‘Deadpool’ is dynamite, superhero story, but for adults only
Not another one. That might be the lackluster greeting for “Deadpool,” the latest in a flood of comic book adaptations super-powering their way onto screens large and small.
But the raunchy Rrated comedy with an ever-game Ryan Reynolds as Marvel’s irreverent mercenary is an- other showpiece in Marvel’s impressive gallery of adult- oriented films and series that includes Netflix’s riveting “Jessica Jones” and the intense “Daredevil.”
But first, a word of advice to parents: This is not suitable material for kids.
The reason “Deadpool” is dynamite is because everyone is in on the joke: Deadpool — known for his notoriously profane blabbermouth, katana swords and flip attitude — ribs and riffs off the superhero template.
He breaks through that so- called fourth wall, talking directly into the camera, and more often than not, it works.
His jokester attitude fuels the film from its harried start to its blockbuster finale, with a post- credit scene worth sticking around for.
Establishing and then sustaining such a shoot-from-the-hip tone isn’t easy.
But in his featurelength directorial debut, Tim Miller deftly handles the mayhem and loo- piness dreamed up in a quirky screenplay from “Zombieland’s” Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Only now and then does the humor seem forced.
While “Deadpool” heralds the arrival of a talented new director, its success belongs to Reynolds, who also served as a producer.
He is hilarious and sexy as Wade Wilson, a former Special Forces tough guy who takes on freelance gigs like scaring a pizza delivery boy who’s harassing a young woman.
Wade’s world is upended when he learns he has terminal cancer. Shattered by the diagnosis, he accepts the evil Ajax’s (Ed Skrein) dubi- ous offer of a cure by receiving super powers that will enable him to heal.
But transforming Wade into Deadpool is no act of altruism; the result of the torture he endures to get there is hellish and leaves Wade so heavily scarred, he has to wear a costume to hide his cringe-inducing face.
What’s most surprising about “Deadpool” isn’t that it takes jabs at nearly everyone, including the studio that produced it, but the sweet and sultry romance that develops between Wade and a prostitute, Vanessa Carlysle ( Morena Baccarin of Showtime’s “Homeland”). The two have great chemistry, and a hot sex scene montage — which is both playful and revealing — is one of the film’s more clever sequences.
Baccarin is a feisty presence and deserves notice for her performance here. Leslie Ug- gams summons up some good laughs as Deadpool’s blind roommate while T. J. Miller (HBO’s “Silicon Valley”) brings a slyness to his barkeep at Sister Margaret’s Home for Wayward Girls -the watering hole where Wade hangs out with other toughies.
Also getting into the zany spirit are Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Ajax’s formidable heavy, and the two-person team of CGI- created X-Men mutant Colossus and his sort- of sidekick Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand).
While their contributions give the film some fizz, it’s Reynold who pops the bubbly.
His record in superhero movies may be spotty ( let’s try to forget his Hal Jordan in the boring “Green Lantern”), but he gives his all here for a character he first portrayed in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
That one, too, was a dog but did find Reynolds achieving the unimaginable — stealing a film from the talons of its magnetic lead, Hugh Jackman.
In “Deadpool,” he owns the screen.