Deadpool or, as it was affectionately know in my circle of friends, Pleasedontsuck- pleasedontsuckpleasedontsuck. We’d been looking forward to this film ever since it was announced, but at the same time dreading it. After what Fox did to him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, can you blame us? But thanks to Days of Future Past retconning that film out of existence, Deadpool was given a second chance. After the trailer premiered at San Diego Comic Con with footage that looked like the famous leaked test footage plus more, people went nuts. Everyone was excited as hell for this movie and every trailer just made it seem better and better. The marketing for this thing was phenomenal. Finally, February 12th came and me and all my friends, single or otherwise, went to spend their Valentine’s Day weekend with violence, swearing, and fourth wall jokes. ….It was the best Valentine’s weekend I’ve had in a long time.

Background: I had just started reading Deadpool comics at the time of the film’s release and I love them. I still read his latest comics, including his team up with Spider Man. By the way, read Deadpool comics. It’s like a rule in comics: anyone can come back to life except Uncle Ben and Deadpool doesn’t suck.

Wade Wilson, played by Ryan Reynolds, a mercenary with a penchant for never shutting up, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. A shady government organization claim they can cure him and make him better than ever, a superhero, and he takes them up on their offer, leaving his girlfriend Vanessa, played by Morena Baccarin, behind. After being subjected to countless torture by Ajax, played by Ed Skrein, that leaves him with an advanced regenerative ability, but also horribly scarred, ugly, and completely insane (AKA he knows he’s a movie/ comic book character), Wade takes on the name Deadpool to hunt down Ajax to get a cure and reunite with Vanessa. Also Colossus is in this movie.

This is easily one of the best adapted comic movies I’ve probably ever seen. It’s an origin story, but one that’s made to look good. Deadpool looks exactly like he does in the comics, at least with the mask on. Without it…he’s described as looking Freddy Krueger like, but worse, but he’s more so in the comics. He still looks pretty good though. He acts just like him too. He breaks the fourth wall, he’s crass, he flirts with both guys and girls…kinda. They did change a few things. No mention is made of being given Wolverine’s healing factor, Vanessa’s not a shapeshifting mutant, at least not yet, and Ajax appears to be replacing Dr. Killebrew. However, these changes make sense in a solo Deadpool movie with minimum reference to whatever’s going on in the movies…also “McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines are so confusing.”

Ryan Reynold has been pushing for a better version of Deadpool since BEFORE Origins: Wolverine came out. He’s been reported as hating the portrayal and apparently was replaced part way through due to it. Well, he finally got his wish. Reynolds is a fantastic Deadpool. He plays the Merc with a Mouth perfectly, he’s funny, emotional, snarky, it’s just a great performance. He’s so great he made my mom like the movie…yeah. Also I think my mom’s been replaced by a Skrull. SEND HELP!

All the other characters did great jobs as well, stand outs are, of course, the two X-Men Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, which is the greatest name ever! I don’t read X-Men comics, but this is apparently the best adaptation of Colossus yet. Negasonic’s powers are completely different than in the comics, but considering she’s apparently dead and a relatively minor character not many people know about anyway, I think it’s fine. Her new power is amazing.

It’s probably important to point out that this is the director Tim Miller’s first director job. What a way to start! I’m not sure why FOX decided to go with a first time director but I assume the reason was they were taking a risk with Deadpool and gave it a new director expecting it to fail. I presume they were later asked how their foot tasted. For a first time job, and one that broke the record for directorial debut opening weekend gross, among other records, this is astonishing. His only other film will be Deadpool 2…oh yes. That’s happening next year. And they’ll have Cable…Wiki him.

I do question Miller’s want to team Deadpool up with Spider Man only due to the fact that the current Spider Man is like fifteen while Deadpool is a grown ass adult. Also, as a side note, I’d like to point out that at this point and time in the comics, Deadpool’s currently an Avenger…but then again, there’s like three or four different Avengers teams so it’s not that hard. …Nothing to do with the movie I just thought I’d point this out.

As a final thought, I’d like to point out something that happened during the lead up to its release and when it finally came out. Many mothers were asking for a PG-13 cut of this R rated movie so that their kids could go see it. Fans were quick to point out that Deadpool’s comics were filled with blood, swearing, and sex, much like the movie. Making a PG-13 cut of Deadpool wouldn’t be Deadpool. It’d be Ninja Spider-Man. This, apparently, didn’t stop parents from taking their young kids to go see it. My friends reported babies and little kids in the theatre watching the film and being repulsed that their parents would take them to see an R rated film. We’re actually hoping that for Deadpool 2, they’ll stop the film during the opening credits, Emperor’s New Groove style, for Deadpool to come out and chastise parents for taking their kids to see it when they knew it was an R rated film. Parents, don’t show this to your kids. Not unless you want to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions.

Deadpool is one of the best non-Marvel Studios made superhero movies I’ve seen in a long time. The trailers and hype do not lie. This is a great movie. Go buy it, just leave the kids with Grandma.

(Photo via 20th Century FOX)