“Deadpool & Wolverine” was directed by Shawn Levy and stars Ryan Reynolds as the merc with a mouth Deadpool/Wade Wilson. In this film, Deadpool enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and its irritating multiverse, soon teaming up with a Wolverine variant (Hugh Jackman) to save his universe from two big baddies: Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
Let’s start with the positives: if you’re looking for a fun time at the movies, this is certainly the flick for you. It has a frenetic pace, A+ jokes throughout, unique visuals (even including body horror), exciting action, clever music use, and another phenomenal performance by Ryan Reynolds in the role he was born to play. In three films he hasn’t missed a beat in regard to his acting; no one else can play Deadpool this well. He is so effortlessly likable and charming despite being an incredibly violent and vulgar character. His humor is edgy, sure, but it’s still really smart and the referential jokes hit hard and don’t pull any punches. Reynolds pokes fun at not only the Disney-Fox merger, but also the diminishing quality of the MCU, which was an incredibly welcome surprise. I could watch him play the character for hours on end and never get tired.
Matthew Macfadyen is another standout here, although no one reaches the heights of Ryan Reynolds in any of the three “Deadpool” films. He channels his comedic chops from his time as Tom Wambsgans on HBO’s brilliant “Succession” and is consistently enthralling to watch. He takes an otherwise generic British villain and adds so much flavor to the role. Emma Corrin, on the other hand, was given a bland villain on the page and delivered a bland performance on the screen.
Unfortunately, despite its many strengths, the more I think about “Deadpool & Wolverine” the more I want to erase it from existence.
As soon as Marvel announced that Hugh Jackman would be returning to the role after retiring with “Logan,” which saw the moving death of his character, I was skeptical. “Logan” is my all-time favorite comic book film and one of my favorite movies in general. I think it’s legitimately brilliant and one of the best films of the past 15 years. What makes it so perfect is that definitive ending to the character and Hugh Jackman’s tenure. Once you bring him back, you demolish that impact. I went into “Deadpool & Wolverine” hoping they’d find a way to avoid damaging the film I cherish, but of course, they erected, defiled, and ripped apart its corpse… literally. You see, the film starts with Deadpool actually digging up Logan’s corpse from the end of that film and breaking off pieces of his skeleton to battle some goons. This was an intentional visual pun to tell the audience that the film knew it was digging up Logan’s grave and defiling it, but the meta acknowledgement doesn’t automatically make it okay. Just because you recognize a problem doesn’t mean you solve it.
But despite my urging the universe to prevent this from happening, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has returned from the grave, albeit as a variant Wolverine from another universe, as if that’s a sufficient excuse. So, is Jackman as magnificent as he once was? Nope, not at all. Something was off with him the entire movie. The performance itself was great on a pure skill level; he gets emotional, he gets comical, he gets quiet, etc. Yet he doesn’t have that indescribable spark he had in the other films that made him so irreplaceable. Not only is Jackman out of practice, but he’s just past his prime for playing the character. There was a reason he killed off his own character and retired: it was time for him to say goodbye to the character he had played so immaculately, culminating in his best turn as Logan in, well, “Logan.” That may well be the greatest and most definitive performance of his career, both inside and outside of the X-Men/Wolverine franchise. But again, he’s so off here.
I also don’t feel that the Wolverine/Deadpool dynamic is strong enough to justify bringing back Jackman. They’re fun together, sure, but there’s nothing earth-shattering about seeing these two onscreen together, much to even my surprise. I believe the ultimate reason why their relationship felt empty is that the pair are surrounded by so many other characters and chaotic subplots in that repulsive, fowl multiverse that they don’t have sufficient one-on-one time together. There isn’t the needed slowed-down character-focused scene between the two until halfway into the film, and while they interact and banter throughout the entire movie, outside of maybe three scenes there isn’t enough breathing room for the characters to just… be.
This leads me to my other massive issue with the film, which is the mind-numbing endless multiverse cameos. “Deadpool & Wolverine” absolutely waterboards you with cameos and references. If you’re into that lazy, vile form of entertainment than by all means enjoy, but if you want something more out of your comic book movies, good luck.
Make no mistake: “Deadpool & Wolverine” is a soulless cash-cow disguised underneath a veneer of self-referential fourth wall breaking that manipulates its audience to pay for nostalgia nuggets, and then pretends to not be so soulless through its meta humor. Every 20 minutes there’s some “hey look, it’s that guy,” as if we’re all so stupid that we can’t be entertained by simply watching Deadpool and Wolverine… which is what the film is called! What’s the point of even calling it that? Call it “Deadpool Joins the Multiverse,” don’t pretend like this is some two-hander. Of course, the most oh, come on! cameo for me was Dafne Keen’s Laura/X-23 from “Logan” (this is not a spoiler because she’s in the trailers). The whole point of that film was Logan sacrificed himself for her, and his legacy would live on in her memory. Reuniting them undoes the significance of his sacrifice because now Laura just has a replacement.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is the final nail in the multiverse coffin for me. I loved “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and really enjoyed “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but all other multiverse films besides those have crawled under my skin and gnawed on my insides. Whether it’s the abominable “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” or the wildly overrated “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the multiverse trend has become so damn annoying and lazy. So, so, so lazy.
I know that most of the audience will adore “Deadpool & Wolverine” and impulsively shout to the heavens that “The MCU is back!” no matter what review I or any other detractors give this film. This film is bound to make at least a billion dollars and I’m sure Marvel will keep Hugh Jackman going as Wolverine for thirty more years. The consumerist, unthinking, attention-lacking Marvel fanbase will eat up the cameo-fest and uninspired fan service, further driving the film industry down this McDonalds path devoid of ingenuity. On its own, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is actually one of the better Marvel films post-“Infinity War” (goes to show how disastrous Marvel has become), but in the grand scheme of things it’s also one of the worst examples of the no-one’s-ever-really-gone garbage catapulted by the war crime “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” I pray the multiverse fad ends as soon as possible.
C
Great review! Now I don’t need to watch this…