Like Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, Ryan Reynolds was born to be in big-budget superhero movies. He’s lean but muscular, can nail comedic beats as convincingly as action sequences, and has the leading man charm required to sell tickets. Well, most of the time, because several of Reynolds’ seven comic book movies have been true duds. But much to his credit, none of the weaker films’ failures are his fault. In fact, he elevates what would otherwise be even worse movies.
Videos by ComicBook.com
While Reynolds is a natural for this particular subgenre, it took a while for him to find his groove, and it all came down to a risk of a project that he was adamant on seeing to the finish line. That was, of course, 2016’s Deadpool. The question is, did Deadpool come in first? It’s the most important superhero film of his career, but is it necessarily the best?
7) R.I.P.D.
R.I.P.D. isn’t just the worst comic book movie of Ryan Reynolds’ career, it may very well be the worst comic book movie of all time. It’s not entirely hard to see why those behind it might have thought it would work, but it is pretty hard. Had this come out a year after Guardians of the Galaxy, it would have made more sense. “Niche property? Comedic tone? Laser-esque guns? Could work.” But it wasn’t, it was the year before.
Essentially, one must assume the thinking was more in line with “Men in Black really worked for Sony, why couldn’t R.I.P.D. be our Men in Black over here at Universal?” They even got a grizzled, legendary talent in Jeff Bridges to play what amounts to the Tommy Lee Jones more seasoned partner role. But even that didn’t work, as Bridges is just playing a goofball version of his Rooster Cogburn from True Grit. In short, absolutely nothing works about R.I.P.D. For one, it’s PG-13, but its farty humor would be gratuitous even to a child. Two, the CGI is atrocious (and this thing cost at least $130 million). Three, Reynolds and Bridges have precious little chemistry. And, four, the whole avatar joke (where Bridges’ Roy appears to be someone played by model Maris Miller and Reynolds’ Nick appears to be someone played by iconic character actor James Hong) works about as well as the farts.
Stream R.I.P.D. on Peacock.
6) Blade: Trinity
Entries six, five, and four are essentially tied, because none of them work and for mostly different reasons. But Blade: Trinity ranks last among those three because, while the other two manage to be entertaining in spots, it does not. Trinity had a notoriously difficult production, which was especially tough on David S. Goyer, who was making his studio film directorial debut. The main cause of the tumult? None other than Wesley Snipes.
It was something that was even winked at in Deadpool & Wolverine. And it’s honestly not that hard to understand where Snipes was coming from, even if his allegedly petty response was a bit much. He had just led two successful, mostly critically liked superhero horror movies and then all of a sudden he was supposed to share the poster with two other stars. And, in the end, neither Jessica Biel’s Abigail Whistler or Ryan Reynolds’ Hannibal King even made much of an impact. Toss in a lame version of Dracula as the villain, over-stylized action sequences, and some cringe-worthy dialogue from King (which, to his credit, Reynolds tries his best to sell), and Trinity is a catastrophic end to what could have been an all-timer comic book trilogy.
Rent Blade: Trinity on Amazon Video.
5) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
In spite of its notorious month early leak, X-Men Origins: Wolverine did quite well in theaters. And that’s a testament to Hugh Jackman’s inextricable link to the role because, as a movie, it’s pretty rough. This marked a turning point for the X-Men film saga. The original trilogy had wrapped up on a dull note, and it was clear those behind the franchise weren’t quite clear where to go next. The answer was to stick with what worked. However, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not the one to make that “stick with what works” direction, well, work. That would be X-Men: First Class, which nailed the combination of showing audiences characters they had grown fond of while also giving them the opportunity to learn more about these characters.
Origins is very much more of the same. Wolverine was clearly the most popular character, but he nevertheless works best when his personality is bouncing off another different but still big personality. Then there are the filmmaking issues here. The CGI is head-scratchingly poor in spots, as has been much covered, but then there’s its cardinal sin of finally putting Reynolds in the role of Deadpool then proceeding to make Deadpool outright unrecognizable. Many questionable decisions took place to bring audiences the X-Men Origins: Wolverine they know, and even when lined up against X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix, there’s still a very strong argument that this is the worst an X-film can get. Even its best factor (Liev Schreiber’s chemistry with Jackman) is a bit confusing. We had already met Sabretooth…and this was not the same Sabretooth by any stretch of the imagination.
