Deadpool is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I am looking forward to the movie. Some of my friends are less excited than I am and I feel that it could be an issue of not knowing the character. I wish to attempt to alleviate that by giving you some things to consider before judging the future Deadpool movie based on this trailer.
I recently read 4 Reasons I’m Not Celebrating The Deadpool Trailer (Link 1 at the bottom). Let me start off by saying I disliked this article. I do like Chris Eggertsen’s other articles, one of which being 7 Ways To Build A Better Nightmare On Elm Street Remake (Link 2 at the bottom). The author is good, I just disagree with his takes on the Deadpool trailer. I think it stems from either this not being his type of movie or he lacks understanding of the character. He made some points I want to address individually.
- The jokes aren’t funny
Deadpool isn’t really supposed to be funny. His character isn’t a comedian. He’s annoying to the other characters which makes him funny to the viewer/reader in context. The example used here is the less angry Rosie O’Donnell line about Gina Carano.
- That’s funny.
- It may be a mad lib joke but every joke is like that when you boil it down to the basic elements. Take your expectation and change it absurdly. That’s what a joke is.
III. You may not find it funny but that doesn’t make bad. I think relationship humor is terrible but that doesn’t make it inherently bad.
Four. If you look at their jaw lines they do kind of look alike. Compare young Rosie and Gina now. Remove the nose and it’s there.
Humor is totally subjective and making big statements like that leaves you open retorts.
- It glorifies brutal violence in uncomfortable ways
Deadpool is a ripoff of Deathstroke The Terminator from the DC universe. There is no ambiguity here. Deathstroke, for those who don’t know, is basically evil Captain America with guns. He’s normally a villain for hire but occasionally an anti-hero when the story calls for it. Deadpool, being an extreme parody of Deathstroke, is obviously going to be super violent since Deathstroke is pretty brutal as well. I feel like this complaint stems from a lack of understanding of the character’s appeal.
Deadpool’s target audience was teenagers in the late 90’s. We are in our 30’s now but we are still fans of that type of humor. Immature jokes and super violent action is Deadpool’s whole shtick. If you don’t like it, it’s just not for you and that’s OK too.
If it makes you uncomfortable, then it isn’t for you. Nothing wrong with that and I understand why you wouldn’t be celebrating that.
- Deadpool’s shtick feels like it may work better in small doses
I have no qualms with this opinion. Some people are easily annoyed by Deadpool and this makes a lot of sense. I know tons of comic fans that just plain don’t like Deadpool and I don’t blame them for that. My whole point is to give it a chance, if you’ve given it a chance and don’t like it then it just isn’t meant to be. I don’t think there is going to be a shortage of comic book movie/TV shows on the way anyway. There is bound to be something for everyone.
- The girlfriend/wife/fiancée subplot feels awkwardly paired with the trailer’s savagely violent, jokey latter half
He can’t be batshit crazy the whole movie, it needs to show something happens to him to make him that way. Being an origin story showing that he was a fairly normal guy that has been put through the wringer makes him much more realistic than a character that starts off as a goof-ball loner and becomes a goof-ball loner with powers.
One of the mainstays with Deadpool was a combination of silliness with sad very ‘right in the feels’ endings of the stories. It wasn’t without drama but it gave you enough silly violence that it made that drama more palatable.
That’s enough nitpicking for one day. I want to make some suggestions if you are curious about Deadpool. First watch this video from from ComicsExplained on YouTube. If you are interested after that video read the 1997 Deadpool run to really get the feel for him. It had some ups and downs and it’s really well written. I know there are ways of getting this so my suggestion is to get your hands on it and give it a read. It’s potentially the source material for the movie and it’s really well done.
My main point: Don’t judge a movie based on the trailer. Look how bad the original Star Wars trailer was and that movie was pretty great. Deadpool is supposed to be crass and juvenile, that’s the target audience. If you want a thinking man’s comic book movie just watch Cap 2 again.
Link 1: http://www.hitfix.com/news/4-reasons-im-not-celebrating-the-deadpool-trailer
Link 2: http://www.hitfix.com/news/7-ways-to-build-a-better-nightmare-on-elm-street-remake
