Serving as both a polite goodbye to the mixed bag of Fox’s Marvel films, Deadpool & Wolverine is also a giant love letter to the character of Wolverine and, more importantly, Hugh Jackman – fan service at maximum effort. It’s crass, bloodier than you might expect, and uses more F-bombs per minute than any of either previous Deadpool films and it’s going to (deservedly) make ridiculous amounts of money at the box office.
Director Shawn Levy knows if you’ve bought the ticket for Deadpool & Wolverine, you’ve probably done enough Marvel homework to commit to this ride, so there’s little hand-holding. The story wastes no time with the wonderfully lean running time (barely over two hours) for a film this massive, rarely letting its foot off the gas. The now traditional Deadpool opening credits song sequence kicks things off with a gory riot and just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come in how far Deadpool & Wolverine is willing and will go.
Be sure to avoid spoilers for this one as best you can, some are already circulating online. You won’t find any here because their discovery within the film provides so much of the overall excitement of the experience and needs to be preserved. Marvel fans are in for some real treats from the deep history of all that is Marvel and Deadpool & Wolverine finally brings some long-desired characters and largely anticipated moments to life.
Ryan Reynolds made no secret about his loving wish to team up Deadpool with Hugh Jackman’s Logan/Wolverine for as long as he’s played the character and the result here couldn’t have turned out better. The story never loses focus on Reynolds’ incredible comedic performance as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, but clearly, the actor wasn’t afraid to check his ego and let Jackman truly share, not only the title but the majority of the screen time and it pays off.
Hugh Jackman has never been better as Wolverine. There I said it. Yes, Logan is a near masterpiece of comic book storytelling, but that was a mostly self-contained version of the character. Deadpool & Wolverine gives audiences the R-rated, colorful super suit-wearing beast that your fandom brains have been dreaming of your entire geek life. Not only that but so many other variations and interactions that you didn’t even know you wanted. It’s wild stuff. Also, just when you think you’ve finally seen Deadpool satisfyingly throwdown with Wolverine on the big screen, the film goes and one-ups itself from there. Each time they clash, the fight sequence is unique, and never disappoints with their brutality and ingenuity, and again, Reynolds and Jackman shine together.
While the film lies heavily on the shoulders of the protagonists, there are some terrific, albeit under-represented, portrayals of their adversaries. Emma Corrin (Pennyworth) is mesmerizing, and unsettling as the omega-level sister of Charles Xavier, lost from existence to the multiverse void and it’s hard to take your eyes off Corrin every time she’s on-screen. Sadly, her final villainous push in the film’s climax is a character letdown after what came before – a generic, world-ending comic trope Macguffin. Although, the film is nothing if not self-aware, with Deadpool calling out this exact MacGuffin earlier in the film.
Additionally, the incredibly clever choice to use The TVA (Time Variance Authority) from Loki gives us the nefarious, but hilariously bumbling Matthew MacFadyen (Succession) as Mr. Paradox, a TVA agent trying to “prune” or destroy Deadpool’s timeline. MacFayden’s line delivery never fails to be laugh-out-loud unique and even manages to steal a few scenes, even in the face of Reynolds’ towering comedic timing.
The script is fast and furious with razor-sharp quips flying. Laughs are so consistent that many follow-up lines in my screening were drowned out by audience reaction. Deadpool & Wolverine approaches its humor with the old comedy mantra of (and I’m paraphrasing): never go with your first choice, go with your third. Many of the ideas or “toys” the film plays with inside the story avoid the obvious humor choices and instead go somewhere more clever and hilarious than the initial setup.
I didn’t bother going too far into the plot, because it’s probably the weakest element. Lots of multiverse silliness and expositional nonsense that will make even the staunchest of comic book film fans occasionally roll their eyes. Thankfully, there’s still plenty of emotion derived from the character arcs of both Deadpool and Wolverine to feel well served as characters – partially thanks to the exceptional performances of the dual leads. The long-term MCU consequences of the film remain to be seen and are probably minimal at best, but Deadpool & Wolverine is the funniest movie of the year and fan service at its most entertaining.
Score: 4 out 5
For more Deadpool & Wolverine, check out our coverage of the Berlin press conference here.