Review - Deadpool & Wolverine
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Written by: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen
Running Time: 128 Minutes
Rating: 3/5
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in trouble. The multi-billion dollar franchise across television and film has seemingly overwhelmed audiences and has started to sputter into an era of mediocrity. Everything post Endgame feels like an outpouring of content that certainly feels substandard and even unnecessary. In its current “phase five”, the MCU has lost its way, commercially and critically, shifting its pop culture mainstay into more and more of a fatigued franchise.
Well, enter Deadpool & Wolverine, a hopeful electrifying shock to the MCU, bound to resuscitate life back into the pop culture juggernaut. An explicitly crude, violent and side-splitting buddy-cop adventure through time and space, Deadpool & Wolverine looks to mark the entry of the audacious, fourth-wall breaking Merc into the MCU, but alas, it is a sham, a magic trick by Levy, Reynolds and Jackman. Deadpool & Wolverine feels less of an entry to the MCU and more of a nostalgic farewell to the bygone era of FOX’s superheroes of cinema past.
Deadpool is no more. Wade Wilson has settled into a midlife crisis. He and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) have broken up. The X-Force have disbanded. He was rejected from The Avengers and is now working a dead-end job as a used car salesman. Unwillingly, Wade has left Deadpool behind and settled for civilian life (toupee included!). When Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) of the TVA enters Wade’s universe with a proposition to literally enter the MCU, Deadpool enters the fray once more in search of a Wolverine to help anchor his timeline.
The MCU is deep in multiverse territory - from Loki to No Way Home & The Multiverse of Madness, this new era of storytelling has seemingly built it's strength in audience reception through cross-story character variations from different universes and a maddening array of stunt casting to pull shock and awe for the new generation of superhero fans. Deadpool & Wolverine continues more of the same, but treats it's cameos and deep cuts with a more nostalgic emotional farewell to an era that never felt fully encapsulated by the MCU. While running concurrently (and just prior) to the emergence of the Feige-led Marvel Studios; the X-Men franchise (among others) were kept separate with 20th Century Fox as part of licensing agreements. Deadpool & Wolverine works as a balancing act to merge the two universes into the MCU.
That being said, this is still a Deadpool film through and through. A fast-paced, fourth-wall breaking, meta irreverence and absolutely explicit vulgarity is the film’s beating heart - a bloodline of anal sex jokes, f-bombs and lots of over-the-top gore, violence and humor. Reynolds keeps the pace moving with a plethora of deep cut references to pop culture, cinema and even personal lives of his own marriage to Blake Lively, Hugh Jackman’s Broadway career (and divorce!!!) and a big middle finger to Disney & Fox. Even after years of hanging up his claws, Jackman’s Wolverine is still as iconic as his first entry back in 2000’s X-Men.
Even in its claims to be a groundbreaking piece to the next era of the MCU (and it's implications long term) Deadpool & Wolverine feels less so concerned with the MCU than it's connections to the Fox era of superheroes. The film feels void of emotional journey for Wade and Logan, but feels more concerned in its impact of long lasting nostalgia and it's deep cut cameos. Wolverine’s own personal send off in Logan was emotionally powerful and resonant to Jackman’s longstanding career as the titular hero, while Deadpool & Wolverine feels a little soulless. Wade’s own journey in saving his own universe feels a less gratifying knowing that he would be now part of an even bigger world in the MCU. The film just feels bland outside of its trip down memory lane. The jokes are a dime a dozen and every second is packed with an insult or jab to reality - which are sure to evoke some laughs and smirks from the audience - but if you did not enjoy the previous Deadpool films or even Deadpool in general, you’d be best to stay away. It is more of the same and arguably, even more so than it's predecessors.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the perfect buddy-cop action comedy for the new generation of Marvel die-hards. A mile-a-minute marathon of foul-mouthed, self-referential vulgarity all drenched in a blood-soaked road-trip across the wasteland of FOX's cinematic universe. While the heart and soul of the film is virtually non-existent in narrative, the film pays off deliciously with some deep cut fan serviced cameos and references to the nostalgic era of FOX's superhero era. A jerk-off of blood, guts and gore, Deadpool & Wolverine is a trip down memory lane, rather than an entry to Disney Land.
