Never too soon for Deadpool

As I'm waiting to see the whatever trailer is made for the Deadpool movie that will be out in 2011 I decided to see what tidbits might be out on the web. You might think its way to early to find anything, but then you wouldn't be a fan of the Merc with a Mouth.

I hope that the writers for the Deadpool movie remember that Ryan Reynold s if a fan of the comic book. Thus we should get to jump right in, forget about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and start blasting.

But if you have no idea who this character is, and why fans love him, here is a nice kiddie version of what he is like.



moving right along, here is a trailer for the 2011 movie



ok, so it's not a trailer. But it looked pretty cool. hopefully the real film will look at least as good.

By the way, here is what I believe IS the official look of the character.

Screw Wolverine, Deadpool lives!

If there is anything that is remotely satisfying about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it is the news that someone in Marvel had enough sense not to kill Deadpool. In fact he is so alive, that he will be getting his own movie.

Spoiler Alert
Now if you saw the movie, you know that Wolverine cut off the head of Deadpool. Given the fact that Deadpool has a skeleton laced with admantium (the same unbrakable metal in Wolverine) so it would be highly unlikely for such a thing to happen. Plus the fact that he is supposed to have a healing factor on crack and can regrow limbs in mere moments. But what may not be as well known is that there is a second bonus ending (besides the boring and useless Logan drinking in a bar in Japan) where Deadpool rises out of the rubble alive! Hey, it's not called a mutant healing factor for nothing.
Spoiler End

So this has allowed the Merc with a mouth to become the first spin-off of a spin-off movie that I am aware of. And this time, Ryan Reynolds will be returning to play Deadpool. (Yep, that was not him playing Weapon XI).

Reynolds had wanted to have a movie of this character since 2003. And if you watched the trailers you can understand why he is the man for the part.



Now how will this work out? Well if they get rid of all the crap from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and keep the hyper healing factor he is supposed to have it could work well. Especially since he has no true super powers.

Yes, for those that did not know, Wade Wilson is a normal person (minus the healing given to him by the Weapon X program). His moves and ability are just the rewards of a man that trains hard because he loves his work. Killing people and getting paid is a reward all it's own for this merc.

Will we get more of Reynolds providing near constant one-liners while slicing and dicing his way to the grocery store? Will we get him breaking the 4th wall to laugh with us on the jokes? (The 4th wall is a term which means that the characters in a book, comic book and/or movie don't know they are in the medium. To break it is like when Ferris Bueller spoke to the audience) Will the dark (really dark) humor that is the essence of the character come shining thru?

With all good luck, and a couple of writers that actually have read (maybe even understood?) the huge mass of history the characer has. I mean at the very least they can go to Wikipedia and learn more about Deadpool than any of the writers bothered to figure out in Wolverine.

Beyond making sure that Bret Ratner, David Ayer, and David Benioff have nothing to do with the Deadpoll movie, I think this could be a great film. It's all in the writing and director. Ryan Reynolds has already proven he can make the role work with aplomb.

Figure it will take 2 years for the movie to come out. Just enough time to make a really good movie. We can only hope.

Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

What can I say about one of the more anticipated movies of this summer season? I was disappointed.

Wolverine is a movie with several things going for it, but it just doesn't seem to take hold of any of them. Fans of the comic books will have various issues on top of those presented by the movie. Regular fans of the X-Men will feel short-changed. It's like the bonus scenes at the end of the movie, neither is worth the time you spend waiting to see them.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is indeed a well produced movie. There is CGI and explosions to fulfill the testosterone needs, and more than enough scenes of Hugh Jackman without a shirt off to pass the time of most who enjoy that. Jackman has worked out a lot for the film. The explosions happen almost every 15 minutes with fights mixed in between to keep everyone busy. There is even a loose bit of plot woven into the whole thing to keep your mind stimulated, a little.

But it just doesn't work. Here is a problem, we start the film proper with Logan and Creed part of a secret superhuman squad of assassins. This is after an introduction explaining that they had been part of every conflict and battle America had since the Civil War (Interesting to note that both Creed and Logan were in Blue). We are introduced to every member of the group as they do their thing against some ambiguous African warlord with a stash of diamonds. Then they are all gone, essentially.

