I saw Deadpool over the weekend (OMG I GOT TO SEE A MOVIE IN THE THEATER! AND OMG IT WAS OPENING WEEKEND!), and it was as amazing as I expected it to be. It was rated R, a first for superhero movies, because a movie about the Merc with a Mouth should fucking be rated R. It’s just not Deadpool if he isn’t throwing f-bombs right and left, beheading bad guys, and well, talking a lot about sex. Deadpool has never been a character for the family, as an anti-hero should never be a character for the family. Since the movie has been so successful and broken all kinds of records for its opening weekend, people are losing their Goddamn minds on social media, claiming that this is proof R-rated superhero movies can work.
Let’s…let’s just take a step back for minute, okay?
The reason why Deadpool worked wasn’t because it was rated R; it worked because 1) it’s Deadpool and 2) it’s something different. There’s no real rite of passage, the main character doesn’t achieve personal growth, and he doesn’t even try to save the world. Deadpool is a mercenary. He has no fucks to give about high morals.
I will personally not be pleased if Deadpool‘s success opens the floodgates for R rated superhero movies. We’ve already had one with Wolverine 3 announcement, which, okay, fine. Wolverine likes to slice up people with his claws, so I can see how the violence factor will add in to that. But the last thing I want is to see the Avengers go R. Or Batman. Or Black Panther. Or Superman. Or, God forbid, Captain America.
It’s not entirely because I want to be able to watch the movie with my kids. That’s a part of it, sure, but that’s not the only reason. I don’t want to see them go R because they don’t need it. Even with Tony Stark’s womanizing, they haven’t had to show nudity to get the point across along with several innuendos. Guardians of the Galaxy found really creative ways to express frustration and humor without the mother of all cuss words. The Dark Knight had so much violence, but they Alfred Hitchcocked it, making it worse because you DIDN’T see the horrible things the Joker did. You got the gist and your imagination took over. I’m already not too keen on hearing that a future X-Force movie will be rated R, because I don’t see how X-Force needs it either.
Looking back on my favorite superhero movies of the last several years, if they had an R rating, it would feel forced, like they were working hard for that shock value. Deadpool IS shock value. Hence why in this situation, it works.
Remember the movie Kick-Ass? It was rated R, and it was awful. It wasn’t awful because it was rated R, though; it was awful for the simple fact that it was awful. However, like Deadpool, a Kick-Ass movie would not have worked without this rating because that is what the comic was.
And that’s really my point; don’t make these comic movies something they aren’t. Don’t force them to be kid-friendly or hardcore. We don’t need every superhero movie to be suitable for kids, and conversely we don’t need them to make Betty White blush. We need superhero movies to be as true to the comic as they can, given the natural constraints a movie has.
We also need fewer Wolverine movies. Seriously, fuck that guy. Most overrated X-Man ever.
Leave a Reply