Okay, so my Deadpool review came right after seeing the movie, but I decided that I am going to also just talk about the movie, in a non-specifically Deadpool format.
Well, first off, I want to say that the ads are very confusing. There have been a lot of trailers and TV spots and lots of hype and it confuses. First, I saw one and it looks like the entire movie is going to be about him growing up, finishing with Weapon X, just based off of the teaser. Then there is one, where it looks like it is about Weapon X hunting him down for the entire movie. Well, basically, it is like this: Little James Howlett growing up, learning he has bone claws, accidentally killing his father, then running away before being joined by Sabretooth, who tells him that brothers (of which they are in this) have to do. Then, there is an amazing opening montage of Victor and James going through wars in history, fighting in them. At the end, Victor and James are tried and executed for killing a commanding officer. Stryker visits them to let them know he can help them out and get them out of there. They join Team X with Agent Zero, Blob, Bolt, Wade Wilson, and Kestrel. In Africa, they are looking for a chunk of metal, and end up almost killing innocent people, before James steps in and demands they stop. Then, 6 years later, James is enjoying life in the Canadian wilderness with Silver Fox, when people from Team X start dying. Sabretooth then kills Silver Fox, enraging Wolverine who goes after Sabretooth only to lose. Stryker tells James he can improve him, and make him be able to defeat Sabretooth. They go to a lab, where James becomes Weapon X, the tenth of a line of weapons, where they coat his skeleton with the metal that was found in Africa, adamantium. After implanting the metal, almost killing James, he overhears Stryker saying to erase his memories, which enrages him and he escapes. He finds a nice old couple, who let him stay with them, and then the husband gives Wolverine his jacket. After Agent Zero snipes both of the couple, Wolverine fights off some soldiers sent after him, eventually killing Agent Zero from the helicopter that was chasing him. He then visits Kestrel who is running a boxing ring/gym? where he is getting Blob back in shape. After fighting Blob, Wolverine learns of the island where Stryker and Sabretooth have been taking all the mutant kids, and that only one person, Remy LeBeau aka Gambit, has escaped, going back to New Orleans. Wolverine and Kestrel go to ask Gambit where the island is, and as Kestrel guards the back, Sabretooth shows up, killing him. Gambit sees Wolverine's dog tags, and thinking he is with Sabretooth and Stryker, knocks him through a wall. Outside, Wolverine takes on Sabretooth, being victorious this time, only being knocked away by Gambit, who Wolverine defeats. Then, Gambit takes Wolverine to the island, where he learns that Silver Fox is alive and that it was all to get him to agree to the bonding process. He leaves, but returns when Sabretooth threatens Silver Fox. They fight again and Wolverine wins again. Then, Wolverine and Silver Fox free all the mutants that had been taken by Stryker, including Cyclops and Emma Frost (who is Silver Fox's sister), and on their way to escape, run into Weapon XI, who is Wade Wilson with Baraka-style adamanitum blades, teleportation, healing and optic blasts. As Wolverine loses to Weapon XI, Silver Fox takes the kids another way, where they get help from a telepathic voice. Sabretooth then joins Wolverine in fighting Weapon XI, since they are brothers, and together, they are able to win. Then, Gambit shows up again, and Wolverine sends him to check on the kids. Wolverine runs into Stryker, who shoots him with adamantium bullets, which apparently cause memory loss so severe his healing factor doesn't recvoer it. Gambit discovers the kids have gotten to a helicopter that Charles Xavier has waiting, and runs back to help Wolverine, who now has forgotten his past.
