Much like its main character, Deadpool & Wolverine is amusing, though ultimately kind of exhausting. It’s a seemingly endless array of superhero references and in-jokes, with a heroic quest stapled onto it and some sentiment sprinkled on top. The charm of Deadpool lays in his winks to the audience and refusal to take anything he does seriously. Now that he is officially a part of the MCU, this is his personality mixed with the usual Marvel formula. Those worried that this would be a sanitized Deadpool need not fret. He is still vulgar and violent, though there are several jokes about what Disney will no longer allow him to do (mostly, cocaine). He fits decently enough in his new universe, mainly because the character hasn’t changed. What has changed is that he is now involved in the multiverse stuff, which is (thankfully) presented as a gag here, instead of life and death. But man does it wear thin after a while.
Deadpool & Wolverine (115 minutes, plus a post-credit scene) absolutely has fun stretches. Ryan Reynolds is very comfortable as Deadpool, successfully toeing the line between irritating and funny. Hugh Jackman is good as the cranky straight man, nursing a deep pain. Some of the references/cameos are legitimately hilarious, though I am sure most of it didn’t hit me nearly as hard as they would someone much more invested in these movies.
It feels like the filmmakers were more interested in clever non sequiturs and goofy fan-service than they were in telling a coherent story. It does not help that (with one exception near the end) the action scenes aren’t particularly well-staged. It’s a bit of a novelty to see an MCU movie with this much blood, but the choreography is totally uninspired. The “ha! Look at that!” cameos and all the quips built around Disney’s acquisition of Fox, plus the sketch-esque nature of the plot is eventually overwhelming. I’ve generally enjoyed this series, yet this really does feel like he left his universe and is now a medium-sized fish in a massive pond. His supporting cast from previous entries have significantly smaller roles. It turns out that Deadpool’s silliness added to MCU spectacle equals just okay.
People are very sensitive about spoilers when it comes to this genre, so I’ll keep it vague: in order to save the world, Deadpool needs to find a Wolverine somewhere in the multiverse and bring him back. This becomes an epic journey featuring a plethora of sex jokes and gratuitous blood/gore.
Similar to the first two movies (especially the wonderful Deadpool 2), that plot is a pretty thin clothesline on which to hang a ton of jokes about Marvel adaptations. There is conversation about universe saving and Deadpool being Marvel Jesus, yet this stuff is merely an excuse to include familiar characters while the merc with the mouth makes asides to the camera. It also works to loosely connect it to other MCU properties, which isn’t quite as clunky here as it has been in other recent outings.
What it really comes down to is the gags, the action and the references. If you enjoy those things, then Deadpool & Wolverine will certainly work for you. The gags are funny, though they feel a tad played out this time. The action, as I mentioned earlier, is not good at all, besides a delightful sequence filmed as an homage to the hallway fight in Oldboy. As for the self-aware references to Disney, Fox and various franchises, it is definitely entertaining at first, then gets less and less so when it becomes obvious that this is all there is to the joke. Diehard fans of comic books and superhero movies will probably have far more fun with it than I did. I didn’t dislike Deadpool & Wolverine; however, unlike Deadpool 2, it’s way too much like a normal superhero movie for my taste.
3 out of 5
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Emma Corrin as Cassandra
Matthew Macfayden as Paradox
Directed by Shawn Levy
Written by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells and Shawn Levy
Comments