Image: 20th Century Fox

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, TJ Miller, Gina Carano

Directed by: Tim Miller

Rated R for graphic nudity, violence, adult language and sexuality

Release Date: February 12th, 2016

Over the past few years, the movie market has been saturated with superhero films. Both DC and Marvel are churning out all the reboots, remakes, and re-imaginings you could possibly think of. Hell, they’re even trotting out lesser-known heroes (Ant-Man, anyone?) for our viewing pleasure.  Since the box office receipts for these films have remained high, the studios are content to keep trotting them out ad nauseaum, and frankly, I’m pretty over it. They keep using the same tired tropes, over-doing the gratuitous violence, and either skimping on the plot or overloading you so much with backstory that you want to explode (see X-Men Origins: Wolverine). 

Deadpool takes all of these things and swiftly turns them on their collective heads. It is a film that dares to make fun of itself and breaks the fourth wall multiple times. Ryan Reynolds is brash and obnoxious, but he keeps you in stitches the entire time. He’s not your typical hero: hellbent on revenge, he serves up destruction and carnage quite frequently, even encouraging a cabbie to kill a romantic rival and leave his body on his beloved’s doorstep. Despite all this, he manages to remain sympathetic. Seriously, you just can’t help rooting for the guy.

While most Marvel movies are PG-13 fare, you should definitely leave your kids at home. Deadpool is rated R for a reason. Besides the obvious violence, there is some graphic nudity, adult language (including several references to masturbation), and an extended sex scene. This is an adult film, and you don’t want to be that parent who has to drag their traumatized child out of theatre after seeing Ryan Reynolds service himself while clutching his favorite stuffed unicorn.

I realise that I said very little about the movie’s plot, and that’s because I want you to experience Deadpool for yourself. While I certainly don’t think it’s going to win any Oscars, it will probably be one of the better performing films this year, and at least one of the more memorable. Of course, stay after the end credits are over for a special treat.

VERDICT: See it with someone you love. Preferably not a stuffed unicorn.