Well, what was wrong? (Alliteration FTW) Okay, so Silver Fox and Emma Frost are sisters? What? That makes no sense. Oh, and Cyclops at the very least met Sabretooth earlier, but probably others also, and then he forgets? When does Sabretooth forget Wolverine, because in X-Men, he doesn't seem to know Logan. The magic adamantium bullet thing was pretty stupid also. I'd have loved to see him not knowing anything from the beginning as opposed to him knowing the entire movie and forgetting at the end. Oh, and they are brothers? Really? Oy. Oh, so Victor is upset about Logan leaving him with Team X after Team X started becoming more nasty and less humane. Sure, you can see Victor getting more violent over the course of the montage, and then he gets more violent when he tries to rape the girl, and sure, killing random innocents would have been bad, but, seeing as they are brothers, Logan should have tried to get help for him. As opposed to abandoning his brother after 100+ years, he should have instead tried to get Victor to leave with him, maybe try and take him to a therapist or something. I totally understand why Victor would be pissed. I am disappointed that the Blob was just a superstrong/invulnerable guy as opposed to a guy who can make himself attached to the ground, who also happens to be really strong and invulnerable, also due to his body and bulk. Agent Zero? Okay, so Maverick isn't my favorite character of all time, but I have to say, I recognized Maverick throughout comics, and basically knew he was part of Weapon X with Wolverine and Sabretooth. I didn't quite make the connection between the Maverick-Chris Nord card and Maverick-Agent Zero card from VS, but recognized Agent Zero as a name. In the movie, Agent Zero (as the only name he is known by), basically has superhuman speed and accuracy and is very proficient with guns. In the comics, yeah, no. Little kid Wolverine and little kid Sabretooth were silly more than anything. See, you see a little kid trying to be angry and Victor Creed and it doesn't work. You see a little kid mourn his father (not actual father, but doesn't know at the time) and then pop little bone claws out of his hand, then roar and attack his father (actual one, but didn't know at the time). It was very silly. A little kid trying to berserker rage like Wolverine is more cute than terrifying or awesome.
Now, yes, Deadpool was fucked up in the movie, but surprisingly, it isn't my biggest complaint. My biggest is probably about Gambit. See, both Wade and Remy were kind of long cameos. As opposed to being important characters, they were just kind of side characters. Which can be okay. If they had only had the Wade Wilson stuff at the beginning, Deadpool fans would have beein incredibly happy. Sure, he didn't have cancer, or the costume, but was still awesome and hilarious. Instead, they stretched his appearance out so that he was Weapon XI. A horrible idea. With Gambit, a lot of ads have had Gambit because, well, Gambit is a popular character. Not one I like, but one who is popular. In the movie, Blob talks about Remy, and itis kind of cool. Then, in New Orleans, you see Remy, and it is neat, but when Gambit knocks Wolverine through a wall, what you are expecting is a Gambit/Wolverine fight. Instead, Wolverine sees Sabretooth and they fight. Remy walks out to attack and gets elbowed in the face. When Gambit finally attacks, the hype for him is gone. Instead, you are invested in the Wolverine/Sabretooth stuff. Then there is a small, but satisfying Gambit fight, but that would have worked better had it been earlier. I think if they had cut the Sabretooth fight there, and just had two in the base, it would have been better. Oh, and then Gambit flies Wolverine to the island, which makes him in it longer, but then Gambit starts to seem more important, which again, he isn't. At the very end, he saves Logan from falling debris, then as Logan tells him to watch after the kids, he runs after them, sees Professor X with them, smiles, then runs back to help Wolverine. It is pointless and makes Gambit less interesting. With just a smaller part, then fans would have gotten Gambit, and not have had to see him be lame and do nothing except run in circles for a long time. Fans who wanted Deadpool or Gambit got much more horrible returns for their investment.
