Movie Review: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: July 30th, 2024 / 12:20 AM

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE movie poster | ©2024 Marvel/Disney

Rating: R
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Matthew McFadyen
Writers: Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy, based on characters created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza
Director: Shawn Levy
Distributor: Disney/Marvel
Release Date: July 26, 2024

For those who enjoy the core tenets of Marvel’s DEADPOOL movies – nonstop crude verbal humor and violent assaults on both bodies and the fourth wall – DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE offers virtually nonstop entertainment.

Those who are at least mildly conversant with the characters will remember that Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, is a former mercenary, horribly burned but with endless powers of self-regeneration (as shown in 2016’s DEADPOOL), who really loves to crack wise about himself and everybody else. He ended 2018’s DEADPOOL 2 in pretty good shape.

Those who have been tracking the adventures of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, aka Logan, first introduced in 2000’s X-MEN, are aware of his immortal mutant nature, retractable adamantium claws, and taciturn disposition. Despite his immortality, Wolverine died heroically in the sober-minded 2017 LOGAN.

So, how exactly does DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE get Wade out of his happy place and back into action, and get Logan anywhere at all?

Funny you should ask. Deadpool, the X-Men and the Avengers (among others) were all born in the pages of Marvel Comics. However, when the Marvel Cinematic Universe started, all of the AVENGERS characters were at Disney, while DEADPOOL and X-MEN and a few other titles/characters were at 21st Century Fox.

But then, after both LOGAN and DEADPOOL 2, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, which meant that they were now in the same copyright zone as THE AVENGERS, et al.

Some people reading this will know where this is going. Others may be wondering, why am I getting a Hollywood history lesson in the middle of a movie review?

Well, 1) it helps to know that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which also incorporates SPIDER-MAN) has plots built around the multiverse – that’s the idea of multiple universes and realities – as well as multiple timelines within each universe (time travel is also in the mix). AVENGERS: ENDGAME, DOCTOR STRANGE: MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, THE MARVELS, and/or especially the TV series LOKI all deal with these concepts.

2) The studio doesn’t want reviewers to talk about DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE’s plot overmuch, nor its many “guest” characters, and something has to be discussed here, right?

Let’s just say that a universe needs saving, Deadpool needs Wolverine to have any hope of accomplishing this, and Deadpool’s nonstop chatter drives the grumpy Wolverine to the breaking point. It’s your typical superhero buddy comedy, except with R-rated splatter, and a number of pretty explicit jokes. (Those bringing youngsters to this film should be prepared to do some explaining.)

The pairing of Deadpool and Wolverine is fairly inspired, given that they are both quasi-indestructible and forever wrestling with crippling guilt and self-doubt. For all that Deadpool teases Wolverine, Wolverine’s unhappiness is played straight by Jackman. Reynolds knows how to be sincere when the moment calls for it, but he also knows how to be a grand court jester, and goes for it with glee.

Wolverine gets the kind of specific back story that suits him, and Jackman gives the role his all as usual.

It’s all pretty deft and gonzo. Deadpool is as aware of Hugh Jackman and Disney and Fox as he is of Wolverine and the Avengers and the X-Men, but he is the only character who seems to have this information; when he spouts off in the vicinity of others, it’s not as though they’re picking up on the possibility of yet more realities. (Why would they, when they’ve already got so many to choose from?)

One story gripe, without spoiling much, since it comes at the top: Deadpool yearns to be part of a team, but he already had one by the end of DEADPOOL 2. For a movie this concerned with what’s come before, it seems like this should at least be acknowledged.

Excellent support is provided by Emma Corrin as a supervillain and by Matthew McFadyen as a villain who is not super, just bureaucratic. There are plenty of fine surprise (assuming you don’t look at the cast list on IMDB) appearances as well. Some of these actors have really worked out in preparation for showing up here.

If you want flying quips and kicks and swords and bullets and body parts, and mind-shattering paradoxes provided by people who know what they’re doing with a playful sensibility, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE is here for you. Those who would like to mull over the intricacies of the multiverse/time variables with friends are advised to set aside several hours post-viewing to do so, as that won’t be a quick conversation.

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