[WRITER’S NOTE: The following review contains minor spoilers.]
It’s fair to say that the MCU has been struggling since after Avengers: Endgame. Releasing theatrical features alongside numerous streaming series on Disney+, the otherwise highly-successful comic book studio has been losing traction for supposedly going woke and being more agenda-driven than story-centered. While titles like Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 were exceptional, others like Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels underperformed.
Enter Deadpool & Wolverine (both the characters and the name of the new movie they star in). Picking up off of the post-credits of Deadpool 2, in which Wade Wilson altered aspects of his universe, Wade’s actions now apparently get the attention of the Time Variant Authority (or, TVA, from Loki), but not in ways that it seems. Long story short, Deadpool has to find a different version of Wolverine, since the one in his world (as seen in Logan) died, in order to save that world and everyone he cares about. That, and to address and satirize the aforementioned issues that people have had with the “Multiverse Saga” so far.
Being the only MCU release this year, it is exciting to see Ryan Reynolds’ Merc With the Mouth and Hugh Jackman’s claw-fisted mutant on screen together—the latter sporting his iconic yellow outfit from the comics and early-90s animated T.V. series. (Really, it took over 20 years for Hollywood to do this?) Director Shawn Levy (who previously worked with Reynolds on Free Guy and The Adam Project, and with Jackman on Reel Steel) certainly gives fanboys and -girls a team-up they’ve been waiting for for years. (The train wreck that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine doesn’t count.) Plus, the surprise cameo appearances (none of which I will spoil) made me lose it. They were that jaw-dropping and mind-blowing. Like No Way Home, certain characters who never got a proper closure to their respective franchises get theirs in this movie.
Reynolds and Jackman have gone on record that they would not mess with the latter’s previous 2017 outing (at the time, the Aussie actor thought it would be his final portrayal of the character). And while this version is a fairly alternate iteration, I couldn’t help but feel as if the filmmakers were occasionally treating James Mangold’s film as a running gag. An insane opening sequence has Wade Wilson digging up Logan’s adamantium skeleton and then using it as ammunition. The plot points that follow can be convoluted, and the story can be a little hard to follow (including its locations and timelines. You read that right).
On the other hand, there seems to be a trend with this series, in terms of how surprisingly in-depth the narratives get under all the insane mayhem. Deadpool, for one, wants to put his old ways behind and do something, as he says, “matters.” But as one fan-favorite character assures him, “You don’t fight because you need to. You do it because they [the people you help] need you.” Wow. The titular Wolverine we encounter in this story, meanwhile, is carrying a lot of grief and regret over people he lost (which he may have been responsible for). One genuine moment finds a younger character thanking the former (if misguided) mentor: “You were always the wrong guy. Until you weren’t.” Now that’s good stuff.
The bad news (and we all saw this coming) is Deadpool and Wolverine will be a disappointment for families and parents, who should really think more than twice about this anticipated blockbuster. (I pity those that don’t.) Need I remind my readers that Deadpool is not a child- or family-friendly character, not even in the slightest? This movie has made no secret of its hard-R rating (a first in the ongoing MCU). Stylized graphic violence becomes a splatter-fest, including one particular bloodbath sequence. And if you thought the last two Deadpool movies were nuts, this one wipes the floor with them. In one word, Deadpool and Wolverine is bonkers!
To be fair, this isn’t the first R-rated movie released by the Walt Disney Company. Back in the early-1980s, when they created a subsidiary called Touchstone Pictures, their focus was to release more adult-oriented pictures that they couldn’t under their main family-friendly label. They would subsequently do the same with their short-lived Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films divisions.
References to the entire X-Men franchise are a bit much; the movie otherwise comically (and cleverly) laments the end of 20th Century Fox—before it became 20th Century Studios (which is credited as a co-production here). Then there’s that whole twisted spiritual angle, where Deadpool calls himself “Marvel Jesus,” indicating that he’s going to “save” the MCU. And did I mention the film’s subversive pop music soundtrack (including Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” which features prominently in the marketing)?
This unapologetically graphic and foul flick works as a standalone entry, so viewers need not worry about missing anything in this current MCU Phase. More discerning viewers would do best to seek cinematic fare elsewhere, no matter how popular, record-breaking, or dynamic this iconic duo does in theaters, or what they do for the future of the MCU.
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