Deja vu with ‘Once Upon a Deadpool’
Posted on December 14, 2018
By MARK VIOLA
Going into “Deadpool 2” this past summer, the biggest question on my mind was whether Ryan Reynolds — who played the “Merc with a Mouth” to perfection in the first film back in 2016 — and crew could pull off the same amazing trick twice.
Somehow, they actually did. “Deadpool 2” was absolutely everything fans of the original could have hoped for in a sequel, rediscovering that same mix of genuine emotion and outrageous humor, molding them together in a film that will make you cry, laugh and cringe, all the while enjoying yourself from start to finish.
Now, we have “Once Upon a Deadpool,” which is essentially a PG-13 cut of the hard-R “Deadpool 2.”
Can “Deadpool” work outside of his profane homeland? Is there even a point to seeing a PG-13 “Deadpool”?
To answer the first question, I would say… sort of…? Having seen “Deadpool 2” twice in theaters in its original form, I couldn’t help but feel the PG-13 edition is quite neutered in comparison. There’s very little blood whatsoever, which is almost comically noticeable during the major fight sequences. There’s still language, but the worst of it has been dubbed over to varying success.
If you just don’t have the stomach for the R-rated antics of the original cut, this is a much better version than what you’d get on basic cable sometime next year. Aside from that, however, the PG-13 version of the original film falls a bit flat.
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