Review: Deadpool & Wolverine
Come Together.
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Deadpool & Wolverine. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.
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THE PLOT
Via Letterboxd: A listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life with his days as the morally flexible mercenary, Deadpool, behind him. But when his homeworld faces an existential threat, Wade must reluctantly suit-up again with an even more reluctant Wolverine.
QUICK REVIEW
Another Summer blockbuster season; another blockbuster hit audiences are loving and responding to that critics aren’t quite as hot on; and thus another chance for a debate to break out as to whether critics or audiences should be relied on over the other as the barometer to whether a movie is any good.
If you’ve followed my writing long enough or have noted my love of Psephology (the study of public opinion), so you know that I find moments like this in the industry fascinating; though I also always find them dreadful to get through as casual moviegoers trash my fellow critics as “out of touch” and fellow critics at times in turn lose their cool and refer to casual moviegoers as beneath their tastes. The truth is, as I always find myself reminding everyone, all film is subjective and no matter how many words I write about any one particular movie it’s gonna have to be up to you the reader to sit down and watch the film to see for yourself if you’ll like it; and chances are most will bother to go out this weekend and in the coming weeks thereafter to go see Deadpool & Wolverine. I can give this an F (Spoiler alert, I don’t), and you’ll still likely have this on your watchlist if you haven’t seen it yet.
Its a film that matters in so many ways. From its looming massive box office success to it being the only movie we’ll get this year from the struggling MCU, to being the MCU’s first Rated-R flick, to a transition point of former FOX properties being handed to Disney, while saying goodbye to all that came before. It also matters in the simple sense that its been the fan dream of many of seeing a Deadpool and Wolverine team-up; and with the two guys who embodied them so well in film taking up the roles for one last time (I think one last time), it should make the perfect recipe for a fun popcorn action comedy.
Unfortunately I send you this review later than I would have liked. I was unable to attend a press screening that I was invited to and thus only caught the film earlier today. Given all the typical back-and-forth for CBMs like these, I had no idea how I’d feel when the credits rolled for this one. I liked the two Deadpool movies, but I wasn’t a massive fan of them either. I liked the X-Men movies, but I can’t say any of them other than maybe Logan are in the upper tier for me. On the other hand I also can be hit and miss with meta humor as I felt underwhelmed by the last two Scream movies because of it.
Let’s get the strengths of this film out of the way. Jackman and Reynolds are a great team together. The friendly rivalry-chemistry they share off the screen matches the much more intense rivalry they share on screen in this movie. Deadpool and Wolverine are complete opposites in personalities and can’t stand one another even after they’ve warmed up to one another by the third act. Reynolds makes a great smartass and Jackman plays the perfect straight man in the duo’s routine.
The comedy is super meta and fourth-wall breaking as you’d expect from a Deadpool movie. I actually thought that type of humor worked better in this third film than it did in the previous two. And the cameos and story beats are endearing love letters to comic book films of the past that those of my age group grew up with. When they were at best really fun popcorn flicks, and the MCU’s much more impactful Oscar-nominated films had yet to exist.
The movie also has a lot of heart. More than I expected or have seen from Deadpool movies of the past. There’s something poetic in here about accepting one’s path in life, and that our purposes may not be what we thought they’d be at one point in our lives. There’s also a strong theme of redemption and letting go of the past.
The soundtrack also does some heavy lifting in making some moments feel more epic than they may have else come off without it.
But as I sat with the movie after leaving my screening, I couldn’t help but ask if the humor and cameos were TOO meta. I’ve seen basically every major comic book movie referenced in the film, so the jokes and moments landed great. But someone who has less of a grander scope of these movies’ history could find themselves out of the loop. And in time some of these jokes may not age well in terms of being timely. I would argue the genius of a Spider-Man: No Way Home is that it achieved this without necessarily losing the meat of the story it was trying to tell. It had its cameos and audience moments, but they shouldn’t lose anyone who sees that movie without seeing the non-MCU related Spider-Man films. Deadpool & Wolverine in comparrison might rely too heavily on the meta.
But I can’t deny how much fun I had with this. Much more fun than I anticipated honestly. I laughed aloud plenty times. I gasped at several cameos and fan-service moments. I cared about the characters. This was definitely the kind of movie you enjoy with friends while sharing a massive popcorn bucket filled with butter, and each of you sipping a big container of soda. This is the definition of the summer blockbuster “turn your brain off” movie that my parents took me to all the time (Save for this being Rated R of course). I give Deadpool & Wolverine a solid initial grade of B+. Its not top-tier MCU for me, but it hits that sweet spot of being a fun time at the movies even if it doesn’t aspire to be the next Guardians Of The Galaxy or Thor: Ragnarok.
INITIAL GRADING
