imdb-45

It's embarrassing to see this rated at eight stars. The first was a genius masterpiece. Witty, funny, likable characters, and you could see the effort all over the film for the full running time.

The second film breaks the fourth wall yet more. Ryan Reynolds keeps talking about being the underdog, playing the likable guy who has an ongoing beef with Wolverine and Hugh Jackman occasionally, okay, that's funny. But there was too much effort into trying to make Deadpool into a billion dollar franchise with numerous spin-offs, etc etc. As a result, while the film had its moments, it definitely suffered with its focus on how to maximize the money and the depth the storyline.

Come the third film and there is no fourth wall anymore. It's not an occasional fun moment. Wolverine isn't even Wolverine. It's just Jackman in a wolverine suit pretending to be angry with Reynolds because this was never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. But now it happens, what a surprise. These guys apparently know that there are millions of desperate people around the world waiting to put the two of them together in a film and laugh about these oh so clever in jokes and be able to say how funny they are.

Well the in jokes aren't that funny at all. They are told over and over and over. Wolverine had absolutely nothing interesting to say and just dropped the f-bomb, bub, and short short angry blurbs in order to provoke numerous cgi fights repeat themselves. The joke is on the audience. The story was dumb. The cameos were pretty dumb. Lots of cursing for the sake of cursing and then laughing like 5-year-olds that they were able to do it in a Disney film. Oh wow.

The wit and smart jokes are gone. It's now full-fledged franchise with multiple other actors being Ryan reynolds's best friend because he's gifted them with their own spin-off superhero movie that will get greenlighted as a result of this film. It's totally mindless. It may take another film for people to realize, but this is really an unbelievably poor film that sets a low barrier for effort. And massive product placement.

I saw an interview with Awkwafina after the Oceans 9 movie and thought she seemed like a genuine and gracious. Recently I happened to catch her show about life and living in Forest Hills and New York City. It took me a little time to understand that Nora wants to be confident street tough but is really a softie underneath all that bark, always one step behind life and trying to crawl her way out of the messes she creates for herself. Unlike many sitcoms, there is no mean spirited humor. Perhaps I like the show more because I think Nora as a person is so very likeable and worked hard and deserves her success. But she is very funny, even in all her interviews.

No huge surprises here but Adkins is fantastic and holds this film together. In essence, this oddly named movie is about our protagonist, who is a mostly a straight shooter who makes a mistake when he is young which, through misfortune of the events, results in him ending up in prison. And while he's there and needing to survive, he learns a great deal about how much his predicament which he blames himself is not nearly all his fault... and he is determined to discover the remaining facts and dispense justice as he sees fit.

What makes this unusual is that Adkins is extremely effective as the unhinged anti-hero in this film. It's clear that if he had better people around him he would be in A and B grade films instead of what this would have been - but Adkins not only saves it, he makes it a fun watch and potentially rewatchable. If you're going to have a guilty pleasure besides the Boyka Undisputed franchise, this is the one (and I like this better.) Well worth the gamble to look.