Here at GeekDad, we try to keep things on the PG or PG-13 side; but let’s be honest: your kids are going to be campaigning hard to see (the R-rated) Deadpool when it drops. For those of you wondering who Deadpool is, here’s a taste of what he has to offer (it’s OK, your older kids can probably watch this one over your shoulder):
Funny, violent, and just a little bit meta, right? The Deadpool trailer ticks off all the right (little yellow) boxes (though it’s a shame the meta-awareness of ‘Pool knowing he’s part of a fictional construct seems to only be used for marketing so far). The trailer revisits the original test footage that got leaked and made the Deadpool movie a reality, and adds a ton more. We get Blind Al, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Colossus (in his best look yet) all dropping in. We get backstory and pop-culture wisecracks. We get what’s probably going to be the best Marvel movie from 20th Century Fox since the original X-Men (and this looks to be better than that by a long shot…not that Longshot).
So there’s no problem, right? It’s a superhero movie! There’s some violence and sass; but that’s expected. Give your kids a $20, drop them off at the multiplex and call it a day!
Weeeellllll…(make sure the kids vacate the premises for this one)
And that’s the Wade Wilson we know and love. Deadpool is going to be a bloody, foul-mouthed, morally-questionable patch of road (and I just noticed that the green-band trailer has Wade’s crayon drawing as the freeze-frame, while red-band gets actual gunplay, nice touch). This isn’t just a wise-cracking superhero story; this is the story of a man who was given the prophetic “great power” and ended up completely unhinged. Bad things are going to happen on a pretty-much constant basis and blood and f-bombs are going to be measured in buckets. For fans of the Deadpool comics, it’s going to be the movie we always wanted.
I don’t blame your kids for hitting you like a party piñata trying to convince you to see it. But this is going to be one of those movies that require a pretty solid judgement call. Just be ready for them to learn some fun new phrases!
No love affair with Death, no Meta Awareness, doesn’t even seem to have voices in his head.
I hold out hope they are just “playing it safe” with previews which will appeal to people who don’t know who Deadpool is yet, and saving the best parts for the true fans until they are actually in the theater.
Let’s not start this “true fan” business here. Slavishly recreating every bit of a property in every iteration isn’t sustainable. Characters change to fit the medium they’re expressed in. Would I love to see Little Yellow Boxes make an appearance? You bet I would. Do I think they’ll be able to do that in a studio movie that needs to make a few million in order to keep the character around for another movie? Nope.
The great thing about Deadpool is that there’s just *so much crazy*, it’s easy to find a tidbit to throw in. (I’d love a Rhino keychain cameo!)
So far, what I’ve seen from the trailers is that they’re getting the basic tone of the character right. Let them get the first movie under them, find an audience. THEN they can get nuts.