‘Deadpool’ And The Rise Of Ultra-Violent Superhero Films
The long-awaited Deadpool movie trailer was recently released. It’s extremely violent. In that sense, the Deadpool movie is true to the comic books. It’s a very different take on the world of superheroes than anything the Avengers or X-Men films have been.
The only other films to compare with the breed of violent superhero Ryan Reynolds portrays in Deadpool are the Punisher-related movies that came out some time back. But the violence in the Deadpool trailer alone outdoes those movies. Some critics and fans have praised the trailer, while others have felt it extremely inappropriate.
HitFix commented on unsavory feelings after watching the Deadpool trailer.
“I get that Deadpool is supposed to be an unconventional, slightly devilish anti-hero, but there’s a big difference between depicting unsavory behavior and condoning it. This trailer condones it, and worse, makes the queasy intersection of gory violence and sexual fulfillment into a punchline.”
Fox has other Marvel films lined up. Fox’s Fantastic Four will be released Friday. Further X-Men related films are scheduled for release over the next two years. Deadpool is scheduled for a February 2016 release. What makes Deadpool different is the violence and profanity.
Deadpool will be the first recent movie adapted from comic books that isn’t a family film. But this isn’t the first time Deadpool has been on screen. He first appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in 2009. In that film, he was also portrayed by Ryan Reynolds.
Ryan Reynolds looks forward to this Deadpool being different from the one in the 2009 Wolverine film. He told Entertainment Weekly where he took the character.
“Deadpool appearing in Origins is not the Deadpool we are representing in this film, in any way shape or form.”
And when referring to what the specific differences are between this film and the superhero films coming out of Marvel Studios, he had this to say.
“I love that it’s dark and twisted and rated-R and nasty and you get to do all these things that these gigantic comic book properties can’t necessarily do.”
In between playing different takes on Marvel’s Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds played a DC superhero in 2011’s Green Lantern. He references that film in the Deadpool trailer, hinting that he was not happy at all at how it turned out. Green Lantern holds a 26 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ryan Reynolds is looking for this Deadpool film to be his first really successful superhero film. But Deadpool will be rated R, and so won’t have the benefit of the massive younger audience to prop it up financially like other recent superhero films.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
