Devin King | News Editor
Feb. 9, 2016, 10 a.m.

“Deadpool” feels like a movie that was the complete product of the time it was released. It is another superhero movie during a period where it seems like these movies are being released left and right, and the plot feels generic by comparison.

“Deadpool” is based off of the Marvel comic book series of the same name and takes place in 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” cinematic universe. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), whose real name is Wade Wilson, is a sarcastic, fourth-wall-breaking and ultra-violent anti-hero and the movie could be described in the same way. With its graphic gore and raunchy humor, the movie is so western male-centric that it could pass as a parody of American movies, granted Deadpool is a parody character of super heroes.

While Deadpool as a character should not be taken seriously, the plot does take itself seriously. Ultimately an origin story, it centers on Wilson being granted powers of super healing after a tragedy. He then seeks revenge on a generic supervillain (British actor Ed Skrein) and there is a love interest involved (Morena Baccarin).

The selling point is Deadpool’s fourth wall-breaking humor and crazy action and the movie delivers on that part. However, the story is clearly set up solely to explain who Deadpool is and the pacing suffers quite a bit because of it. The main story is so overly generic and suffers from what so many other superhero movies suffer from as well.

Deadpool’s humor is set up as joke, rinse and repeat, almost like a Seth MacFarlane production.  There are also tons of jokes that focus on current events, which mean that the humor will likely age badly as time goes on.

The good news is that Reynolds is the perfect fit as the gun-slinging, sword-slashing protagonist. Reynolds’ charismatic delivery of every line makes it difficult not to love his character, even when taken at face value the fact that Deadpool is not a great superhero. No one else really sticks out of the cast since all other characters feel mostly unimportant.

The visual effects are average compared to most modern big budget movies. Most of the visual flare comes from action scenes and Deadpool’s cool acrobatic moves. The score by Tom Holkenborg (a.k.a Junkie XL), best known as the composer for “Mad Max: Fury Road”, is above average. Mainly it is unique and fun, but the rest of the music is forgettable. The best part of the film’s aesthetic is easily the sound design though.

The male-centric nature of the film, along with the bare-bones story make “Deadpool” feel like the male equivalent of a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. It is mass produced and clearly caters to a certain demographic, despite being “basic.” It makes for a fine movie since there is nothing truly bad about it, but it makes a mediocre film since it does nothing special. Those that are fans of the character will know what to expect, but nothing else should be anticipated.