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THE visual elements in Tim Miller’s directing debut include giant junk heaps, an aircraft carrier in the breaker’s yard, automotive mayhem, gunfire involving men who can’t shoot straight, varieties of brutal treatment from which no real human might get up and walk away and other improbabilities.

“Deadpool” is the nickname for a former soldier (Ryan Reynolds) who has acquired special powers during post-trauma recovery. He’s going to need them to survive the conflict against Warlord (Michael Benyaer). Deadpool has a small coterie of chums – particularly a giant Russian played by two people, one for voice, one for facial expression, and a small woman who morphs into a ball of fire when necessary.

The ideas underlying these shenanigans come from Marvel Comics, publishers of graphic novels for people who find reading tiresome but can get an idea of storyline from pictures.

Expanding graphic novels into moving images is not cheap. Marvel Comics knows that there is an audience out there prepared to pay production costs and profit. I’m sure Marvel Comics also understands the intellectual level of that audience. If you can read this review, yours is above it.

At all cinemas