Let’s get one thing straight: if you were looking for a generic, CGI-filled borefest crammed with lackadaisical heroes we don’t care about smashing blasé villains we definitely don’t care about, you came to the wrong movie. Marvel has left its worn-out quadratic formula of superhero films (albeit it has worked in the past) behind for something completely revolutionary.

Enter Deadpool. Most people outside of the nerd-o-sphere of comic books and limited edition Steam games may have never heard of the sarcastic anti-hero, but he’s raking in hundreds of millions of dollars on opening weekend. Why? Because this movie gets everything right. Even from the clean trailer that was played in Marvel’s other PG-13 movies, you could tell this would be no ordinary film.

As he tells us his story with unique fourth-wall breaks*, Ryan Reynolds proves that he can be a masterfully profane and acrobatic crime fighter, with f-bombs and gleeful decapitations galore. The revenge story is very compelling; after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, hitman Wade Wilson signs up for a test that might be able to cure him. However, he runs into a sadistic doctor who merely uses him for experiments and faces a horrific torture sequence and disfiguration. However, the only things that weren’t destroyed were Wilson’s ridiculous sense of humor and his desire to stick up for the common man. So, he embodies the alias of Deadpool and goes on a massive manhunt to kill the man who caused him so much pain and torture. Deadpool manages to turn his crime fighting skills into an art form, and watching him masterfully take down his enemies proves to be as hilarious as it is over-the-top.

One thing that took me by surprise were the emotional scenes where Deadpool showed us his morals and humanity. He sticks up for those he loves to a fault, even if it means turning those who threaten his fiancee into a sword kabob. He learns to look past his disfigured face and love himself for what’s on the inside (a message all too ironic and perfect on Valentine’s Day). And most importantly, the movie touches on how people can persevere from when horrible things happen to them and will always come back stronger.

My consensus: No matter whether you’re a casual action movie fan or a die hard comic book junkie, Deadpool proves that there is still life, creative characterization, and beautiful storytelling within Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.

RATING: 97/100

*fourth-wall breaks are defined as a character talking directly to the audience. It received its name because there are three walls of the “scene” and the fourth wall is the screen.