FILM: Deadpool
CAST: Ryan Reynolds, T J Miller, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein
DIRECTION: Tim Miller

It must be a sign of superhero fatigue that studios are injecting life into the genre via characters who declare that they want nothing to do with heroics.
Ryan Reynolds stars as the titular superpower-enhanced jerk in Deadpool, a sarcastic, cheeky chap in a red suit wielding double katanas (the traditionally-made Japanese swords) – though his tongue is sharper than his swords.
This ain’t your kid brother’s superhero movie. Deadpool is a fourth-wall breaking meta commentary on the tropes of the superhero, with an expository flashback nested inside Deadpool’s introductory fisticuffs.
During a brutal and bloody massacre on a highway bridge in search of the mysterious Francis, Deadpool decapitates goons and causes a multi-car pileup, all the while hurling highly creative and vulgar insults at his victims, with time stretching and pausing for him to fill the audience in on his backstory.
Reynolds arrived in the 2002 National Lampoon college comedy Van Wilder, and both that role and Deadpool make excellent use of his smarmy comedic delivery. His other, more serious comic book performances have fallen flat (exhibit A: Green Lantern), but it’s a good thing that Marvel gave him another chance, because this role fits Reynolds like a glove, playing to his snarky strengths.
Deadpool might feel innovative, but the story itself is standard-issue: guy meets girl, guy saves girl. The guy, Wade Wilson, a mercenary for whom no job is too small, and the girl, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) fall in love. When Wade discovers he has advanced-stage cancer, he undergoes an underground experimental treatment, in which his mutant genes are tortured into life by Francis (Ed Skrein) and his hench-lady Angel Dust (Gina Carano). The treatment works, imbuing him with powers of super healing and strength, but the side effects are a horrific disfigurement. The vain Wade can’t bring himself to face his girlfriend, and takes on the Deadpool nickname and face-covering suit in order to search for a cure from Francis.
The veneer of twisty storytelling structure and gory violence can’t cover up the fact that that ultimately, Deadpool is a conventional tale about a guy and his powers, with a surprisingly old-fashioned view of gender, love and relationships. – Tribune News Service

Face-off against aliens
By Katie Walsh

FILM: The 5th Wave
CAST: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Maika Monroe
DIRECTION: J Blakeson

When the apocalypse happens, all that’s going to be left for us are the guns. Which might actually be true, but is also the subtext of The 5th Wave. The film opens with a winsome blonde teen girl executing a man with a military-style assault rifle, and the teen gunplay only goes further from there.
The sight of teens with rifles is one we’re used to from news reports of a much more tragic nature, so the imagery definitely gives one pause.
There’s a deeply anti-government streak to the politics of The 5th Wave, which imagines a world in which an alien race takes over the planet and starts eradicating the human species in a series of waves that destroy infrastructure, environment and health.
The panicked surviving humans band together in the woods until their children are rounded up by the army for “protection”. Teen Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz) escapes the collection and ends up alone in the woods with only a few guns for her comfort. She sets out to find her little brother, Sam, ostensibly to return his stuffed bear.
Perhaps the reason why some of the themes and imagery hit a bit too close is the way the film creates a recognisable world. In young adult hits of the same genre, such as The Hunger Games, Divergent or The Maze Runner, the metaphor has a bit more freedom because the worlds in which they take place are visually fantastical, and therefore removed from our reality. Everything in the The 5th Wave feels, or at least looks, real.
This could be an opportunity for a subversive and satirical text, and at times, The 5th Wave comes close to feeling like Paul Verhoeven’s great propaganda parody Starship Troopers, particularly in the scenes of the young kids suiting up for battle – a small blonde girl in full tactical gear and a long rifle is just funny (or is it?). But this film is sorely lacking in irony.
There’s your to-be-expected love triangle, with hunky loner lumberjack Evan Walker (Alex Roe) positioned against high school crush Ben Parish (Nick Robinson).
The execution of said triangle is unfortunately, generically laughable. Expository speeches are the technique of choice for writers Susannah Grant, AkivaGoldsman and Jeff Pinkner, who adapted Rick Yancey’s novel.
The twists and turns of the plot are telegraphed from miles away, so there’s not an ounce of suspense. – Tribune News Service

Weird charm
By Katie Walsh

FILM: The Angry Birds Movie
CAST: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
DIRECTION: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly

If you’ve ever played the mobile video game Angry Birds, you might have found yourself wondering – why are these birds so angry? The Angry Birds Movie is here to answer that question and provide motivation for the avian rage.
The film, directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, proves to be more than just a gimmick, and doesn’t skimp on any of the quirky wackiness that you might expect from a film about blob-shaped, flightless birds battling pigs.
Jason Sudeikis lends his voice talents to the angriest of the birds, Red, and his snarky, sardonic delivery is perfect for the character.
He’s the red one, per the name, with the perpetually v-shaped eyebrows. Those brows are the source of some angst, having been teased about them as a kid. That early torment has led to his current worldview, as a perpetual victim whom the world is out to get, an oddball and loner with a short fuse who doesn’t fit in on the happy-go-lucky paradise island where he and all the other flightless birds live.
He doesn’t even fit in during his court-mandated anger management classes. Angry Birds somehow balances those recognisable real-world elements with all-out fantastical silliness, and that contrast lends itself to the film’s weird charm. Zenned-out Matilda (Maya Rudolph) teaches the island’s other angry birds in attendance – the speedy motormouth Chuck (Josh Gad), uncontrollably explosive Bomb (Danny McBride) and intimidating but silent Terence (Sean Penn), who only growls.
The emotional foundation of bullying and loneliness is almost too humane for a film that features a razzle dazzle cowboy dance number performed by enthusiastic and energetic green pigs. The porky pirates arrive one day in an enormous ship, led by the swaggering Southern-accented Leonard (Bill Hader), bearing tropical banquets and dance parties with DJs named Daft Piggy, sweeping the birds off their feet with entertainment and hoopla.
Red’s the only sceptic in the bunch, trained by years of expecting the worst from others. Also, he’s finally in a position where he’s actually being oppressed – the pigs parked their boat right on his house.
But his suspicion is ignored, and soon the overbearing porcine partiers make off with the birds’ precious eggs, their children, for a feast on Piggy Island.
So while the plot just might put some kids off eating eggs (are they baby birds or protein-rich snacks?) the themes at play in Angry Birds, are surprisingly somewhat nuanced. The story demonstrates how certain traits – Chuck’s speed, Red’s anger, Bomb’s, well, bombastic qualities – might be looked down upon by society’s norms, but can be strengths when harnessed in the right way, like in a bird slingshot. – Tribune News Service

DVDs courtesy: Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha