A little something special for Valentine’s Day.

What’s It About? After a shady scientist disfigures his face and kidnaps his girlfriend, smart-mouthed mercenary Wade Wilson – aka Deadpool – sets out to gleefully extract violent revenge.

STRAIGHT UP: Funny, raunchy, irreverent – the right movie for right now. 4/5

What I Liked

A fresh start – I think it’s worth sharing that, until today, I considered Wade Wilson to be the most overrated character in comics. More obnoxious than funny, and with an unbearable fanbase to boot, I’d wince every time he turned up in the pages of a book I had been enjoying. Perhaps the best thing I can say about this movie is that, after seeing it, I think there might be room in my clubhouse for Deadpool after all.

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool – This turned out to be a perfect casting decision, with Reynolds clearly loving every last bit of the role. Also perfect: the page-to-screen translation of the costume, which fully preserves the character’s iconic look.

This is how you quip – I got so many genuine laughs out of Deadpool’s assorted one-liners and commentary – a pleasant surprise! The comedy here puts most movies with the Marvel label to shame.

Clever cameos – I like the way that Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead work within the film as contrasting personalities to the protagonist – Colossus as the straight-laced good guy to Deadpool’s chaotic nature; and NTW acting cool but seeming immature, compared to Deadpool’s more genuine badassery. It’s hard not to think that there’s also some commentary about other superhero movies going on here…

Inspired musical choices – I loved the use of “Angel of the Morning” over the opening credits and “X Gon’ Give It to Ya” just before a major action scene.

The bookends – The opening credits end up being one of the film’s highlight gags, and the post-credits clip really takes the piss out of a trend that has probably overstayed its welcome.

What I Disliked

Zero-effort narrative – In terms of the movie’s actual plot, it’s the most generic origin-story, damsel-in-distress bullshit one could possibly imagine. It’s a shame the writers couldn’t deliver a more creative situation for Deadpool to turn upside-down.

A little too meta – The jokes about Green Lantern and not having any budget were funny the first time. By the fourth or fifth time, they were not.

CLOSING THOUGHT: I’ve noticed that a lot of the talk about “superhero fatigue” surrounding the most recent batch of Marvel films has been absent for this one. The fact is that there should be endless ways to tell a superhero story, enough so that nobody ever gets tired of them, and I think people are responding to Deadpool finally offering a distinct flavor different from the MCU’s cute-and-campy style, or DC’s dark-and-edgy one. That said, count me among those who are concerned about what other studios will do in response to this film’s success. Deadpool isn’t a good movie just because it’s rated R, and being rated R doesn’t automatically make it more “mature” than other superhero features, but I think we’re about to see a lot of knock-off competitors that bet on these delusions. For now, though, I think it’s good to appreciate what we’ve got here.