But if you were hoping for a cinematic experience on par with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Endgame” or “Spider-Man 2,” keep your expectations in check. “Deadpool and Wolverine” is the not-really-but-kinda third film in the “Deadpool” series, the final installment of the posthumous 20th Century Fox universe, and the first in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wade Wilson/Deadpool is struggling to find his place in the world after hanging up the superhero costume until he’s given the chance to be a hero again for yet another shadow agency within the Marvel universe.
This offer though comes at the cost of his universe being destroyed, forcing him to team up with Hugh Jackman’s down-and-out Wolverine to save his world from annihilation. From the first scene are literally retreading old ground. Both title characters are walking beat by beat through their character journeys of each of their previous films, which becomes the theme for the whole movie.
A lot of nothing new, but re-done in a way that is entertaining enough to look past in the moment. If it’s not repeating old beats, it’s using tropes that never worked to begin with, such as an unmotivated off-screen break up to motivate the plot. But the plot is not consistent with the previously established lore.
(Looking at you, “Dial of Destiny.”) The main stakes of the film, their world is going to be destroyed, is probably the most used villain trope in the comic book genre, and here, the saving grace is that at least it serves a meta purpose: the real-world transfer of character rights from Fox to Disney. This, actually, is where the movie does separate itself from the rest of the genre in ways only Deadpool can do.
This movie is as meta as they come, probably having more self-deprecating jokes-per-minute than the “21 Jump Street” remake, usually done at the expense of Disney. In a lot of ways this helps course correct Disney’s plans with the overall Marvel franchise. There is acknowledgment that their current story plans haven’t been working, and awareness that fans have been very displeased with their story telling.
Aside from using this ability for meta humor for studio pot-shots, it also offers some incredibly rewarding humor and respectable use of fan favorite legacy characters, that rise far above Marvel’s standard cameo usage. For hardcore fans of Marvel comics, there are some truly beautiful story threads given to legendary actors that made the genre what it is today, characters that desperately needed a second chance and some that infamously never got a chance at all. And unlike “Multiverse of Madness,” none of these were wasted opportunities.
I’d say all of these praises and issues come down to the director, Shawn Levy. While he’s a competent director, he’s one without his own vision or influence. This movie is first and foremost a Ryan Reynolds film.
He’s the star, a producer and one of the writers. The two have teamed up twice before, and Levy has plenty of titles in his filmography, but has never distinguished himself as a director with an artistic voice like Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan, or even newcomer directors like Arkasha Stevenson with “The First Omen” or Adam Wingard with “Godzilla X Kong.” Regardless of the quality of these films, there is a clear vision.
Levy, on the other hand, knows how to assemble highly entertaining visual noise. All in all, “Deadpool and Wolverine” is one of the most entertaining and satisfying movies we will probably get all year, but not a movie of high quality, and like many in the modern MCU, will feel awkward and stunted within a year when they hype has died down. But in the meantime, go check out this movie!.
