Deadpool & Wolverine is the only Marvel Studios film to come out this year, and given the very lackluster response to some of the other superhero movies to come out as of late, it seems to have already been positioned as the savior of the MCU, if not the superhero genre as a whole, which is a strange set of expectations to lay on this particular franchise, known for its immaturity and irreverence, but hey, that’s just how things seem to operate nowadays. I was never in love with these movies, though I did admire elements of the first and enjoyed the second well enough, and honestly, my feelings even with this new one has remain largely unchanged.
The story this time follows Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), who is trying to live a life of retirement, but is dragged by the Time Variance Authority – who you might remember from the Disney+ series Loki – who inform him that he is to be sent to the “sacred timeline” aka the MCU proper while his timeline slowly crumbles away following the death of the “anchor being” in his timeline, which was Logan (Hugh Jackman) – referring to the death of Logan…in the movie…Logan. Wade isn’t too fond of the idea of losing his friends, so he decides to go to different universes to find a new Wolverine to bring over, and he ends up with “the worst Wolverine,” and the two are stuck together as they try to sort out this situation with the TVA while also getting thrown into the Void – a limbo area that is ruled by a mutant named Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
If it seems like I’m dancing around certain details, I very much am, I basically just described the first 20 or so minutes, and it’s also a lot of broad comments about what occurs. The thing about this movie is that it’s next to impossible to really talk about, not just because there are a lot of details that hinge upon being big surprises for the audience, it’s that it really is nothing but a series of surprises for the audience, and basically nothing else. When I left the theater, it was as if I experienced a blackout in time, where a couple hours just disappeared, but everything is still the same. I know that sounds dramatic, but the point is, there’s just not really a whole lot to dig into with this movie.
The are two big driving thematic forces in the film. One is the idea of heroism, which is explored through Wolverine, who is going through a crisis as someone who has failed his world and sees no hope in redemption and himself as being the hero that he was positioned to be as. It also touches on the desire to plant a legacy for the 20th Century Fox run of Marvel movies, which has come to an end since Disney acquired that studio. There are cameos aplenty, and I won’t spoil who they are, but I will say they almost all relate to the Fox Marvel projects. These cameos are definitely fun, but they don’t ultimately mean anything.
The film wants to cement this legacy that these characters did not get a chance to create for themselves, but these characters don’t feel like characters, they just feel like toys for the filmmakers to play with, showing up in their iconic costume, saying their catchphrase, and that’s about it. It doesn’t feel like they are the same characters from the movies we all enjoyed – or maybe even didn’t, and it doesn’t further their development in any meaningful way. I was not that big on Spider-Man: No Way Home, but I did like the touch of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man saving MJ, and how that fulfills something within him that was left open from his last appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was a terrible movie, and that moment worked. But there’s nothing like that here. Sure, some of these characters stick around for longer than you’d expect, but they still don’t really serve much purpose apart from fan-service. And that’s even without bringing up the incredibly corny montage set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance” that played during the credits, which felt so out of character for this movie.
I guess this gets to the root of my big problem with this franchise as a whole, which should be my cup of tea because it’s basically bug bunny with superheroes, and it’s that it almost consistently goes for the easy gag and obvious meta reference instead of really pushing themselves into challenging or even interesting territory. It’s all stuff that they know would play well with their audience without a lot of consideration for stuff beyond that. And I think this film might be the worst example of this so far because there were at least emotional and thematic threads that I was able to follow and engage with on the other two films. There’s five credited writers here, Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Shawn Levy, who also directs, and it definitely feels like there’s a lot of voices writing over each other, compromising on ideas, and losing that idiosyncrasy in the process.
Speaking of Shawn Levy, the film is a bit of a step down on a craft level, compared to the previous film, which was done by David Leitch. The action coverage is quite bland, and one sequence in particular was a bit hard to follow due to a combination of quick cuts, poor blocking, and high frame rate filming. There’s just not a lot of – at least just based on appearance – thought put into the way these characters are framed, and how to utilize color and composition to create an emotional impact. It is competently made, but it doesn’t remotely feel inspired. But hey, at least the costumes are great, and there’s some solid VFX work, except for a couple minor shots here and there, mostly involving digital body doubles.
I was honestly worried going into this review because I didn’t think I would have any thoughts about Deadpool & Wolverine because it made so little of an impression on me. But I do want to make something very clear. I don’t think this is a bad movie. I had a good time with it, I laughed at numerous points. I’d say overall, this is slightly above the first one for me, just based purely on surface level entertainment, even if I do think it’s the worst when taking it all in as a film. And that’s very much by design. This more than others is designed from head to toe to satisfy the folks who are excited for the cameos, and the references, and the jabs at the MCU, folks who were already primed to enjoy this. It’s so precise and calculated, it’s almost impressive in that regard, I certainly can’t fault them for choosing to go this way. I just wish they had a bit more ambition to these movies, and that they were as daring and boundary pushing as they claim to be. Cause yes, they are fun, but these people are clearly talented enough, and you got someone like Hugh Jackman, who clearly is giving it his all, both dramatically and with his comedic chemistry with Reynolds, I just wish it didn’t have to feel like they’re settling for less.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters.
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