Still, I enjoyed the movie. As with comic movies, as I've mentioned before, I just try to have fun. Sure, if the movie is amazing, I'll like it more, but I try and enjoy even if it's bad (I still enjoyed Spider-Man 3 while watching it).This movie, as noted above, has many flaws, but it is still an action movie, and it delivers. There are a good amount of fights and the fights are fun. Sure, the Sabretooth stuff gets a little dull (3 fights in the movie, really?) but is still entertaining. After the small intro with James and Victor as kids, you get the best part of the movie, the montage opening credits, followed by the Team X stuff. After Team X, it goes a little downhill, but is still enjoyable. I have to say that I enjoyed the Weapon XI fight, just because it was Wade Wilson kicking Wolverine's and Sabretooth's asses. That was enjoyable to see them having to team up to stand a chance. Sure, the character was done poorly, but at least he kicked ass. All in all, I did enjoy the movie, which is all I really ask for in a movie. Now, sure, for a story with Weapon X and Wolverine's origin, I recommend Hulk VS. Wolverine above X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sure, you don't get him as a kid or going through wars, but you get the story fairly similar to the comics (and much more than the movie) with a good Deadpool, and no boring romance in an action movie. You have Weapon X, you have Wolverine, you have Deadpool and you have Sabretooth. Plus, you get awesome Hulk Vs. Wolverine fights with more blood than you'd expect from a cartoon. But, again, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was fun and I did enjoy it. Wade Wilson was amazing, and Wolverine had some nice fights. In the end, I don't really want much more.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Deadpool review #5
Well, this isn't what I expected to do next, but since it isn't something I have right in front of me, I should probably talk about it while it is still fresh in my mind. So, here is my Deadpool review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Oh, and in case you were wondering, spoilers ahead, since this has to talk about Deadpool in the movie.
What you need to know: Nothing, really, since it is a stand-alone movie. It might be nice to have seen the previous three X-Men movies, but I don't think it is an absolute necessity.
The plot: Wolverine was growing up with his brother, Sabretooth, when they joined Team X. Logan left because they were going too far. Victor starts killing old members of the team 6 years later, as Wolverine has found love with Silver Fox. Silver Fox dies, and Wolverine needs to defeat Sabretooth, and thus has adamantium bonded to his bones. Then, as they want to wipe his memories, he breaks free, and looks for Sabretooth and Stryker, eventually learning that they are collecting mutants. Stryker is creating Weapon XI to kill mutants, and Wolverine frees all the kids being held captive before fighting Weapon XI, and Sabretooth helps Logan. Then, Stryker shoots Wolverine in the head with magic bullets, making him lose his memory.
Deadpool's part: Wade Wilson is a part of the team Stryker assembles in the beginning, along with Wolverine, Sabretooth, Agent Zero, Blob, Bolt and Kestrel, and uses his swords to defend against many people shooting at him, and then deflecting bullets back at people and cutting bullets in half to hit multiple people on the other side of him (in what is incredibly bad-ass). Then, Sabretooth mentions him being dead to Bolt. Later, it is revealed that Wade is now Weapon XI, who has a whole bunch of mutant powers in him, designed to take out mutants. He fights Wolverine using his fighting ability, which is amazing still, the sword/claws that pop out of his hands, a healing factor that is ridiculously fast, teleportation and optic blasts, eventually also having to face Sabretooth as well, who wants to be the one to eventually kill Wolverine. As he is taking down Sabretooth, Wolverine is able to get behind him and chop his head off, and he falls into the top of the nuclear cooling tower. In one of the secret endings, his hand finds his head, which then has his eyes open, look directly at the camera, and he whispers "Shhh..." to the audience.
Humor involved: Wade talks about his relationship with his sword and that was funny, and then when trapped in the elevator, with Team X, has some good remarks. Given that he wasn't in a lot of it, he didn't have much to say, but what he did say was funny.
