Deadpool Wolverine (Credit: Marvel Studios)
It’s been 6 years since we last saw the fan-favorite trader with his mouth. After two successful films in a row, expectations were naturally higher for the next film especially when Ryan Reynolds announced that it would be based in the MCU and that Hugh Jackman would be returning as the one and only Wolverine! It’s Marvel’s only major release this year, and excitement for it has been sky-high. Well, the moment everyone has been waiting for for so long has finally arrived.
First of all, this movie is a lot. It’s an overwhelming experience, to say the least. The risks are high and were identified too early. People who were just expecting a light, cheerful comedy that was easy to follow will be disappointed. This movie is none of those things. Let’s start with the mouth trader himself, Ryan Reynolds. Aside from being the star, he also co-wrote and produced it. He was certainly at the heart of all the decisions, and from a business and fan satisfaction perspective, he made a lot of great choices. We’ll talk about the business and fan service side of it later, but his performance was as crazy as you’d expect. It oozes charm, it has style, it has the moves (to move and dance), and most importantly, it’s very entertaining most of the time.
Coming to the hero most of us grew up watching, Logan/Wolverine was the brightest star in this galaxy. It is by far the best part of the movie. Many of us thought we’d never see the grumpy old clawed crusader again after that Logan (2017), but here he is 55 years old and showing everyone, arguably the most popular comic book character of all time in terms of features. His physique is intimidating and he never seems to stop playing Wolverine. He is still as ferocious and full of rage as ever and as brutal as he was in the fight sequences. His fights with Deadpool are really cool and well executed. Hugh also does most of the emotional heavy lifting here.
Deadpool Wolverine (Credit: Marvel Studios)
Of the rest of the cast, Matthew Macfadyen does well with what he’s given, as does Emma Corrin. Rob Delaney gets some good scenes as Peter. No other shows stand out. On the other hand, fan-favorite characters like Yukio, Blind Al, and Dopinder in particular are completely wasted. They barely get screen time and feel unfairly marginalized at this time. Vanessa gets very little screen time and the story justifies it for her, but for others, there was plenty of room for her to use it. TJ Miller, another really fun character, doesn’t even appear in the movie.
The writing is the most frustrating aspect of Deadpool and Wolverine. No one expected this to have a great and memorable story, but I expected a good story with a lot of heart and emotion especially when you have Logan. Structurally it’s a mess, with so much exposition at times that it’s hard to follow. Some characters also appear out of nowhere to ruin the flow of the movie just to get a cheap gag. The story also lacks any real heart or emotion, even with such high stakes. The writers could have gone deeper into the friendly relationship between the two heroes, but they failed to do so and this causes limitations in the level of chemistry between the actors. It is not bad, but it never achieves its true potential.
The film has a relatively good running time, clocking in at just over two hours. But her relentless pace is sometimes her own worst enemy. There’s no space or time to allow the arcs to cook properly, or even to develop and establish the characters in the first place. This is what prevents the characters of Cassandra Nova and Mister Paradox from being interesting or dangerous. This also results in not taking full advantage of the ensemble of Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen, both of whom are fantastic actors. Fans also expect a great villain to hate in modern superhero movies, but Cassandra Nova is significantly undercooked and ends up being a forgettable rather than formidable foe.
Deadpool Wolverine (Credit: Marvel Studios)
Although the movie is called Deadpool Wolverineit still mostly feels like a Deadpool movie, not to say Logan doesn’t have its moments. If he wasn’t there, we would be having a completely different conversation, but fortunately he is there and he does the trick. Another thing I noticed is that all the Deadpool movies have the common problem of starting out with a bang and then gradually fading away. I definitely liked the first half more than the second, largely due to the weak third act. The film really goes off the rails at the climax. Its primary interest seems to be fan service rather than tying up all the knots and covering the story with a warm swirl.
For me, this is about Shawn Levy. I like him as a director, but he seems very reserved in his direction here and seems afraid to flex his muscles at all. Yes, there’s a lot of great action here and the visual effects are great, but he could have done more. His inexperience in dealing with R-rated content was evident here. Speaking of action, it was mostly great and very stylistic. But (Minor Spoilers) 90% of the fight scenes take place between Logan and Wade. I didn’t come to this movie for that, we already had that in X-Men Origins. Ultimately, I think the movie has a hard time adjusting to the pressures of entering the MCU. Not only does a Deadpool movie have to be good, it also has to be a good MCU movie, which comes with its challenges. The writers are trying to adapt to the new landscape and fit all the tools at their disposal, but that just makes the scenario more chaotic in the larger context.
But putting all that aside, there’s something else we promised the audience in this film, which is appearances and lots and lots of them. They deliver quite the engraving, and it may exceed some people’s expectations. I can imagine people howling in movie theaters at some of them. Most of them work well in the story. It also didn’t hinder the tone or feel of the storytelling and was shaped to fit the Deadpool brand and the R rating. The R rating is used well considering it’s Marvel’s first attempt at this, but for all the violence and gore in this movie, don’t expect a lot of gore. Don’t expect a lot of swearing and adult jokes.
Deadpool Wolverine (Credit: Marvel Studios)
Deadpool Wolverine It’s a veritable multiverse of madness that offers a lot of mindless fun, but ultimately gets buried under the weight of joining the MCU. The trilogy delivers all the violence, vulgarity, and needle drops you’d expect from a Deadpool movie. It brings new energy to the MCU and pays homage to the X-Men with Hugh Jackman at its heart. It’s a really fun, uncompromising R-rated story for the most part, but it has a convoluted script that also lacks warmth and emotion, leaving you wanting more from these characters. But thanks to a great soundtrack, a host of great cutscenes, and almost non-stop meta commentary, it still delivers an entertaining cinematic experience.
Deadpool and Wolverine will be released in theaters in July 26.
