As I entered the theater, I looked around at the seats. My husband and I got there about 30 minutes before the movie started, and sat near the front at the aisle so I could see everyone walk in. Most people were in their late 20s to early 30s; I saw one double date that may have contained college-aged youth. As this was the fifth or sixth week of the movie, there were maybe only 25 people in the theater on this Friday night.
The movie started in a unique way; the directors and producers showed the audience various zoomed in perspectives of a still shot; as the 3-D picture rotated, the audience got a different perspective of the action. While this went on, the usual names of important people popped up, except they had been given allegorical names like "guy with British accent" and "hot looking ninja woman." The entire picture was quickly in view, and the audience could see that Deadpool was trying to even the score. I thought to myself that maybe this movie wasn't so bad.
However, the movie quickly escalated. After setting the scene Deadpool gets his revenge by chopping off body parts nonchalantly; I had to turn my head in disgust but those in front of me looked head-on at the carnage. No one verbalized much reaction; I heard a few mumbles of reaction that were more surprise than disgust. Although there wasn't a lot of blood or gore, just the sheer rate at which he chopped off body parts with his sword, or maimed a driver with a cigarette lighter, was unfathomable.
I thought this scene would set the tone for the rest of the movie. Using swords to chop body parts and kill "bad" guys wasn't so bad. Deadpool gets reprimanded by the X-Men, who come to haul him away for his ruthless killings; Deadpool cuts his own hand off to get free. Deadpool had upped the ante.
Further into the plot the audience learns of Deadpool's history; he apparently was diagnosed with cancer and was offered experimental treatment by an anonymous suit. He signs up for the treatment in hopes that he can return to his simple life with his love, in their tiny apartment in which a gratuitous sex scene montage shows the span of their relationship over several holidays.
The experimental treatment of Deadpool was the most uncomfortable for me; the audience quickly became silent as Deadpool was tortured in what wasn't a treatment facility, but a private science lab run under suspicious circumstances. The torture scenes were very real as he was stored in an ice chest, electrocuted, and whipped; these were scenes I only peeked at, hoping they would end. Very few of the audience members seemed disturbed by this long series of scenes. Throughout the scenes though, Deadpool's twisted sarcasm and sense of humor permeated.
By the end of the movie, Deadpool is reunited with his love interest and exacts revenge on his torturer. His love interest accepts his scars and they live "happily ever after." Deadpool even alludes to a sequel as he talks directly to the audience often. As the lights were on, a few people walked out seeming to have enjoyed the movie. Around half stayed to watch the full ending for clues about a sequel. Just as I got up to walk out, a family with a boy of around eleven left the theater; a child was, after all, viewing the movie... the urban legend had been a reality.