Worth seeing?: If you are a Deadpool fan, you should see this movie. Even if you have to leave halfway because the mere thought of Deadpool as Barakapool (as he has been dubbed by some) turns you away, Ryan Reynolds plays an amazing Wade Wilson. When seeing some of the stuff at The Deadpool Bugle, a concern people have with Deadpool is that writers don't make him bad-ass enough. Wade Wilson in the movie is bad-ass. In fact, I am going to say he is the most bad-ass character. Sure, Wolverine and Sabretooth fought in a lot of wars and did lots of crazy things, but, well, this is the Team X stuff. So, every member of Team X (except for Wolverine and Sabretooth) has to show off when they are introduced. In their mission, Agent Zero shoots a whole bunch of guys, throws his guns in the air to reload them, kills some more guys, shoots a guy with a turret gun that turns the turret as he goes down to shoot some more guys and is done. Blob punches a tank in the barrel, making it explode. When the elevator's power gets turned off, Bolt turns it back on. After Wade's stuff, Kestrel stops one of the bad guys from reaching for a gun and shooting Stryker in the face. What Wade does is, as soon as they get to the top floor where they know guys are waiting, is start busting out his swords, blocking the bullets with his swords. Then, he spins the swords around, moving forward into the room, and through spinning and amazing acrobatics and sword techniques, along with timing, is able to cut a bullet in half that is heading for him to make it hit two guys behind him, then deflect a bullet straight back into them, doing some spinning stuff in the air, and just generally looking cool. See, Agent Zero might have taken out more guys, but he was fighting long range with long range. Wade was fighting long range with short range, and making it look easy. Okay, the Barakapool stuff. Yes, it was not Deadpool, not at all. But, and I know this sounds surprising, I didn't think it was horrible. The thing that bothered me the most was the optic blasts. Everything else can be semi-explained. He has the healing, the claws are like swords, the teleportation is a much easier version of some of the gadgets he's had. The optic blasts make no sense. Now, something cool is that when he uses them, the area around his eyes gets darker, making a Deadpool like black diamonds around his eyes (he's had them be diamonds as opposed to ovals). That was kind of cool. Now, he still is bad-ass, like in the beginning with Team X. It takes both Wolverine and Sabretooth teaming up to win against him, and for a while, he was kicking both their asses at the same time (almost literally with the teleporting). He kind of becomes a one-trick pony at the end, though, fighting with only optic blasts. Now, to be fair, it fit in the movie. Stryker says Wade would be the perfect soldier if he shut up and at the end, Stryker sews his mouth shut and makes him an ultimate soldier. So, it fits in the movie. Plus, he was created as someone to fight Wolverine, not to be the Deadpool we know and love. It was a Wolverine movie, not a Deadpool movie, so they try and keep Wolverine as close as possible to the comics, and let everyone else slide a little (a lot). Deadpool is the biggest example, but it just fit into the movie. So, while it was still a poor decision and made me sad, it still fit into the movie, and at least Wade kicked ass. So, my final verdict is that it should be watched, but not taken immensely seriously.
What you need to know: Nothing, really, since it is a stand-alone movie. It might be nice to have seen the previous three X-Men movies, but I don't think it is an absolute necessity.
The plot: Wolverine was growing up with his brother, Sabretooth, when they joined Team X. Logan left because they were going too far. Victor starts killing old members of the team 6 years later, as Wolverine has found love with Silver Fox. Silver Fox dies, and Wolverine needs to defeat Sabretooth, and thus has adamantium bonded to his bones. Then, as they want to wipe his memories, he breaks free, and looks for Sabretooth and Stryker, eventually learning that they are collecting mutants. Stryker is creating Weapon XI to kill mutants, and Wolverine frees all the kids being held captive before fighting Weapon XI, and Sabretooth helps Logan. Then, Stryker shoots Wolverine in the head with magic bullets, making him lose his memory.
Deadpool's part: Wade Wilson is a part of the team Stryker assembles in the beginning, along with Wolverine, Sabretooth, Agent Zero, Blob, Bolt and Kestrel, and uses his swords to defend against many people shooting at him, and then deflecting bullets back at people and cutting bullets in half to hit multiple people on the other side of him (in what is incredibly bad-ass). Then, Sabretooth mentions him being dead to Bolt. Later, it is revealed that Wade is now Weapon XI, who has a whole bunch of mutant powers in him, designed to take out mutants. He fights Wolverine using his fighting ability, which is amazing still, the sword/claws that pop out of his hands, a healing factor that is ridiculously fast, teleportation and optic blasts, eventually also having to face Sabretooth as well, who wants to be the one to eventually kill Wolverine. As he is taking down Sabretooth, Wolverine is able to get behind him and chop his head off, and he falls into the top of the nuclear cooling tower. In one of the secret endings, his hand finds his head, which then has his eyes open, look directly at the camera, and he whispers "Shhh..." to the audience.
