As Hard as It May Be to Believe, The DEADPOOL Movie Is Better Than the Comics

I've read a lot of Deadpool comics, and I believe those who have done the same thing can agree on the following things.

• Series to series, it's either a complete hit or a disappointing miss.
• It can be talk heavy with not a lot of action.
• Everyone is second in development to Deadpool.

These are shortcomings of the comics that were not apparent to me until I saw the film. "Exceeded expectations" was a term I commonly heard as I exited the theater last night. I felt the same way, and so I began to evaluate why.

Let's talk about what I expected.

I'm not a guy who gives a laugh just because a joke is told, and while I fully expected to laugh maybe a couple times, I thought some of the jokes would fall flat. In the comics, there are times when the writing has a tendency to make Deadpool a bit of a meme machine and replace jokes with whatever current pop trend is en vogue. I accepted that some of it would be corny, and threw that notion out the window in the first ten minutes. There were times when the audience and I were laughing so hard we missed successive jokes and moments. A second viewing would definitely reveal more jokes that I may have missed

Of course, it wouldn't be Deadpool without the gore and smack talk while delivering said gore. We see that in the comics, but there's something truly magical as a fan seeing it happen in motion. Scenes you've imagined on the pages are directly on screen, and it's nothing short of incredible. Yeah, I know that's how hero movies work, but there's a difference between seeing The Hulk smash and Deadpool doing some of the insane things he does in this movie.

Deadpool isn't the only one with laughs either. One complaint I've always had about the series is that everyone in the comics always played a second generic character to Deadpool. I've never really cared for Weasel or Blind Al, and frankly, the comics have never given me reason to. In the movie, T.J. Miller made me like Weasel. I didn't just hear the whiny, sarcastic, half-cocked lines I've read, I heard the asshole coward who is the closest thing Wade Wilson has to a "friend." While other books I've read treat them more or less as vessels for more jokes, the film gives them a real presence that I absolutely loved.

I'm not just gushing, it's incredibly hard to find shortcomings in this film. Any nitpicks you might have had were directly called out by DP himself as he went along the adventure. There will be times when it will be exactly what you wanted, there will be times when it's more.

Perhaps the biggest strength of the film is it's never forced. You never once feel like Ryan Reynolds is "trying" to be a Deadpool we know. He has become Deadpool, and in some ways transitioned him on screen to be better. He's finally atoned for Green Lantern.

If there's anything I can finally say to send you over the top on the hype train, I have not left a comic book movie this satisfied since The Avengers.