So I went to go see it, based on the cold equations of showtimes (Deadpool was in the zone, Hail, Caesar! was not). …I do not know how they got away with making that film. It is not the greatest movie in the history of ever, but I fail to see how they could have reliably made it a better Deadpool movie. From literally the opening credits it was made clear to me that I was expected to pay attention, and doing so rewards the careful viewer; they never stopped and only rarely even slowed down.
Again, I don’t know how Marvel got away with making that film. I imagine that half of our modern-day sheet-sniffers in academia are having strokes right now from the dialog, not to mention the costuming, acting, and in some cases, the soundtrack. But you can probably expect more like it, now: that film had a budget of ‘merely’ 58 million*, and it’s already made that back and more in half a week.
I liked it. Go see it. If you take children along, I will call Protective Services on you and sleep like a baby afterward.
Moe Lane
*It feels like a bigger-budget flick, but that’s actually just clever production work.