Humor involved: Wade talks about his relationship with his sword and that was funny, and then when trapped in the elevator, with Team X, has some good remarks. Given that he wasn't in a lot of it, he didn't have much to say, but what he did say was funny.
Worth seeing?: If you are a Deadpool fan, you should see this movie. Even if you have to leave halfway because the mere thought of Deadpool as Barakapool (as he has been dubbed by some) turns you away, Ryan Reynolds plays an amazing Wade Wilson. When seeing some of the stuff at The Deadpool Bugle, a concern people have with Deadpool is that writers don't make him bad-ass enough. Wade Wilson in the movie is bad-ass. In fact, I am going to say he is the most bad-ass character. Sure, Wolverine and Sabretooth fought in a lot of wars and did lots of crazy things, but, well, this is the Team X stuff. So, every member of Team X (except for Wolverine and Sabretooth) has to show off when they are introduced. In their mission, Agent Zero shoots a whole bunch of guys, throws his guns in the air to reload them, kills some more guys, shoots a guy with a turret gun that turns the turret as he goes down to shoot some more guys and is done. Blob punches a tank in the barrel, making it explode. When the elevator's power gets turned off, Bolt turns it back on. After Wade's stuff, Kestrel stops one of the bad guys from reaching for a gun and shooting Stryker in the face. What Wade does is, as soon as they get to the top floor where they know guys are waiting, is start busting out his swords, blocking the bullets with his swords. Then, he spins the swords around, moving forward into the room, and through spinning and amazing acrobatics and sword techniques, along with timing, is able to cut a bullet in half that is heading for him to make it hit two guys behind him, then deflect a bullet straight back into them, doing some spinning stuff in the air, and just generally looking cool. See, Agent Zero might have taken out more guys, but he was fighting long range with long range. Wade was fighting long range with short range, and making it look easy. Okay, the Barakapool stuff. Yes, it was not Deadpool, not at all. But, and I know this sounds surprising, I didn't think it was horrible. The thing that bothered me the most was the optic blasts. Everything else can be semi-explained. He has the healing, the claws are like swords, the teleportation is a much easier version of some of the gadgets he's had. The optic blasts make no sense. Now, something cool is that when he uses them, the area around his eyes gets darker, making a Deadpool like black diamonds around his eyes (he's had them be diamonds as opposed to ovals). That was kind of cool. Now, he still is bad-ass, like in the beginning with Team X. It takes both Wolverine and Sabretooth teaming up to win against him, and for a while, he was kicking both their asses at the same time (almost literally with the teleporting). He kind of becomes a one-trick pony at the end, though, fighting with only optic blasts. Now, to be fair, it fit in the movie. Stryker says Wade would be the perfect soldier if he shut up and at the end, Stryker sews his mouth shut and makes him an ultimate soldier. So, it fits in the movie. Plus, he was created as someone to fight Wolverine, not to be the Deadpool we know and love. It was a Wolverine movie, not a Deadpool movie, so they try and keep Wolverine as close as possible to the comics, and let everyone else slide a little (a lot). Deadpool is the biggest example, but it just fit into the movie. So, while it was still a poor decision and made me sad, it still fit into the movie, and at least Wade kicked ass. So, my final verdict is that it should be watched, but not taken immensely seriously.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Deadpool reviews coming soon
I have had some work, this being my finals week and all, so I haven't written the reviews for Deadpool 10, Marvel Zombies 4 #2 or Cable 14 yet, but they will be up sometime soon. In a few hours, I'll be flying home, where I'll be over the course of the summer. Just thought I'd let people know that the Deadpool reviews are coming.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Deadpool review #4
Well, no. This isn't a review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Deadpool, it is a review of Cable 13, which I finally got today, when I celebrated Free Comic Book Day (it wasn't free, just finally available).
