*Yes, Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” is a minefield of spoilers you’ll want to avoid, but this review will be spoiler-free, especially for any cameos.*
Somewhere in the comic multiverse, an ancient superhero proverb says nostalgia is a razor-sharp double-edged katana sword, and if not handled with care, it can cut and wound or worse. In Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” heavy nostalgia blades don’t necessarily cause the viewer to bleed, but they arguably come close with a few stings and nicks, feeling fresh and sharply funny at first and a little bit dull and tired by the end of its two-hour runtime. Directed somewhat unremarkably by Shawn Levy (“Free Guy”), it’s a film perhaps a tad too concerned with appearing like a big blockbuster outing with not enough eyes on the prize of the script. It’s hyper-aware of what fans want and over-delivers it to them in big doses for better and worse. But it’s akin to sugary candy for a child; it might be all they want, but it doesn’t mean it’s good for them or what they need. Still, despite all these inherent problems, including big swaths of exposition, ‘D&W’ is often comedically amusing in all the right spots.
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While often uproariously hilarious—Ryan Reynolds still the MVP of this franchise with his LOL’ing wicked and profane quips—irreverent, playfully filthy, and entertaining, the plot is rather flimsy. Sometimes, it just feels like an excuse to mash these two fallen heroes together to bicker, fight, bicker, and team up with different old 20th Century Fox pals and not a lot more (also, the hatred and contempt dynamic that Logan has with Wilson is not that entirely different from the Cable’s in “Deadpool 2”).
Yes, there are many cameos (though maybe less than you’d imagined), all of which we won’t spoil. And if you were expecting a lovefest (or self-fellatio) for that Fox era of superheroes—which many have already assumed— well, you receive pretty much that.
For the ride-or-die fandom who have been waiting all their lives to see this team-up and some of these secret cameo characters interact, the movie will play like Marvel Jesus bliss, an ejaculation of fandom that, as Deadpool says, will leave you wet. But this is where the film will wobble and sometimes falter for more discerning audiences who care about well-told, emotionally persuasive stories, compelling narratives, well-shot action, and even heart and soul that doesn’t just coast on nostalgia.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” opens with a hilarious dance and action sequence set to N’SYNC that will surely annoy “Logan” director James Mangold and arguably reneges on the claim the new movie wouldn’t desecrate that film’s legacy. From there, it narratively ping-pongs around, using some time travel elements from “Deadpool 2” to briefly visit the MCU.
The story is relatively weak, and aside from some minor turns in the overstuffed third act, what you see in the trailers is what you get. Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool (Reynolds), is disheartened, struggling, and has lost his way. And he’s given up superheroing to live a dull, used car salesman life, partly because he’s no longer dating Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). Still, the seemingly real reason—Wade being rejected from a team of superheroes he admires—isn’t very emotionally convincing for someone hitting such a despairing rock bottom. Wade wants to matter desperately, yet this sentimental side of the movie, sometimes a bit sappy, frequently conflicts with the DGAF side of the mutant mercenary.
During a birthday party with his beloved friends—the only thing he believes is worth a damn— Time Variance Authority (TVA) goons suddenly kidnap Wilson to that netherverse. There, the agent Paradox (Matthew McFayden, playing a mild variation of his weaselly and conniving “Succession” character) tells Wade he’s been chosen to join Marvel’s The Sacred Timeline—everything the mouthy merc has ever dreamt of. However, the cost of joining the MCU’s 616 timeline is high, as his universe, which Paradox wants to prune, must die. The exposition-heavy problem of Wilson’s earth—a very convoluted dilemma that doesn’t make much sense—can only be solved through a Wolverine. Yet, since the “X-Men” hero is dead in Wilson’s world (see “Logan”), Deadpool uses the TVA timedoor technology to essentially surf the multiverse and find a replacement (cue fun variants). Eventually, he stumbles upon a similarly brooding and reluctant-to-help Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Paradox mocks Wilson’s choice, describing this Logan as the worst of his kind.
