Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Marvel/Action-Comedy RT: 127 minutes Rated R (strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore, sexual references) Director: Shawn Levy Screenplay: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells and Shawn Levy Music: Rob Simonsen Cinematography: George Richmond Release date: July 26, 2024 (US) Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, Matthew Macfadyen, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic, Shioli Kutsuna, Randal Reeder, Lewis Tan.
Rating: ***
Throughout history, there have been many, many great pairs. Here are but more than a few: Adam & Eve, Anthony & Cleopatra, Romeo & Juliet, Lewis & Clark, Leopold & Loeb, Abbott & Costello, Martin & Lewis, Tom & Jerry, Goofus & Gallant, Cheech & Chong, Laverne & Shirley, Bill & Ted, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead, Dumb & Dumber and now Deadpool & Wolverine.
I’m going to forgo my usual diatribe about the sorry state of recent superhero movies. It’s all been said and done, why be redundant? Also, it doesn’t apply to Deadpool & Wolverine. Well, it does and it doesn’t. Technically, the three-quel is a superhero movie, but not in the same sense as any of the films featuring one or more members of the Avengers. Like its predecessors, it subverts the genre with a costumed protagonist incapable of taking anything seriously. Deadpool, played again to sarcastic perfection by Ryan Reynolds, frequently breaks the fourth wall to comment on the action taking place. This time around, he has a lot to say about Disney taking over his franchise after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox. I’m shocked they allowed Reynolds to say some of the things he says. Who knew the suits had a sense of humor?
As you probably surmised by the title, Deadpool’s latest mission isn’t a solo outing. He has a partner. Let me expand on that a little. He has a partner that can’t stand him. It’s Wolverine (Jackman), a one-time member of the X-Men. Wait a minute, how can this be? Didn’t he die at the end of Logan? Yes, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone for good. Nobody is ever gone for good in the MCU. They have thing this called the multiverse. All you have to do is go to another universe and grab their version of the dearly departed individual. Problem solved.
As the film opens, Wade Wilson has resigned himself to a life of being and nothingness. He tried to join the Avengers, but was turned down flat. After that, he hung up the Deadpool costume and became a used car salesman. His discontent led to his girlfriend Vanessa (Baccarin, Firefly) breaking up with him. He wears a brave face (and bad toupee), but it’s obvious he’s not a happy ex-hero. That’s when life throws him a proverbial curve ball. Armed men from the Time Variance Authority show up at his front door and summon him by force to TVA HQ.
The head guy Mr. Paradox (Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice) wants to recruit Deadpool for a special mission to save his universe from complete obliteration. In order to successfully accomplish the mission, he’s going to need Wolverine’s help, never mind that he’s been dead and buried for years. No matter, DP just hops from universe to universe until he finds an available Wolverine. The problem is this particular version of Wolverine did something so terrible, he’s hated by everybody in his universe including himself.
It should go without saying that Paradox has an evil plan up his sleeve, one involving some device called a “Time Ripper” that destroys entire timelines. He can’t let anybody or anything get in his way so he sends DP and Wolverine to a desolate wasteland known as “The Void”. It’s overseen by Cassandra Nova (Corrin, The Crown), a telekinetic mutant who happens to be the long-lost twin sister of Charles Xavier (aka Professor X). She wants the heroes dead. They want to escape from the Void so they stop Paradox’s evil plan. That means working together. That’s easier said than done.
Director Shawn Levy (Free Guy) takes a cue from buddy comedies like 48 Hrs. and Midnight Run in plotting Deadpool & Wolverine. You know how the song goes. DP and Wolverine can’t stand each other at first. They trade insults until the inevitable knock-down. drag-out fight that leaves them both exhausted. This is followed by mutual respect and by the finale, a real partnership. It’s a formula that sometimes doesn’t work. In this instance, it does.
I enjoyed Deadpool & Wolverine. I had a feeling I would. I like the two title characters very much, especially Wolverine who would rather tell the world to go f*** itself than save it. Jackman adds surprising depth to the comic book character. He plays him as a man filled with anger, self-loathing and a general hatred for humanity. At the same time, he’ll step up and save them when necessary. Deadpool is a trip. Nobody but Reynolds could ever play him. He’s an anti-hero who creates mayhem but always with the best of intentions. He wisecracks his way through all of it with his smart, fourth wall-breaking comments and observations. Now for the good news. Reynolds and Jackman have great chemistry together. It never once feels forced or unnatural.
Deadpool & Wolverine is profane, messy, extremely violent, extremely gory (CGI gore, of course) and funny. It has a lot of inside humor throughout. At one point, the old 20th Century Fox logo makes a cameo appearance. Like a lot of people and things in the Void, it’s discarded property deemed no longer relevant. That brings me to another neat aspect of Deadpool & Wolverine. There are several surprise appearances by other Marvel characters including a couple I thought we’d never see again. Now you could look this information up on Wikipedia, but where’s the fun in that?
Fun is the operative term here. Deadpool & Wolverine is a lot of fun. It’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination. The brainchild of five writers, it’s the usual superhero silliness with a nonsensical plot that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The effects aren’t all that special. It’s the same CGI we’ve seen in countless other Marvel movies. HOWEVER, it has plenty of action and some great fight scenes including one in which the guys go up against an army of Deadpools, one of whom has a cute little Dogpool that takes a liking to the OG DP.
You can’t ask for much more from a summer movie than to be entertained. These days, even that’s a tall order. A lot of what studio put out are empty, soulless vehicles that distract the view with copious amounts of sound and fury. Deadpool & Wolverine has plenty of both, but they don’t completely overshadow the film. That’s always a great big plus.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a good movie, but will it revive the struggling superhero genre? That’s hard to say. It’s definitely better than a lot of their recent films, but are audiences ready to re-embrace superheroes? We’ll see.