Zero, has one scene where we get to see he is really fast and accurate at firing a gun, and about 45 seconds throughout the rest of the film. Blob gets the scene against the tank, and another in the boxing ring. Then he is gone. Wraith gets about 10 minutes, of which only 1/3 has him talking. But he does get to be in 3 locations before he is gone. And Wade Wilson - well other than his opening scene, nada. Hey Ryan Reynolds got paid a likely $200,000 plus for 5 minutes of screen time. I don't hold that against him. It's a great job and life if you can get it.

Suffice to say, everything in this movie is just thrown at you, then tossed away. You barely get enough time to understand who a character is and what they might be able to do, before they are gone. So you never really get to care. Except for Wolverine and Sabertooth. Which you either like or not from early on in the film.

Plus you are left with a lot of why in this movie. Why are some mutants killed, others held captive, and yet others frozen in block of ice. Why don't certain people, besides Wolverine, remember what happened in the subsequent movies this is a prequel of. Why does Wolverine lose his memory even though he heals from all injuries perfectly. Why doesn't Sabertooth use any of the past on Wolverine in the X-Men movies?

And on and on.

You don't get a lot of time to ponder any of these questions. The movie keeps the pace high enough that you never get enough time to consider these questions. But you are left with the feeling that nothing is resolved. And once the film ends it just hits you like a brick.

As much as I was looking forward to the film, it just never got to a point where I was satisfied. Especially my interest in the Wade Wilson/Deadpool character. As a fan of that comic book character I was left with a Tim Burton Batman movie introduction and end to the character.

Bottom line, Don't see this in the theater. It will be a nice DVD, especially if there is extra scenes that expand on the characters and what they can do and/or give more details about them.

Let's hope that the ret of this years crop of summer movies just get better from this point on.

Deadpool - a big question in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Now I know I used to read a lot of comic books back in my early years. Yes, I had a comic book collection of some 4,000 comics – I was a bit of a geek. So I am looking forward to a few aspects of the up-coming Wolverine movie that many will not be.

One of the things that I hope Marvel gets right is Deadpool. Who is he you might ask? Why the merc with a mouth. He is, in my opinion, one of the best characters ever to be created in the Marvel and DC universes.

Deadpool is not a mutant. He is not ancient, like Wolverine and Sabertooth. He is insane and is so gregarious as to have his speech considered a leathal weapon in some places. The man does not shut-up. And he is funny as hell. Imagine a comedian that wields a katana like a samurai, a M-16 like Rambo, a pulse rifle like Han Solo, and is as acrobatic as almost Spiderman – all about at the same time. Now make that guy a lunatic with a soft spot in his heart, and a willingness to do anything for the highest bidder. That’s Deadpool.

As you might imagine, the character has a lot of potential. I mean a character that will switch sides in the middle of a fight because he got a better offer, all the while cracking some of the best dark comedy jokes you might imagine, can do a lot for a film.

If the character is done right.

Ryan Reynolds will be playing this character. Obviously in his Thom Cruze incarnation if they use Reynold’s face (Deadpool is horrendously scarred from head to foot – which never heals though most any injury will). So I think that places him in solid footing to be a good part of the movie. Plus Reynold’s is Canadian, and Deadpool is a result of the Weapon X program that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton.

But the potential problems for this character, and the movie are numerous. The writing has to be spot on. Really bad jokes will kill his constant jabbering’s humor. He needs really cool action scenes to show off his fighting skill – and disregard for any injury (he has survived being shot in the head multiple times at the same time, disemboweled, torn limb from limb, crushed, irradiated, and a few other fun normally deadly acts).

Likely he will not get much screen time. Which is a shame. Also it’s likely that his whole history will be rewritten, just as many of the traditional and long-running characters of Marvel Universe are being re-done for this prequel of Wolverine.

I mean, how can you have a movie about Wolverine and not have his time in WWII and Captain America covered? And what does a young Cyclops or Storm have to do with anything? Plus Gambit??

So for the comic book geeks out there, I too hope that this movie gets done right. That they include the fact that Wolverine gets attacked by Sabertooth on his birthday every year for over a century, no matter where he is or what is going on. I hope that they delve into his involvement in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. I hope they discuss the fact he has worked as an operative for the U.S. for over a century – at times alongside Sabertooth (when he wants to be a good guy – or more to the point hates the other guys much more).

But back to Deadpool. If this gets done right, expect him to get his own movie. And that could really be something different. But we will soon see exactly what turns out right and wrong in the movie. [If you didn’t see the leaked version already, as I did not]