What you need to know: Cable is trying to protect the first (and so far only) mutant born after M-Day, and Cyclops sends X-Force to help him out. Bishop and Stryfe are working together to try and stop Cable and Apocalypse. Deadpool showed up to help.
The plot: Cable sees a fortress that looks like Apocalypse's. Wolverine asks Deadpool what is going on, and Deadpool tells his story, how he was trying to put down a rebellion, but when things turned bad, wanting to avoid nukes, hid in a fridge, but then got locked in. After 800 years, they open the freezer and Deadpool discovers Stryfe, joined up with him, then, when he saw X-Force, wanted to team up. Meanwhile, Bishop thinks about how he and Stryfe are going to betray each other. Then, Stryfe's army shows up.
Deadpool's part: Surprisingly, most of it. Like above, he describes his part in this madcap future, and tries to inform Cable and X-Force into what is going on.
Humor involved: When seeing the Apocalypse-looking citadel, remarks how Apocalypse is "...the old boss. The very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very old boss." When about to tell his story, wondering which version to tell, breaks the fourth wall, wondering if he should tell the Previews-catalog-solicit-blurb version. There is a lot of humor while telling his story also. After, he mentions how, "But then you guys show up, and I get to thinking...it's just like old times. We're the X-Men! We can take him together!" After Wolverine reminds him he was never an X-Man, he calls Wolverine a continuity stickler. Then, at the end, as Stryfe's army attacks "forgot" to mention that they existed. "My bad."
Worth getting?: Even without the other parts, this one explains everything nicely, and contains a lot of good Deadpool. Plus, I'm a big fan of Olivetti's art. Sure, some of it is ridiculously buff, but it still looks really, really good. So, yeah, I'd recommend it, even without the other parts, which are still important.
Before I leave you, I just wanted to share something that brightened my day. I have always loved "Hi, I'm a Marvel...And I'm a DC" and was worried about a Deadpool one. See, he is good, but I wasn't sure if he could make Deadpool work. Fortunately for me, though, he did and it is amazing. Check it out below.
What you need to know: Cable is trying to protect the first (and so far only) mutant born after M-Day, and Cyclops sends X-Force to help him out. Bishop and Stryfe are working together to try and stop Cable and Apocalypse. Deadpool showed up to help.
The plot: Cable sees a fortress that looks like Apocalypse's. Wolverine asks Deadpool what is going on, and Deadpool tells his story, how he was trying to put down a rebellion, but when things turned bad, wanting to avoid nukes, hid in a fridge, but then got locked in. After 800 years, they open the freezer and Deadpool discovers Stryfe, joined up with him, then, when he saw X-Force, wanted to team up. Meanwhile, Bishop thinks about how he and Stryfe are going to betray each other. Then, Stryfe's army shows up.
Deadpool's part: Surprisingly, most of it. Like above, he describes his part in this madcap future, and tries to inform Cable and X-Force into what is going on.
Humor involved: When seeing the Apocalypse-looking citadel, remarks how Apocalypse is "...the old boss. The very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very old boss." When about to tell his story, wondering which version to tell, breaks the fourth wall, wondering if he should tell the Previews-catalog-solicit-blurb version. There is a lot of humor while telling his story also. After, he mentions how, "But then you guys show up, and I get to thinking...it's just like old times. We're the X-Men! We can take him together!" After Wolverine reminds him he was never an X-Man, he calls Wolverine a continuity stickler. Then, at the end, as Stryfe's army attacks "forgot" to mention that they existed. "My bad."
Worth getting?: Even without the other parts, this one explains everything nicely, and contains a lot of good Deadpool. Plus, I'm a big fan of Olivetti's art. Sure, some of it is ridiculously buff, but it still looks really, really good. So, yeah, I'd recommend it, even without the other parts, which are still important.
Before I leave you, I just wanted to share something that brightened my day. I have always loved "Hi, I'm a Marvel...And I'm a DC" and was worried about a Deadpool one. See, he is good, but I wasn't sure if he could make Deadpool work. Fortunately for me, though, he did and it is amazing. Check it out below.
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