Low-Budget

By superhero movie standards, Deadpool is a pretty low-budget affair—and it shows. 

The Vancouver-set production cuts corners wherever it can. Deadpool conveniently forgets to bring his duffle bag full of guns and ammo to both of his showdowns with Ajax, for example. With a wink, he acknowledges that it's weird that the movie only includes two of the vast stable of X-Men at Marvel's disposable, and that those two aren't exactly A-level mutants. "It's a big house," he says of the X-Men's mansion that also doubles as Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. "It's funny that I only ever see two of you. It's almost like the studio couldn't afford another X-Man." It is funny, and it shows that this flick was produced on a tight budget.

Deadpool also keeps its special effects to a minimum, which is very rare for a superhero flick. Colossus, with his "organic steel" body, is a splurge, but that's about it. The scrapyard where the final showdown between Deadpool and Ajax takes place—itself a low-budget action setpiece—isn't a monstrosity of CGI; it's the actual scrapyard underneath the Pattullo Bridge.

The overall film doesn't suffer for its modest mode of production, though; the real attraction here is Deadpool's skillfully profane mouth. When all is said and done, the pop culture references, insults, and innuendoes fly so fast and furiously that there's hardly any room left in the frame for fancy effects or extra X-Men anyway.