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Deadpool & Wolverine Review
Image Credit: Jay Maidment
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Directed By: Shawn Levy
Written By: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Shawn Levy; Based on the Marvel comics and characters
Runtime: 127 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore, and sexual references.
Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool/Wade Wilson
Hugh Jackman – Wolverine/Logan
Matthew Macfadyen – Mr. Paradox
Emma Corrin – Cassandra Nova
Aaron Stanford – Pyro/John Allerdyce
Rob Delaney – Peter
Leslie Uggams – Blind Al
Morena Baccarin – Vanessa
Karan Soni – Dopinder
Brianna Hildebrand – Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Shioli Kutsuna – Yukio
Stefan Kapicic – Colossus
Lewis Tan – Shatterstar
Tyler Mane – Sabretooth
“Wolverine. Loner, you have found a family. Wild savage, you have found dignity. Cynic, you have found faith.”
– Professor Charles Xavier, X-Men: The Animated Series, “Graduation Day”
Within the first five minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine, audience members will decide whether they will love or loathe the experience. The movie executes a move so shocking and irreverent that one wants to respect the gutsy ambition it took to create such a sequence. That decision will potentially invite derision, or audiences may simply embrace the depraved mayhem and go along for the ride. After all, it is a Deadpool movie. For the Merc with a Mouth, there are no proverbial sacred cows here.
Deadpool & Wolverine finds Wade Wilson (Reynolds) amid a miserable retirement. He has left the days of Deadpool behind and is stuck selling pre-owned vehicles with his friend Peter (Delaney). Sadly, things didn’t work out with his lady love, Vanessa (Baccarin), who has switched jobs and boyfriends. Now, Wade struggles to make rent, living in a one-bedroom apartment he shares with his roommate, Blind Al (Uggams). Wade’s friends throw him a depressing surprise party for his birthday, and he fails to rise from his doldrums. Unfortunately, Wade is soon ripped from the festivities by the foot soldiers of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization dedicated MCU viewers will recall from Marvel’s Loki.
Mr. Paradox (Macfadyen) summons Wilson to the TVA for a specific purpose related to The Sacred Timeline, aka the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadpool receives a golden ticket to join the MCU. However, it comes at the cost of his own previous universe, meaning all of his close friends are subject to some undesired TVA pruning. Wade Wilson takes up the guise of Deadpool once again to find a solution to the dissolution of his reality. But Wade needs help from the best at what he does, aka the Wolverine to his enemies and allies, and Logan (Jackman) his friends. Deadpool requires help from Wolverine to save his universe. Unfortunately, the Wolverine who Deadpool meets is a broken, emotionally shattered man who only finds solace at the bottom of a liquor bottle. Neither Deadpool nor Wolverine are the ideal heroes for the job, but they are now the only hope for Deadpool’s universe.
Putting aside the cornucopia of irreverent humor in Deadpool & Wolverine, the narrative’s core finally unlocks a big-screen team-up with the mutant duo. Deadpool & Wolverine works well with its abundant irreverence because it’s a Deadpool-centric story. The film depicts a large swath of outrageous mayhem since Deadpool is front and center, causing massive mischief. Thankfully, Wolverine acts as an emotional anchor point, playing the straight man to Deadpool. Wolverine’s presence ensures that the movie never becomes too incessantly idiotic.
Despite Hugh Jackman delivering his seeming swan song as the character in Logan, Deadpool & Wolverine discovers a new purpose for his prodigious return. Jackman holds his own dealing with the chaotic presence of Deadpool and delivers, quite possibly, the best, most triumphant version of Wolverine ever seen onscreen. Jackman explores familiar territory because Wolverine begins his journey as a broken shell of his former self. However, in rebuilding Logan from the ground up, Jackman finally strikes that nigh-perfect microcosm of the character in a way he never did in his past performances.
Jackman’s latest performance provides fans who grew up reading Wolverine the character they have always wanted to see onscreen. And it’s not just because the movie finally embraces and depicts Wolverine’s classic comic book costume. The core of Wolverine’s monomyth is the failed, wandering warrior. Wolverine embodies the failed samurai. He’s a man who is lost in life and lacks purpose, but he discovers a new one and becomes the hero he was meant to be. Wolverine is a man who walks the line between his base animality and his humanity. He is the noble savage prone to violence who seeks peace. Jackman brings out all those aspects into his performance in Deadpool & Wolverine, which is more satisfying than any previous attempt.
Wolverine’s presence is made that much better by the inclusion of his iconic costume, which the film translates exceptionally well. The depiction of the costume proves that fans were literally gaslit by Hollywood for decades over the idea that a more traditional cinematic version of the classic costume and mask could not work onscreen. Not only do they work, they look damn good. Fans should not have had to wait over 20 years to see this, but Deadpool & Wolverine makes the wait worthwhile.
Costumes not only exist as part of superheroes’ iconography but constitute the very fabric of their identities. Shawn Levy and the writers of Deadpool & Wolverine understand that, and they wisely make the costume part of Wolverine’s character arc. If a filmmaker or executive ever attempts to claim these costumes can’t work on the big screen, that they look stupid, or they don’t look good when brightly lit, Deadpool & Wolverine finally proves they are wrong and don’t know how to shoot superhero costumes.
Emma Corrin makes the most of their screentime as Cassandra Nova, imbuing the character with a dangerously amoral yet weirdly seductive quality. Had the film offered Corrin more time and material to develop the role, they likely would have hit it out of the park. Cassandra Nova receives a faithful backstory to her Marvel comics counterpart, but there is not enough time to develop her villainous origin. The movie doles out Nova’s backstory through quick, underwhelming exposition. Nova turns out far better than other more recent MCU villain attempts, but Nova’s character feels undercooked considering Nova’s place within X-Men lore.
Another significant aspect of Deadpool & Wolverine strangely serves as an oddly touching tribute to the pre-MCU era of Marvel movies, not only the ones produced by the studio formerly known as 20th Century Fox. That means a gratuitous level of cameos, references, and Easter eggs that add to the overall amusement. This type of kooky story paying tribute to pre-MCU superhero movies works because it’s depicted through the chaotic Deadpool lens.
Marvel Studios utilizes the threequel to showcase a wicked sense of humor toward the studio’s past mistakes. It proves that Marvel Studios and Disney are willing to allow Deadpool to mock old failures. Marvel Studios recently suffered some significant setbacks, but at least the studio exhibits a sense of humor and proves it can take a good ribbing. Ultimately, learning from past mistakes becomes part of the movie’s message. Deadpool and Wolverine stew in their past failures, but together forge an oddball relationship that becomes key to overcoming them. Failure hurts, but it does not have to define who they are as heroes.
Deadpool & Wolverine does not exist as a film by which the MCU shall live or die. Kevin Feige might be overplaying its significance in the overall placement of the MCU, as he often does for other installments, as well as how the film hints at the franchise’s future. Instead, the film presents a highly entertaining, fan-service-laden, and irreverent romp, finally bringing the unlikely duo of Deadpool and Wolverine together on the big screen. Marvel Studios and Disney deliver a win when they are in dire need of one. For that, Deadpool & Wolverine is an absolute success and a must-see for any longtime Marvel True Believer.