This Wolverine failed spectacularly, letting down his own universe. Believing he has little to live for, these two make a perfect self-loathing pair. Eventually, the duo is banished to The Void (the purgatory zone featured in the “Loki” series). In this Mad Max-like desert wasteland, they run afoul of the all-powerful mindf*cking Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). She’s the twin of Prof. Charles Xavier with similar telepathic powers, but malevolent and twisted (and lacking any clear evil-doing motivation, really). From there, road trip elements, super cameos, and vast action sequences take over the narrative with mixed results, but the bawdy comedy as the North Star always works (it’s gory, too, but the violence + humor recipe still works).
But it’s almost like every act has one significant action set piece stuffed with cameos, and by the third and final one, this novelty has lost its appeal. Strangely enough, the action is a weak link, especially when it’s not servicing the laughs. Wade and Logan get into several heated and bloody skirmishes, but it’s become repetitive even by the second brawl. And Levy either can’t direct coherent action, or the editing is sloppy because many of these epic conflicts—slow-mo, speed-ramping, various tricks, etc.— become kind of slogs in the film’s second half. Moreover, despite the title, it’s Reynolds’ film, and thank goodness because he saves it. Unfortunately, the narrative forces Jackman to play mostly one dour note of a haunted and tragic backstory that weighs down the more pleasurable antics and levity (not to mention feels familiar to “Logan” and how that character initially gave up).
While some unholy alliances and backhanded deals are revealed later in the picture through its two main antagonists, the movie’s maximalist, overcooked last act is fairly uninspired and features the typical, we must save the universe! showdown and risk our lives! in the process. Ultimately, not much feels at stake because nothing really changes (one central fan-service-y element here does not work at all either). The heroes find their well-earned redemption, get a happy ending, and everything is basically safe and sound (ironically, while some people have already described it as an MCU game-changer, well… let’s just say it’s not).
While it’s a “48 Hours” buddy comic dynamic grafted onto superheroes, the formula is so familiar that it rarely takes risks or moves the heroes into a meaningful place, although it purports to be about friendship and even empathetic forgiveness for all our grave mistakes. It’s more emotional than previous “Deadpool” movies, but this quality is sometimes too earnest and conventional. Cameos abound, and while some are riotously delicious, a few key ones in the second act are surprisingly flat.
Yes, these all seem like a litany of valid complaints, yet “Deadpool & Wolverine” still manages to mainly entertain. And that’s the rub: as a movie, it’s not really much of one, scrawny in so many ways. But as an enjoyable experience, it frequently excels due to Reynolds’ spicy jokes and memorable fourth wall-break wisecracks. Many of Wilson’s withering meta barbs are sardonically about Marvel itself, Disney or Fox, or about filmmaking, but the best ones hit below the belt at the studio’s expense (winky, self-referential digs at the company being at a low point after “The Marvels” and how the multiverse stories have been played out). These gags and asides are not only witty and comical, but they’re clever, too. They also keep the film afloat because any time “Deadpool & Wolverine” tries to take itself too seriously, the air of its rubbery tires is released.
Marvel has utilized the multiverse cameo trick three times: this movie, ‘No Way Home,’ and ‘Multiverse Of Madness.’ While these films have all achieved the company’s best post-‘Endgame’ box office results, one must wonder how long they can keep playing this increasingly familiar tune before it gets old.
The overall shape of the movie can sometimes be akin to F-word abuse for comedy. It can be thrillingly funny at first, especially coming out of the mouths of heroes you don’t typically hear such foulness from (not Wilson, obviously), but by the 90th time you hear an F-bomb, it starts to lose its value and power. Still, despite all its flaws, ‘D&W’ humorously diverts in the moment, but as a durable movie or even a long-lasting MCU film, it’s no slam dunk. Nostalgia doesn’t necessarily cause deep self-harm in the picture, but it arguably doesn’t help the aim to create a memorable and enduring movie either. LFG? Sure, I guess. [C+/B-]
Walt Disney Studios releases “Deadpool & Wolverine” on July 26.