Deadpool and Wolverine: Movie Review

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew MacFadyen
Director: Shawn Levy

Ryan Reynolds returns as the motor-mouth Wade Wilson for yet another outing - but for the first time, Reynolds' wise-cracking, fourth-wall breaking antihero is joining the Disney universe. However, he's not alone in the ride into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Despite trying to join the Avengers in Earth-616, Wade Wilson finds himself rejected. Lacking purpose, he gives up on being Deadpool until the Time Variance Agency (from Disney+ show Loki) shows up on his doorstep on his birthday, saying they need his help.

Abducted, Deadpool is offered a chance in his eyes to redeem himself as the self-confessed Marvel Jesus and bring life to the fracturing timelines...

To say more about Deadpool and Wolverine's (admittedly slight) plot is to rob it of its many reveals.

Needless to say Levy and a team of five writers have pulled together a love letter to both the Marvel and the 20th Century Fox Universe, with a slew of cameos and unexpected moments to thrill fans of the genre. (A moment even Deadpool self-referentially tells nerds to get their sock out to cope with their excitement).

But, if the humour occasionally grates by hitting low-hanging fruit and staying there, and if the pace feels a little bit of a lag over a near 130 minutes run time as the continuing asides fall from his mouth, what Deadpool and Wolverine manages to do is to make essentially what was becoming tired feel somewhat fresh again. However, there are moments when the humour feels a little forced and the script lacks some of the looseness that has previously been brought to table - no doubt thanks in large part to the actors' strike constraints.

Yet, deep within the film Reynolds and Jackman's bond is evident. From continual fights and bickering between the two to a glowering nihilistic Wolverine from Jackman, the chemistry in this Odd Couple companionship is there from the get-go. Of the pair, Jackman is the more successful, having to reinvent yet again another version of the X-Men favourite - but there's a despondency and resentment that Jackman brilliantly mines here to great effect, and which Logan's harder-edge and rating have clearly influenced. (And the script doesn't hold back either, with one moment referencing Jackman's recent divorce).

However, there's a respect for the characters - both the main and the cameos that borders on reverential; at times, the story feels more like it's going for sentiment and saccharine having blown plenty of its cinematic load on some gory, all-out action scenes.

Corrin's take on their character feels both familiar, yet new, exuding menace when needed in the brief appearances she makes as the unsettling antagonist - though the less said about their final moments the better. It's in moments like this, the script's weaker edges come to the fore.

Maybe a tighter edit could have reined in some of Deadpool and Wolverine's less alive moments (which really feel their weight as the story goes on) as it borders on too indulgent (but Marvel famservice) - but as a distinctive love letter to a world, Deadpool and Wolverine strikes the right tone. While it's best to go in cold for maximum enjoyment, the characters will win you over.

It's bitterly ironic for a character who spends so much of his time snarking and poo-pooing sentiment, that Deadpool and Wolverine's central message of mattering to others and heart comes so close to saccharine overload in the final moments. Though, on reflection, perhaps that's Deadpool's ultimate joke on all of us - that no matter what we feel or think, this film and its main character - much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe's legion of fans - just want to be loved.