Deadpool is probably the best an R-rated Fox Deadpool movie could be, and that's meant as both overwhelming praise for the latest film in the X-Men canon and with a slice of lament that it doesn't ever really escape the rigid superhero formula the genre's studio staple status necessitates. Ryan Reynolds atones for Origins: Wolverine and then-some, bringing the fourth-wall breaking and irreverence that made the character iconic in the first place completely to the big screen and there's an edge here that few other superheroes have, thanks in no small part to that adult-oriented rating. But here's the kicker - the R didn't mean Tim Miller and Reynolds had complete freedom, more that they could follow the studio rulebook with a bit of gore. Deadpool places severe restrictions on itself due to being a big superhero blockbuster that cuts out the typical kid target audience and, while it'd be ridiculous to say the film should have dialled back all the violence (that was the highlight), in doing so for Fox the film is forced to reign itself in, not given the budget for a bigger scope and thus forced to pad out the Merc with a Mouth's antics with a generic origin-cum-damsel-in-distress plot. It's good fun, but not as ground-breaking as it wants to be.
