Sunday Matinee #4 Deadpool

Four or five moments. How many do you have?

Good morning, Dear Reader, R-Rated Movie Club is all up in your DMs. Writing about movies and theology has been a blast and having subscribers like you tells me there’s a desire to seek the sacred in the secular out there. This week, we review the poll results from earlier this month. Thanks for participating!

Earlier this month, we had our first Audience Reaction Poll. The question was “What is the best of the top five highest-grossing R-rated film series and franchises as of 2023?” It’s possible you hadn’t seen all five franchises (I haven’t seen a single film in The Conjuring oeuvre) or not every entry in the franchise (if you want to know how many of The Hangover movies I’ve seen the answer is “enough”). Still, based on your experience and their reputation, you took the poll. Now, let’s look at the results:

Looks like The Matrix is the winner here. Funny enough, I’ve already written here about not liking this movie or the franchise, but I can’t deny that people who enjoy them really enjoy them. When I talk to Matrix fans, the first film is still the overwhelming favorite, and that’s where I agree. The others, I think, are a case of the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. I mean, there’s the highway chase in Reloaded vs. the ending of Revolutions.

As for my take on the poll? That’s a tough call. I’ve only seen the first Hangover movie, but maybe only ever once. I haven’t seen The Conjuring movies at all, maybe I need to give at least the first one a shot. I am a huge X-Men fan, however, even had several subscriptions to the X catalog of comic books in middle school. But remember, only three of the X-Men movies are rated R: Logan, Deadpool, and Deadpool 2. These are each good movies (Don’t believe me? Check out this week’s Quotes with Notes below!). But in terms of great movies, I’ve got to give it to Alien.

Alien is a franchise with two amazing movies (Alien and Aliens), one good movie from a certain point of view (Alien: Resurrection), another better-if-you-give-it-another-chance movie (Alien 3), and the rest (Prometheus, Alien: Covenant). Plus, Aliens and Alien 3 have alternative director’s cuts that bring a lot to the table. There’s a lot of world building throughout, the visuals are stunning, and many of them can stand pretty well on their own. For example, I’m quite confident I saw Aliens long before I saw Alien and there is enough setup there to know what’s going on. How often do you get a franchise where people have legitimate arguments about whether the first or the second movie is better. I mean, it’s Star Wars, Terminator, and Aliens. James Cameron is involved in two of those three and that’s saying something.

I think my final marker of which of these franchises is my #1 is this: if someone said they hadn’t seen a movie in any of these five franchises, and I had ready access to them all, I’d start with Alien, absolutely.

Or maybe Aliens?!

Hmm, this is harder than I thought…

Thanks for taking the first Audience Reaction Poll. We’ll be back with another in February. If you’re still curious, you can read the entire list of the highest-grossing R-rated movie franchises on Wikipedia.

Quotes With Notes

Matthew 5:14-16 NRSVUE
Full Text: Matthew 5:13-20 (Revised Common Lectionary)
For the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (February 5, 2023)
Sign up for a free course at EnterTheBible.org to learn more.
Context: Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mound. He started with the Beatitudes, a list of blessings for the least likely and most deserving. Here, he says you are capable of living a life as a servant of God.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Creator in heaven.

Deadpool | 2016 20th Century Fox| IMDB
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrien, Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand
Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick | Directed by Tim Miller
Context: Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is a foul-mouthed, sarcastic mutant assassin out to get revenge on Ajax (Ed Skrein), the man who tortured him to gain the secrets of his mutant rapid healing factor. He has Ajax at gunpoint, ready to kill him, when Colossus (Stefan Kapicic/Greg LaSalle), a mutant member of the X-Men superhero team and oversized Russian with metal skin and a heart of gold, yells out to him there’s another way.

Colossus: Wade! Four or five moments. 
Deadpool: I'm sorry?! 
Colossus: Four or five moments! That's all it takes.
Deadpool: …To?!
Colossus: Be a hero. Everyone thinks it's a full-time job. Wake up a hero. Brush your teeth a hero. Go to work a hero. Not true. Over a lifetime, there are only four or five moments that really matter. Moments when you're offered a choice - to make a sacrifice, conquer a flaw, save a friend, spare an enemy. In these moments, everything else falls away. The way the world sees us. The way we... 
[Deadpool gets bored and shoots Ajax, killing him] 
Colossus: [vomits] Why?!
Deadpool: You were droning on!

Commentary:

This may be one of those scripture and movie pairings that really has you going, “Wait, what?” But hear me out.

When Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount he addressed an unlikely crowd. Whether this is a collection of teachings and saying of Jesus collected together in one passage or it truly was one sermon, we don’t know. We do know he’s preaching to the people of Galilee, to people out on the edge of the country, who weren’t given many pep talks about being loved or valued or good for much beyond a triple tax system. That means when Jesus says “You are the light of the world,” it’s an unlikely message to an unlikely audience. To hear that you can do good, that you have something to offer, that you can let your light shine - to hear all of that is an empowering new message on your life. It’s one that rings true for each of us today. Yes, even you. You are the light of the world. And you can do great things.

Deadpool isn’t buying it. Colossus has a similar message for him. You can be a hero and even that identity doesn’t take being “on” 24/7. It’s about a handful of moments that when the stakes are truly on the line, you make the choice that makes the difference. I happen to agree with Colossus. As for Deadpool, at this point he’s just too selfish to see it. If he’s the light of the world, it’s got a red-tinted gel over it and a gobo with an outline of a middle finger. Will he come around in Deadpool 2 then? And if so, will he tell Colossus he was right? You’ll have to watch to find out. What about Deadpool 3 next year? I’ll be first in line so I’ll find out when you do. 

We don’t listen to every piece of wisdom that falls on our ears. Whether it’s from Jesus or other teachings in our religion or philosophy, or from a mentor, instructor, parent, or someone else who’s been around the block, we don’t always listen. Perhaps one of the reasons phrases like “You are the light of the world” need to be said over and over again is so its echo can worm past the dismissal (or outright contempt) until those crucial four or five moments when we can actually believe it about ourselves and do something with it.

Every once in a while, if I didn’t understand someone’s wisdom back then, but I get it now, I reach out and let that person know. Not every time! But sometimes. How about you? If someone tells you that you can do something amazing, that you are the light of the world, and you don’t believe them… until years later it all clicks for you… do you tell them?

Take care of yourself and watch out for each other, and blessings to you. May what you seek be found, and may what is found have an abundance of love at its center. And to today’s preachers, may the sermon you crafted and the prayers you lift reveal the everlasting presence of the Holy Spirit. See you at the movies.

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