I know, I know, I’ve missed reviewing some major releases recently. We’ll get into the obvious one next week, since it’s slightly less topical at the moment. Right now, though, I want to talk about Deadpool.

Now, I might be a film student, but I’m a person just like the rest of you. I put my pants on in the morning one leg at a time–but more importantly, I like a good fun movie as much as the next person. I definitely enjoy those classic “cinephile” movies, and the weird experimental film school ones. But I saw the “leaked” Deadpool test footage and I was just as hype as you were. Maybe moreso. How funny was this movie gonna be! That thing in Spanish? Classic.

Then it got funded, they shot it, and they started releasing marketing for it… and I started to get apprehensive. The billboards were creative and topical, but a little dense. (Skullpoopl? What is a skullpoopl? Everyone I’ve spoken to said it took them at least several minutes to get it. At least it got people thinking, I suppose.) The posters were kind of cute… most of them, anyway. And okay, I’ll admit that romcom thing was hilarious.

What really concerned me were the trailers. I felt like I never saw anything new. Each different trailer was the same few shots re-cut and rearranged. How many times at this point have we all heard the “brown pants” joke, or the thing with the avocados? When that happens, I start to get very, very worried. That says to me that those are the best parts of the film, the only parts really worth seeing.

I was so wrong.

Deadpool literally amazed me. for all its irreverence and gore and penis jokes, I’m not exaggerating when I say that it had in incredibly sophisticated story structure. There is a “style” or technique used often in classical literature called “in medias res”. In film we talk about wanting to “arrive late [to] and leave early [from]” a scene, but that’s just to cut out superfluous details, such as a character walking into the room. In medias res is different. It requires vital exposition to be revealed later in the story through dialogue or flashbacks. Although it has been done effectively in film before, it is generally viewed as sloppy storytelling. You can find it used in no fewer than three episodes of The X Files, in classic film noir… and in Deadpool.

Because the character himself often breaks the fourth wall in the comics, having him do so in the film makes sense as well. As a result, the flashbacks are addressed directly to the audience, in a “Oh, I forgot to tell you this bit” way. I personally have never seen a film pull off such a feat so masterfully.

As for the same scenes being shows repeatedly in the trailers, the filmmakers just didn’t want to give too much away. Neither do I. To directly address any more in-depth portions of the film would I think spoil, if not the plot, certainly your enjoyment of seeing it yourself for the first time.

Aside from all of that, Deadpool was just downright fun. It was weird, and just current enough to be funny without being so mired in now that it will not age well. It was action-packed, but balanced with enough drama to motivate the plot. I wish I could spend an entire post talking about the character development; maybe I will once it comes out on Blu-ray. Be warned, though, that Deadpool is not for the faint of heart: one scene in particular nearly turned my stomach. But if you can handle bathroom humor and flying severed body parts, Deadpool is absolutely worth a watch, even if you hate superhero movies.