This movie had smashed all box-office records after opening in the US, but Hoyts at Tweed City might have been gilding the lily just a tad by giving it fifteen sessions on the day of its debut in Oz. There were only five other punters in the cinema when I went, so the programmers’ greed obviously didn’t pay off, which, as a death-rider of blockbuster ‘events’, pleased me no end. Having said that, I have to confess that I enjoyed it immensely. Two hours of root canal dental work is usually preferable to sitting through any Marvel flick, but my initial trepidation at attending another slaughter-fest was eased when I saw that its principal writers were Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the pair who came up with the fabulously irreverent Zombieland (2009). You get an idea of the ironic tone that will prevail when the first big rumble (which comes even before the introductory credits are rolled) is accompanied by Dolly Parton singing Nine to Five. Russell (Julian Dennison, the kid from Hunt For The Wilderpeople) is a supernaturally gifted boy who needs to be protected from the bad guy, Cable (Josh Brolin). Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) takes him under his wing and mayhem ensues. What is different this time around is the movie’s self-awareness. It mocks itself and the genre constantly, while at the same time providing all the thrills and spills and CGI smash-ups that are expected of it. The joke wears thin from time to time, especially when Wade talks to camera about his actions and motives, with lines like ‘that’s just lazy writing’, but there are too many laugh-out-loud sequences to not enjoy the ratbagerry of it all – the parachute jump of the X-Force (Wade rejects X-Men as too gender specific) is hilarious and the scene in which Wade’s legs are growing back after he was torn apart by Leviathan had me in stitches. A dose of sentimentality and commentary on institutional paedophilia broaden the scope of what is a total hoot.
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