Deadpool opens in UK cinemas on Wednesday and in the US on Friday, but is it actually as good as the promotional campaign has made us believe? Well, a host of movie critics have seen the film and the majority seem pretty pleased with Ryan Reynolds’ return as the Merc with a Mouth.

Over on Rotten Tomatoes Deadpool has a score of 94% fresh from 31 reviews, with an average review rating of 7.6. The critics consensus states: “Fast, funny, and gleefully profane, the fourth-wall-busting Deadpool subverts superhero film formula with wildly entertaining — and decidedly non-family-friendly – results.”

The movie isn’t fairing as well over on Metacritic, but is still managing a positive score of 66 from 18 critics.

The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde writes: “Deadpool is one of those movies that’s all the more successful for how easily it could have gone so very wrong. It’s suffused with an arch, self-aware wit…yet it takes its romance and revenge storylines just seriously enough to keep us engaged.”

The Guardian’s Peter Brandshaw says: “Deadpool is neurotic and needy – and very entertaining. An innocent pleasure.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy puts: “It takes a little while to get in gear – or perhaps just to adjust to what’s going on here – but once it does, Deadpool drops trou to reveal itself as a really raunchy, very dirty and pretty funny goof on the entire superhero ethos, as well as the first Marvel film to irreverently trash the brand.”

Variety’s Justin Change adds: “As a vehicle for the impudent comic stylings of Ryan Reynolds, this cheerfully demented origin story is many, many cuts above “Green Lantern,” and as a sly demolition job on the superhero movie, it sure as hell beats “Kick-Ass.””

On the other end of the spectrum, The Film Stage’s Jordan Raup says: “For an 11-year-old sneaking into the theater for his first R-rated movie, Deadpool could prove to be a revelatory trip. For myself, it was an exhausting, grating experience, lacking in wit and cleverness as it crumbles underneath its wall-to-wall torrent of jokes. If this represents a new stage for comic-book adaptations, the future is even more dismal than one could have imagined.”

Source: Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic