The reason i got so excited about the release of the film Deadpool is because, I personally believe, they could not have selected a more perfect match for the role than Ryan Reynolds, and Here’s why.
This wasn’t Reynold’s first superhero Movie of course. He’s starred in the quite tragic ‘Green Lantern’ which, if i’m honest, I don’t think any actor could have saved. It’s just a weird concept and you spend half your time watching it thinking ‘well they’re making this more complicated than it needs to be just to fill out a story-line’ so I won’t talk anymore about Green Lantern and hopefully no-one else in the world ever will.
Reynold’s has also already starred as Deadpool in a previous movie ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ of course. This is where we got to see just how well these two characters fit together. If any-one has read Deadpool’s adventures in Marvel comics before then they’ll know that this superhero is mouthy, quirky and very comedic. His jokes are unashamedly inappropriate and laughably stupid, far more so than most other superhero’s.
People have drawn comparions between Spider-man and Deadpool in the past and you can easily see why. Deadpool is basically an R rated version of Peter Parker, throwing arrogant jokes around as he plays around with the film’s minor, unnamed villains. They both share a vulnerability to helping people and then of course they both wear masks (genius comparison point i know).
However, Deadpool’s special difference comes from the fact that he basically cannot die due to a curse placed on him by some guy called Thanos. To give you a small idea of what Deadpool is like, in one of the Marvel comics he’s sitting on a swing with a little girl. The little girl does the ‘look i can separate my thumb in two’ trick for him and he replies by actually cutting off his thumb to do the same trick, Deadpool style. The little girl, by the way, does not seem overly bothered at what she just witnessed.
Anyway, why do I think Reynold’s is the perfect Deadpool? Ryan Reynold’s once starred in a movie called Van Wilder in 2002, where he was the movie’s main protagonist. Just to give you a quick intro to the film, Reynold’s character is a college student who does everything he can to stay in college and never leave. He is insanely popular and considered a God around his campus (people even queue up to apply to be his personal assistant at one point in the film).
In this movie we see Reynold’s style of comedy. He has a very unique way of being where he drifts off into his mind mid-sentence when he’s talking to some-one, almost like JD in the TV show ‘Scrubs’. Appearing to speak more to himself than to whoever he is engaged in conversation with. However he appears to be doing it on purpose purely to mess with whoever he is speaking to or to play being a joker.
He has a very calm persona and showcases a great self-confidence. This kind of external self-dialogue and nonchalant behaviour is exactly what Deadpool is all about. Neither characters take anything seriously.
But the nonchalant attitude to life doesn’t translate into either of them acting like a football jock in an 80’s American film. Neither Reynolds nor Deadpool are averse to sounding ridiculous and/or flat out silly. They both have a layer of childishness to them which exhibits their human side and makes them so appealing. As you can imagine, this is especially attractive to Marvel fans.
It’s possibly Deadpool’s ability to not take himself too seriously which is what makes him one of the most popular superhero’s around. Which is actually quite some feat considering he is yet to have his own dedicated movie to project him to dizzying heights of mainstream worldwide recognition.
Being able to inject humour into a bad-ass superhero movie has generally been a recipe for success, as Spider-man found. However, you can’t just turn Superman into a stand-up comedian, the character has to be right and Deadpool is just that guy. The fact Ryan Reynold’s is a good-looking man has nothing to do with this selection for me, especially since I highly doubt you’d recognise him if he took off his mask in the Deadpool movie. It’s entirely about his like for like sense of humour with Deadpool. If you’re struggling to see the connection I highly recommend watching ‘Van Wilder’ (the 1st one, make very sure its the original!) and then I have no doubt you’ll see what i’m driving at.
Ryan Reynold’s may not be an actor of the same calibre of Daniel-Day Lewis or Tom Hardy in terms of intensity but he does what is required of him. His style of acting can make his films incredibly enjoyable to watch when he’s cast correctly and I believe Deadpool was one of those times.