Stream X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Disney+.
4) Green Lantern
Green Lantern without a doubt feels like a movie made by committee. Sometimes that can kind of work (e.g. Jurassic World Rebirth), but sometimes it goes awry. Green Lantern is very much an example of it going awry. The director himself, Martin Campbell of Casino Royale fame, has pinpointed this issue. It needed a singular voice behind it, like Ryan Reynolds. Instead, it’s more like Reynolds is just there, taking on a big role in a project that was already being pushed to be a certain thing. Namely, an assembly of everything that had made past profitable superhero movies successful.
Green Lantern feels like it’s constantly ripping off other superhero movies, not even better ones. It learned all the wrong lessons from the subgenre’s history up to that point. It’s just a “More, more, more” mentality that becomes overwhelming. That works when we’re seeing something new every now and then, but nothing in Green Lantern feels fresh.
Stream Green Lantern on HBO Max.
3) Deadpool 2
While Deadpool 2 was an overall solid follow-up to 2016’s smash hit, it still felt like a letdown. Even in hindsight, the second film is the least rewatchable of the three. It has everything one would want from a Deadpool movie, meaning dirty jokes and bloody action sequences, but it’s a bit too convoluted to be as breezy a Saturday afternoon watch as Deadpool and Deadpool & Wolverine.
However, while it doesn’t quite capture the magic of its predecessor, Deadpool 2 is still well-crafted, with Bullet Train director serving as a suitable replacement for Tim Miller. Furthermore, what it lacks in the original’s spontaneity, it makes up for in big swings, e.g. the establishment and quick disposal of the X-Force. That said, it was an odd choice bringing in Josh Brolin as Cable, as he was so inextricably linked to Thanos at the time, and it makes sense why his character wasn’t brought back for the sequel (though Zazie Beetz’s Domino is missed).
Stream Deadpool 2 on Disney+.
2) Deadpool
Deadpool is the exact type of movie that works best the first time you’re watching it (optimally in theaters back in 2016). It’s primarily a comedy, and quotable comedies almost always work the best during a first viewing. At the time, Deadpool was such a revelation, and undoubtedly the best $58 million 20th Century Fox—as it was called at the time—ever spent. In terms of box office haul against budget, it remains one of the more successful superhero films, and for good reason, as fresh material deserves to be sought out.
No one could play Deadpool besides Ryan Reynolds. It really is akin to how only James Earl Jones could voice Darth Vader and only Robert Englund could play Freddy Krueger. He wears the character like a glove and, while the first film’s plot is nothing to write home about, audiences rightly responded to Reynolds finally being able to get his passion project off the ground. Were the story a bit more memorable, this would be the best Reynolds comic book movie, and it’s just a shame both Deadpool 2 and, to a lesser extent, Deadpool & Wolverine wasted Reynolds’ razor sharp chemistry with Morena Baccarin.
Stream Deadpool on Disney+.
1) Deadpool & Wolverine
Given how much of an event Deadpool & Wolverine was, and how much the MCU is currently struggling, it’s truly surprising that Kevin Feige and company haven’t lit a fire under the butt of a potential follow-up. Is it perfect? No, but it does recapture the freshness seen in the 2016 film.
But the key to the film’s success is, of course, Reynolds’ sterling chemistry with Jackman. Whenever they share the screen, which is most of the time, the film is firing on all cylinders. It was also just flat-out nice to see the MCU pushing its boundaries of safe, four-quadrant filmmaking a bit by going for a fully R-rated film. And it paid off, as it was still a four-quadrant hit, far more than their efforts that have followed.
Stream Deadpool & Wolverine on Disney+.
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Pierrot/Shueisha -
Young Animal -
Image Credit: DC
