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deadpool-wolverine.jpeg

'Deadpool and Wolverine' Is its Own Weird, Wild Creature, and Exactly What We Need

By TK Burton | Film | July 27, 2024 |

By TK Burton | Film | July 27, 2024 |


deadpool-wolverine.jpeg

There’s no real formula to the Deadpool movies — each one has been so overstuffed with fourth wall breaks, R-rated humor, and gratuitous (albeit hilarious) gore and often their plots are barely coherent at best. The newest entry, Deadpool and Wolverine, isn’t much different. Yet, as with its predecessors, that is often more a blessing than a curse.

This time around, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, once more having the time of his life) is snatched away from his (resurrected via Cable’s time travel device from Deadpool 2) friends by Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), a rogue member of the Time Variance Authority (or TVA, as introduced in the Loki television series). Paradox seeks to accelerate the destruction of several degrading universes, and for reasons that I’ll leave you to learn on your own, Wolverine might be the key to saving Deadpool’s. Wilson steals Paradox’s universe-jumping device and sets off on a quest to find Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to enlist his aid.

As one might suspect, things do not go as planned. The Wolverine that Wilson finds is not the one he’d hoped for, and they’re soon recaptured by the TVA and banished to The Void, a Mad Max-esque wasteland filled with other TVA castoffs, the most notable of which is Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin in a superb performance), an immensely powerful psychic and telekinetic with a surprising link to the X-Men, who has taken control of the Void by forcing its denizens into serving her.

It gets messier from there. What follows is a lightning-fast series of jokes, fights, exposition dumps, and a dizzying array of cameos, many of which were wildly unexpected and wholly enjoyed (truly, do your best to go into it spoiler-free). Between all of that and Wilson’s constant fourth wall breaks the film is often hilarious, exciting, and perhaps most importantly, weird. It brings an energy that has been sorely lacking in recent MCU projects (and in the last few Fox/X-Men projects) and is a pleasant shot in the arm to the superhero movies of late.

Perhaps what helps boost that shot is that Deadpool and Wolverine also spends a lot of its fourth wall interruptions taking cracks at the MCU itself, often in unexpectedly savage fashion. Sure, it’s all done in the name of commercialism and profit-making, but Deadpool’s constant attacks on the tepidness of the post-Endgame universe gives a voice to what fans have been saying for the last few years — what the hell happened? It’s all done with a tongue in cheek, but it’s also pretty damn accurate.

The film is a mess, story-wise, and it’s often difficult to tell if that’s just part of its meta-ness or if it’s a genuine writing stumble … or both. It’s certainly written by a committee, but when the committee is as talented as this one — Shawn Levy (who also directed), Reynolds, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick (co-writers of the first two films), and Robot Chicken alum Zeb Wells — you’ve got a lot of top chefs in the kitchen. There’s no doubt that the film is overstuffed — there are 20 pounds of jokes jammed into a 10-pound project - and its run time is excessive, though that’s starting to feel like a pointless criticism, as 120+ minute films are simply the way of the world now.

But saturated storylines aside, Deadpool and Wolverine is a hell of a lot of fun. Reynolds does his thing, and does it well, but it’s nice to see Jackman back in the tights again, and the numerous homages to the comic book character throughout the years are a delight. Jackman is great here, somewhere between his portrayal as the suspicious X-Men version and the world-weary Logan one, furious at the world and exasperated by Deadpool. There are a couple of fights between the two of them that are absolutely riveting, but the more impressive part is the amount of genuine gravitas that Jackman brings to the role in a film as utterly gonzo as this one.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention that action choreography which is quite fun. It’s bloody as hell, with decapitations, amputations, and easily the world record for genitals-stabbing. It’s also nice to see action sequences done on a (relatively) small scale — there are no giant monster fights, and while there is a lot of VFX tossed in, it’s rarely distracting. The film even makes light of Marvel’s tendency to use armies of drab, identical monsters in a phenomenal and hysterical sequence toward its end. It’s all in good, bloody fun.

Ultimately, Deadpool and Wolverine is … a Deadpool movie. Jam-packed with wisecracks and blood, it’s both an homage to its origins and a critique of its contemporaries. Its performances are all terrific (especially Corrin’s Cassandra, but also great work by its many cameo stars), its action is tight and entertaining, and it’s just nice to see a superhero movie that doesn’t disappoint again. I’m sure there will be a way for Disney to make it have some sort of ripple effect through the MCU, but it’s not as overt or clumsy as those links are in other MCU projects. Deadpool and Wolverine is its own wild, weird creature, and it might just be exactly what we needed.




















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