Film Review: Deadpool and Wolverine

Is it as good as Logan? Of course not. Is it as good as Deadpool 1 & 2? Not quite. Is it still pretty damn good? Absolutely.

The title Deadpool & Wolverine leaves little doubt about what to expect (do you even need to see the trailer to know whether you want to watch this?), but the big question looming over everyone’s mind is whether the new film can possibly live up to the titular superheroes’ previous pairing, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Just kidding! Of course, Deadpool & Wolverine clears that extremely low bar as easily as adamantium slices through bone, and just in case you’re worried about raising hopes too high, rest assured that the film delivers exactly what you want from a confrontation between the titular characters. They trade wisecracks, insult each other, and of course they fight – more than once – sometimes against each other, sometimes joining forces against a common enemy – and their interaction always seems organic, never contrived for the sake of fan service (though no doubt in some sense that’s exactly what it is, as Deadpool himself is wont to point out).

The only real question is whether Deadpool & Wolverine provides another perfect blend of insane action, foul-mouthed humor, and self-referential metacommentary while also serving up surprisingly heartfelt character moments that make everything feel as emotionally engaging as the best of the “serious” Marvel superhero movies.

Not to keep you in suspense, the answer is…almost but not quite. Fortunately, the “not quite” part will not prevent you from having a good time.

Deadpool & Wolverine Review: Desecrating the Sacred Timeline

Actually, one other question looms over Deadpool and Wolverine: Will the film be respectful about resurrecting Logan after his wonderful sendoff in 2017’s Logan? Deadpool himself answers the question with a resounding no in the opening seconds of the new film, then proceeds, quite hilariously, to desecrate Logan’s final resting place for reasons which become clear only later.

As for what those reasons are…well, it’s complicated. We’ll do our best to explain, but one problem with reviewing this film is that you can’t write about the best parts of Deadpool & Wolverine without giving away the best parts of Deadpool & Wolverine. So here goes…

Having broken up with his girlfriend, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) hopes to get back in her good graces by becoming an avenger, but he gets turned down by Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) so instead he becomes a car salesman because…reasons. Eventually, he gets kidnapped by agents of Time Variance Authority and transported to the Sacred Timeline, where Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) offers him a job that will make him into a real superhero. However, there is a catch: Wilson’s own timeline is decaying to inevitable destruction since the death of its “Anchor Being,” who was – you guessed it – Logan/Wolverine. Even worse, Paradox does not want to wait thousands of years for Deadpool’s timeline to die out, so he has exceeded his authority a bit by creating the “Time Ripper,” a device that will instantly snuff out the timeline as soon as it is completed.

To save his friends from extermination, Wilson tries to resurrect Wolverine, which does not yield the results he hoped for, so he begins searching alternate timelines for another Wolverine. Unfortunately, he ends up with the “worst” Wolverine. In any case, Paradox does not want Deadpool saving his timeline so he banishes both Deadpoll and Wolverine to the Void (“It looks kind of Mad Max-y,” notes Deadpool, “but that would be i.p. infringement”). There they encounter the villainous Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) and also some allies we will not mention but whom most of you will recognize. Since it’s the multiverse, it’s probably not a spoiler to say that you will see alternate version of the lead characters, one of whom (a nice version of Deadpool) is particularly funny.

Will Deadpool and Wolverine escape the Void in time to stop Paradox from using the Time Ripper to destroy Deadpool’s timeline? Will Deadpool become the hero he wants to be? Will this incarnation of Wolverine find redemption? More important, will all of this happen in a way that hits the obvious notes demanded by fans while also feeling like legit story points?

Deadpool & Wolverine Review: Metacommentary or More of the Same?

The running gag in the Deadpool franchise has been trash-talking the failings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while simultaneously following much of its template. The first two films managed to eat their cake and have it too by sarcastically pointing out that they were recycling the obvious superhero cliches while executing those cliches much better than most of the films that presented them seriously. Just as important, for all of the irony, the films made you care about Deadpool without ever feeling like they were stooping to stilted sentimentality. Honestly, his character has been far more engaging than Doctor Strange, for example.

Deadpool & Wolverine largely lives up to this latter aspect, though it takes a while. At first the film is having so much fun letting Deadpool be Deadpool that it feels almost like an old Hope-Crosby Road movie in which the story was contrived to give the stars an excuse to do their schtick. After Wolverine shows up, his familiar brooding loner routine gradually develops into a legitimate character arc, and it’s like wow – the comedy hijinks are great, but they’re even better when they’re part of a real movie!

The film is less successful at the old trick of transcending cliches by mocking them. There are many good jokes about the multiple timelines of the multiverse; nevertheless, more than its predecessors, Deadpool & Wolverine feels a little less like a spoof and a little bit more like the thing it intends to spoof. Sure, Deadpool makes a crack about a MacGuffin in reference to the Time Ripper, but in the end, this still feels like one of those sequels trying to up the ante by raising the stakes to a level of cosmic destruction. Ironically, the increased threat leads to decreased emotional involvement with Deadpool, who is usually too busy cracking jokes to convince us that he is on a desperate quest to save the world.

Consequently, the episodic storyline feels…episodic. There is a narrative throughline that ties the sequences together, but you can’t help feeling that many of the sequences were thrown in simply to give Deadpool a chance to riff on them for comedic effect. Which is fine, because that’s funny, but with a 127-minute running time, the film ends up feeling pretty good instead of absolutely awesome.

Deadpool & Wolverine also feels like a two-hour pop quiz in which the entertainment quotient largely depends on understanding the multitude of references. You don’t’ need to have seen every episode of the Loki to get the joke when Deadpool mentions the show, but it certainly helps to know that it exists. More than knowing what has happened on screens both big and small, it helps to know what has transpired behind the scenes. The first two Deadpool films were fairly well insulated into their own little universe (with lots of jokes about not being able to afford cameos by famous X-Men characters), but now that 20th Century Fox has been purchased by Disney, lots more overlap is possible, and you can bet that Deadpool has lots to say about Disney being involved with an R-rated superhero film.

We have never been happy about the MCU’s attempt to force us to watch every single film and TV episode in order to understand the overall continuity (which makes little sense anyway), so it’s great to see Deadpool & Wolverine poke some fun at that; after all, trash-talking the MCU was what made us love Deadpool 1 and 2. But there was a time or two when even we were scratching our heads when presented with something we were obviously meant to recognize but didn’t.

Deadpool & Wolverine Review: Conclusion

Despite our critical griping, Deadpool & Wolverine delivered everything necessary to justify its existence and live up to the expectations raised by its title. It’s a showcase for the two characters and the actors who play them, and they milk it for everything it’s worth. Their dialogue is funny, leaning heavily into the bromance with lots of homoerotic innuendo (though it’s so overt that perhaps innuendo is not the right word).

The R-rated action is wild, and unlike other recent Marvel movies, it does not feel like digital fakery. We have no doubt that CGI played an extensive role, but the fight scenes feel genuine, particularly the showstopper almost-but-not-quite single-take as the camera tracks down a street following Deadpool and Wolverine as they take out a horde of opponents – it’s bloody, funny, and exciting.

Ultimately, in the tradition of its predecessors, Deadpool & Wolverine achieves its goals by effectively talking out both sides of its mouth, mocking its obligatory tropes while executing them in a genuinely entertaining way. It’s not great, but it’s more than good enough.