Deadpool & Wolverine and all the images you see in this review are owned by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Directed by Shawn Levy
Everyone’s sick of the MCU until they aren’t, and if the box office is anything to go by, then it looks like Marvel Fatigue has officially ended as this is making quite a pretty penny for Disney. Then again, both these characters were major stars well before Disney got a hold of them, so the success of this movie came as no surprise to anyone; even those who’ve declared the MCU to be over a dozen times already. Still, were they right to be skeptical about Deadpool entering the MCU, or does his third outing deliver on what makes this character great along with bringing in truckloads of cash? Let’s find out!!
It’s been six years since the last Deadpool movie, and it seems that Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has spent that time doing everything except being Deadpool. He’s got a new job, he’s broken up with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and he’s even moved in with his landlord (Leslie Uggams) who’s still doing a lot of drugs while Wade has gone straight-edge. This odd change in the status quo hasn’t gone over his friends’ heads, but before they can really confront him about it at his birthday party, he gets kidnapped by none other than the Time Variance Authority (TVA) who believe him to be a valuable asset and want to move him to a different universe before his own gets destroyed. Not exactly a great birthday present if you ask me, and Wade seems to agree as he runs off and recruits a Wolverine from another universe (Hugh Jackman) to help him fix whatever has gone so disastrously wrong and save all his friends in the process. Can the sullen and taciturn guy with the claws help Deadpool save the world, especially when he’s so thoroughly irritated by Deadpool’s jokes and goofy attitude? What led to Deadpool putting up the tights for so long, and can he find a way to fix himself as well as the universe he calls home? Seriously, do these two actually hate each other, or is this just some elaborate form of foreplay?
Few people have been as perfectly suited for a role as Ryan Reynolds is for Deadpool. It’s something that’s been said every time he dons the suit, but it’s no less true here, and I think he’s only gotten better over time, with this being easily the best entry in the trilogy. It’s second only to Hundreds of Beavers as far as laugh out loud comedies this year, but Reynolds being hilariously snarky has been a given for this entire series. What has always made this the standout Superhero series that it’s been has been the genuine heart and endearing characters that convey more drama with their interpersonal problems than any world ending catastrophe you can name from its peers. That’s not to say that this latest adventure isn’t throwing around all the MCU cash and clout it can to tell a big story, but that ends up being window dressing for what the movie is truly about and what makes this a surprisingly potent movie for a certain segment of the audience; one that I’m most certainly a part of. The inclusion of Hugh Jackman is a clear sign as to what the movie is trying to accomplish, but I’ll refrain from any sort of spoilers here, as the movie does a fantastic job of building up its most surprising and ludicrous moments and I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun. With that said, let’s talk about Meta narratives!
Meta storylines can often feel cold as they are commenting on something outside the confines of the storyline. You can get swept up in a movie full of drama and suspense, but if you’re watching someone else watch that movie then your engagement with it shifts more towards their reactions of it which are more often than not, critical, snarky, or just playing it up for laughs. This movie does something similar to that as Deadpool’s fourth wall breaking is a constant source of chuckles, but its genius is in deftly shifting you away from the snark towards something darn near profound for anyone who grew up with Hugh Jackman’s version of Wolverine and everything that came with it. You’d think it’d be difficult to get you choked up about a series of movies that frankly only had about a fifty-fifty track record, and yet there’s something beautiful in how they thread this needle. It’s hilarious, but also knows when to break your heart. It sets you up for irreverence, but then makes you feel nostalgic. Whatever else you can say about this movie, from its great dialogue, the brilliant chemistry between Reynolds and Jackman, or the action set-pieces that finally feel worthy of both of these characters now that they have MCU money to throw around, it’s a wonderful piece of filmmaking just for how much positivity and joy it can wring out of an audience who have grown rather cynical of everything it’s celebrating.
Still, if there’s anything to point to as somewhat of a negative, the plot itself does feel convoluted and inconsequential which is not a huge problem given how it’s merely a backdrop for our characters to work through their problems and to deliver hilarious dialogue, so much so that the movie might as well be done in the style of Black Box Theater, but it’s the most noticeable stretch mark in the movie’s attempt to integrate itself into the wider MCU. Any exposition is just there to move us from one location to the next, and you don’t even get a sense of danger when the big bad starts to enact their standard World Ending Masterstroke; something that’s been plaguing the MCU movies for a while now, though with everything else is at stake in the story, it’s a minor annoyance at best. It also feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the Deadpool series, as the characters that made those movies great are barely in it. Oh sure, they’re mentioned almost constantly as Deadpool’s entire motivation is to save them, but the fact that Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead don’t even get a single action scene feels kind of disappointing.
The Deadpool movies have only gotten better with time, as each subsequent sequel manages to find new and interesting ways to spoof the genre while plumbing this unserious character for surprising amounts of depth and complexity. Whatever flaws I can come up with don’t detract from the utter brilliance of this movie and only give the next sequel more opportunities to be even better. Without a doubt, this gets the highest of recommendations from me. Even if you’re sick of Superhero movies, especially if you’re burned out on all those half-baked X-Men movies, this is something worth checking out. Deadpool may not be enough to reinvigorate the MCU for those who have already given up on it, but his little corner of that world is still a lot of fun to visit.
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