Dunbar Students Weigh in on Deadpool

Feb 12. 2016 saw the release of Deadpool, the newest Marvel superhero movie.

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A snapshot of a scene from the movie, Deadpool.

Marvel movies are traditionally popular because they appeal to people of almost every age group. But Deadpool broke the mold when it was revealed to be rated R for violence, sexual content and suggestive language. Deadpool is not a typical superhero movie, because the title character is not a typical hero.

After talking to several Dunbar students and staff, they can all agree on one thing: The movie was great, but it deserved its R-rating.

For starters, Deadpool is incredibly funny. The original Marvel character is known for his obnoxious smart mouth and inability to take anything seriously. The movie did not let audiences down. Every other line was a joke and, while most of them were pretty vulgar, they made audiences laugh out loud.

Another trademark of Deadpool is that he is excessively violent. He does not see himself as a hero or a villain so he can essentially do what he wants. This means not just catching his enemies, but completely destroying them and producers made no effort to conceal it. Audiences see heads chopped off, stomach impaled and pretty much everything in between. Do not be fooled. Deadpool may have been created by the same company that made The Amazing Spider-Man and Thor but this movie is not for kids. 

I thought it represented the character well so fans of the comic will like it.

— Jenny Lee, sophomore

Deadpool does not just break the fourth wall, writers probably did not even build one in the first place. Throughout the movie Deadpool talks directly to the audience and he is well aware of the fact that he is in a movie and makes references to it all the time such as “Such a big house but I only ever see you two. It’s almost like the producers couldn’t afford another X-man.” In a nutshell, Deadpool is one long inside joke with references to past X-Men movies and even Ferris Beuler’s Day Off.

“I thought it was fun. I thought it represented the character well so fans of the comic will like it,” said Dunbar sophomore Jenny Lee. She did have one criticism though: “Cinematography wise it was kind of standard.”

In short, fans have responded positively to an R-rated Marvel movie and have hopes for another one in the future. In fact, it is on track to become the highest grossing rated-R movie of all time. In two weeks the movie has grossed $491 million worldwide; the current record holder is The Matrix Reloaded, which made a total of $742.1 million.