‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Review [Spoiler Free]
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Matthew Macfadyen | Written by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy | Directed by Shawn Levy
“Welcome to the MCU – you’re joining at a bit of a low point.” That pointed one-liner is typical of the rapid-fire meta jokes that come thick and fast during Deadpool & Wolverine, which comments relentlessly on the fact that Disney has now acquired all the Marvel characters previously owned by Fox, including Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men. If that sort of humour tickles your funny bone, rest assured that you’re in for a riotous time with this long-awaited Marvel Team-Up.
The film begins with motor-mouthed mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) literally exhuming Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) corpse, after Fox killed off the character in Logan. A narrated flashback then explains how he got to that point – after a failed attempt to join the Avengers (prompting the first of multiple crowd-pleasing cameos), Deadpool is contacted by the Time Variance Authority (aka TVA, as introduced in the Loki TV show), where smarmy middle-management suit Mr Paradox (Succession’s Matthew McFadyen) explains that Deadpool’s universe is being quietly killed off because Wolverine was killed in his timeline.
Determined to save those he loves, Deadpool hits upon a genius plan: he’ll simply replace Logan in his timeline with a Logan from another timeline. After a few false starts (including some lovely nods for both comics nerds and movie nerds alike), he finds a drunken, miserable Logan, who has turned his back on the superhero game but nonetheless still wears the classic yellow and black costume that comics fans have been crying out for all along.
However, their team-up doesn’t quite go according to plan and in between trying to kill each other (an impossible task, since both have a healing factor that effectively means they can’t die), the pair find themselves transported to The Void, a sort of Mad Max-esque limbo universe for forgotten or abandoned characters, ruled over by Charles Xavier’s sister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Will they be able to escape The Void and save Deadpool’s universe? Well, what do you think?
It’s fair to say that Reynolds has really made the character of Deadpool his own, a sort of unfiltered, profanity-strewn version of the actor’s own defiantly deadpan, self-aware persona, both on and offscreen. Consequently, this movie is Deadpool (and Reynolds) turned up to eleven (indulged by director Shawn Levy, who’s worked with Reynolds before), so if you found the previous movies annoying, you may want to give this one a miss.
Jackman, by contrast, proves the perfect foil for Reynolds and their constant sniping at each other generates strong comic chemistry. He also brings a palpable world-weariness to the character, to the point where you feel just that little bit more sorry for him, not least because you suspect the line “Marvel brought him back and they are gonna make him do this until he’s 90” is probably true.
Elsewhere, Corrin and McFadyen both make effective villains and there are highly enjoyable cameos from a host of familiar characters and actors that it would be churlish to spoil here.
The gag rate, needless to say, is insanely high – so high that you’ll need multiple viewings to catch every joke. That also means that by the sheer law of averages, enough of the jokes land to ensure a steady stream of chuckles throughout. In fairness, some of the jokes are positively inspired, and will doubtless lead to cheering and whooping in cinemas packed with die-hard MCU fans. On that note, the script rewards obsessive Marvel fandom on an unprecedented scale – if you’re the sort of person who has seen every single Marvel movie and keeps up with movie news, then consider yourself the target audience for the majority of the gags.
The action is pretty decent too, with a degree of violent invention that you don’t usually see in a Marvel movie. The gleefully crude humour extends to the action too – there are more stabs to groin areas than you would have thought humanly possible.
What’s perhaps surprising is the amount of quiet emotion that the movie manages to deliver, particularly with regard to Logan, whose multiverse variant here has his own tragic backstory. Similarly, there’s a reunion scene of sorts between Logan and a previous co-star that’s genuinely moving, while a mid-credits montage pays affectionate tribute to some unexpected recipients.
Ultimately, as a Marvel film for MCU fans who have a high tolerance for meta humour, this is a large amount of fun, but woe betide anyone going into it without having seen any previous Marvel projects. See it now, before the internet spoils all the best bits.
**** 4/5
Deadpool & Wolverine is in cinemas from tomorrow, July 25th. You can also catch it on Midnight screenings tonight (July 24th) so you don’t get them movie spoiled for you!
