddies, we get to learn about Deadpool and how he came to be. Before putting on the red suit, he was Wade, who was a Special Forces operative. He became a mercenary and was sent to scare people for others. After a long day of threats and intimidation, Wade would end up at a bar with others just like himself. T.J. Miller co-stars as the bartender, Weasel.

Wade meets a girl, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and falls in love. Their relationship is tested when he finds out he has terminal cancer. In an effort to cure himself, he takes part in an experiment helmed by Ajax (Ed Skrein). You can only guess how an experiment in an origin film goes.

That's the thing; "Deadpool" is very much an origin story. Rarely has a film taken such a familiar story pattern and turned it upside down and beat the daylights out of it. If you look at the "Avengers" roster, they have all had their origin story and follow the same beats. "Deadpool" does the same but is infused with such depraved, manic energy that it feels refreshingly new.

Reynolds has never been an actor I much appreciated until recently. Always playing the same Van Wilder ne'er-do-well, he recently changed my entire opinion in the criminally overlooked "The Voices" last year (He gives a performance that is more impressive than the majority of this year's Best Actor nominees, but I digress). "Deadpool" is his true turning point. He is finally a bona fide star, able to carry his own franchise.

"Deadpool" is a welcomed addition to the superhero genre. It clocks in under two hours and doesn't feel overstuffed like some of Marvel's latest outing (I'm looking directly at you, "Avengers: Age of Ultron"). The film uses its time well, delivering cheerfully gory violence and plenty of sarcastic humor.

If Miller, Reynolds and team failed to find the perfect balance between being meta and overtly obnoxious, "Deadpool" would have been a full-fledged disaster. Yes, Reynolds spends the entire movie winking at the camera - sometimes literally - but it all works. Sign me up for "Deadpool 2".