Dead And Lovin It

It's chimichanga time! Still reeling from that ending in Avenger: Infinity War? Then let Ryan Reynolds lighten the mood as the sweary, irreverent, irresponsible and totally self-aware Deadpool. But take note: Deadpool 2 may also be the end of the franchise. Say What?!

When the first Deadpool hit cinemas two years ago, star and producer Ryan Reynolds’ goal was to make a faithful-as-fudge adaptation of Marvel’s eponymous wise-cracking, potty-mouthed, hard-to-kill, horribly scarred, fourth-wall breaking, anti-heroic assassin, and not the half-assed abomination that turned up in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

“[That earlier version] was just wrong,” Reynolds said back in 2016 of Deadpool aka Wade Wilson’s calamitous live-action debut where his mouth is sewn shut and he doesn’t wear his signature red-and-black spandex suit. “I remember saying to the studio, ‘Guys, this is going to come back to haunt you and it’s probably gonna haunt me.’ It was nightmare if you were a Deadpool fan, and I’m a fan and it became my worst nightmare.”

Reynolds’ valiant efforts paid off handsomely: Deadpool opened to rave reviews (it scored 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and became the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history with US$738 million (S$993 mil) globally, excluding China, Hollywood largest foreign market, where it was banned for “violence, nudity and language”. (Deadpool made its belated premiere in China at last month’s Beijing International Film Festival.)

Oh, it gets better: Deadpool was the first superhero movie to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture in the ‘Comedy and Musical’ category, and Reynolds was in the running for Best Actor. FYI: They lost to La La Land and Ryan Gosling, respectively. (It’s the thought that counts, right?) So, cinematic sins atoned, mission accomplished. Next stop: Sequelville. And this brings us to Deadpool 2, opening this week.