You’ve very probably seen Deadpool described as a “superhero movie with a twist”. It has the Marvel logo at the start, it features a guy in a colourful suit, and there’s an extra scene after the credits. But on the other hand, (just like the comic book) it’s more self-referential and meta than any other superhero movie you’ve seen. It has a lot of humour, and a lot of violence. From the first images of the opening credit sequence to the post-credit bonus scene, it pokes fun at itself and the superhero film genre in general. It was an unconventional situation: The movie was stuck in development hell for 11 years, and finally got greenlit when test footage leaked, and the fans on the internet went nuts. Its marketing campaign was a clever extension of the character’s sense of humour. Its opening weekend was an unexpected box office record breaker. It’ll probably inspire other R-rated superhero movies. Or out-of-the-box marketing campaigns. Or a ton of Ryan Reynolds movies.

Floris Groenewald

Floris sometimes writes things when he’s not watching movies or playing video games or editing videos or folk-rock singing/songwriting.

http://www.theflow.co.za