[WARNING – This review will contain minor spoilers.]

Wade Wilson was many things. Canadian. Ex-Special Forces. Mercenary. Asshole. But he definitely was not a hero. He would also have classified himself as a fighter rather than a lover before Vanessa entered the picture.

She was a hooker with a heart of gold and some other parts that would probably be worth a bit cast in bronze. What started out as kinky, weird sex (even by their mutual standards, or lack thereof) slowly blossomed into love. And for a while, life was good.

Naturally it all turned tragic. Faster than you could say Lifetime Movie Of The Week, Wade was diagnosed with multiple untreatable cancers. His only hope came in the form of a mysterious man who told Wade about an organization that made people better. Not just by curing their diseases, but by giving them superpowers.

It sounded too good to be true. And it was. The organization turned out to be less than altruistic and Wade was turned over to a sadistic scientist who was able to cure his cancer while leaving him hideously scarred in the process. Only a timely bit of arson saved Wade from becoming a brainwashed super-slave to be sold off to the highest bidder.

Now, Wade Wilson is dead. Well, the world thinks he’s dead, which is the next best thing to actually being dead. Regardless, Wade will do three things – find the jackass who mutated him, get said jackass to fix his skin, and reunite with Vanessa so they can commence with with the kinky – yet loving – sex. What could possibly go wrong apart from everything?

It should not surprise anyone (save perhaps those foolish enough to petition for a PG-13 cut of the film) that the Deadpool movie is full of adult humor and gratuitous violence. What may surprise audiences, however,  is that this movie is – as Deadpool tells us during one voice over – a love story. It’s an incredibly violent and messed up love story, but hey – so is Romeo and Juliet.

Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin sell these scenes on pure charisma. The two have natural chemistry together. And despite the humor involving their sex life (fans of the comics will not be disappointed to see that Wade’s kinky streak is in full play here) there is some honest romance.

This makes the later scenes in which Wade watches the woman he loves from a distance all the more tragic. He can deal with the disgusted stares of strangers but having Vanessa look at him like that? Unthinkable. He can heal any physical injury, but that shot to the heart would truly kill him.

Worry not, True Believers!  While I may wax philosophical on how this movie managed to be surprisingly sentimental, it is still as crazy as we could have hope for.  Fourth walls are broken, pop culture references are made, and Stan Lee gets a cameo.  All is right and well with the world.

Well, nearly all is right. The movie does drag a bit during the origin story flashbacks, which are surprisingly humor free. One wishes for some sarcastic acknowledgement that Wade’s origin is just like those of Wolverine and Captain America, with Deadpool apologizing for the redundancy of yet another origin story where some guy is strapped to a table while being injected with weird stuff.

Another minor issue is the inclusion of the X-Men. Well, two of them, anyway. They don’t really add anything to the movie apart from giving Deadpool another straight-man to rally against. I also wonder why the X-Men are so hot to recruit Deadpool for their team. Don’t they have enough trouble with the world hating and fearing them already? And doesn’t Logan already fulfill all their needs for an unstable guy who likes stabbing people?

Despite this, Deadpool perfectly captures the anarchic spirit of the original comics. Not since Robert Downey Jr. in the original Iron Man has an actor been so perfectly cast for a character in a superhero movie as Ryan Reynolds was here. The rest of the ensemble backs him perfectly. This movie is a must-see for all Deadpool fans as well as anyone who enjoys a bit of romance, horror and comedy in their action movies.

Unless you have kids.  You should all stay at home. Or get a sitter.  Don’t take the kids with you to see this movie. Seriously. For the love of all that is good and plenty, leave those kids at home!

And stay through all the credits!