After many years of being stuck in the movie production limbo, Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller’s Deadpool is finally out, doing right by the character. Not only is the film extremely fun but it is also makes you care about the characters. With the impressive and ingenious marketing campaign that it has, Deadpool placed high expectations on itself, and it delivers.

Deadpool follows Wade Wilson, a mercenary that falls for a girl, who is ironically a stripper. However, he’s later diagnosed with cancer in most of his body and is contacted by a person who claims he can heal him, and do even more — give him abilities people usually don’t have. Left with no choice, he goes to a not so hygienic laboratory where he is painfully transformed into Deadpool. Nevertheless, being a superhero doesn’t come without shortcomings for him: he can regenerate faster than wolverine but his outside appearance is ‘haunting’ and there is one person who is to blame.

Ryan Reynolds grasps the very essence of the character and brings the Merc with the Mouth from the pages of the comicbook to the screen with an outstanding performance. Although he constantly tells sarcastic jokes and throws one-liners left and right, rarely is one not laughing when expected. Yet there’s more to him, a humane part that loves a certain girl and is willing to do anything to protect her.

Vanessa is the abovementioned love interest and is played by Morena Baccarin. She was perfectly casted for the role and is great at it. After playing a more or less uninteresting character in Homeland, the actress loses herself in the role and is the reason I appreciate the producers. Every so often nowadays, we get models to play the ‘hot’ roles and rarely do they turn out to be good so going with Morena was a great choice. Her character is not a Mary Sue and is definitely not a damsel in distress.

The two make an adorable couple and form a romance that is relatable and believable. Neither is perfect, but they are wonderful together and are the biggest standout of the film apart from the sense of humour. It’s a breath of fresh air for comicbook movies where romances don’t really work well.

The antagonist is Ajax (Ed Skrein) and he’s great in his role of the ‘British bad guy’. Considering he was the only enjoyable thing in the latest Transporter, Ed delivers a believable performance.

The plot seems a bit convoluted by the time the film finally chooses if it will continue to develop with flashbacks or continue with a linear narrative but by the end (almost) everything is crystal clear. For me, both worked ways of telling the story worked.

What appealed for me was the amount of actually funny lines and laughable jokes that are present. With most comedies lately we have things thrown in just for mere shock value that are just gross and extremely unfunny (looking at you Dirty Grandpa!).

Deadpool is an extremely violent film that goes all the way. It really shows the maing fault with PG-13 movies. Namely, the lack of blood; when the antihero shoots someone, there is actual blood. However mind-blowing may have the first 20 minutes been, I do find that some of the action is a tad too quick-cut, especially the sequence in the car.

For all the controversy around the sex and nudity about in this film, there is not too much of that. Sure, there is a sex-montage and a few strip club scenes but is nothing too excessive or gratuitous.

There was one thing I am not completely sold on. The ending is a bit generic and predictable, which is not that big of a deal when taking into account there are only so many ways you can have a final showdown. Yet, something remained unsolved that, if there were not going to be a sequel, it would have been disappointing. Fortunately, we can hope that everything will be resolved whenever the sequel comes out.

With opening credits so spectacular perfectly setting the tone of the movie, there is no denying this film is made with an abundant amount of love. The on screen and behind the camera talent does a fine job adaption one of the most popular antiheroes Marvel has. With tons of comedy, intriguing romance and phenomenal soundtrack, Deadpool is a genre-bending film that is so meta it is one extravagant piece of art.

This review was originally posted The Arts Lover.