The Merc with a Mouth is finally entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadpool & Wolverine fuses the 20th Century Fox X-Men movies with the MCU. Functioning as the latest Phase Five installment and a third Deadpool movie, this film stars Ryan Reynolds again as Wade Wilson, the wisecracking superhero who finds himself face-to-face with the Time Variance Authority. (For those who have yet to see the Loki TV series on Disney+, the TVA is an organization that monitors the series’ various timelines.) Wade must now team up with a variant of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to save the timeline from a villain played by Matthew Macfadyen.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a cinematic delight. It is a loving tribute to decades of Marvel multi-media projects while being just as loud, brash, and bloody as the first two Deadpool movies. It’s a brilliantly entertaining experience that needs to be seen with the largest crowd possible. When Jackman hung up the claws in 2017’s Logan, the world believed we were done with this iteration of the character. But if anyone were going to get Jackman back into Wolverine, it would be his real-life friend Ryan Reynolds. And who better to direct it than Shawn Levy, the man who directed Jackman in Real Steel and Reynolds in Free Guy and The Adam Project?
Deadpool and Wolverine are a match made in heaven. Reynolds and Jackman have phenomenal on-screen chemistry with each other. Like all the great comedy duos, we have the funny man (Deadpool) and the straight man (Wolverine). Deadpool is at his funniest when he’s butting heads with more serious characters, and we saw some of that in 2018 with Josh Brolin‘s Cable.
This film carries that sequel’s buddy cop torch, with two characters who have to work together but are inches from killing each other. What makes it even funnier is that because these characters can’t die, they get to genuinely hurt each other in ways that would murder anyone else. They’re almost like a bloodier Tom & Jerry — two mismatched frenemies who will maim each other with one hand, then help the other up with the other. It’s a sort of over-the-top cartoon violence that ’90s comic heads are sure eat up like a microwavable chimichanga.
This super-powered dynamic duo is more than just the blood and crass humor. Wade is in a tough spot in this film. He has broken up with his girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and he is trying his best to matter in a world where he doesn’t fit into the X-Men or the Avengers. This depiction of Wolverine also has a lot of emotional weight. He lives with a lot of guilt in his life, drowning his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. Jackman does not phone it in; he delivers a tragic, multilayered performance that can be emotional.
(But perhaps all comic diehards will care about is if the Faraway Downs alum dons the iconic black cowl. I won’t spoil that here!)
Levy directs the action sequences superbly as well. He brings a lot of energy to them with his camera movements and music choices. The opening credits of Deadpool & Wolverine stand out, and it’s one of the best sequences in the film. The joy of a character like Deadpool is that he can poke fun at the MCU, Fox, and all the creative choices that may or may not be working. Some of the humor lands nicely, particularly with the fourth wall breaking. Other jokes feel too current, like a chronic online poster wrote them three months ago. These will likely be outdated within a few years.
Levy uses the close-up and wide with maximum effort in Deadpool & Wolverine to create the perfect punchlines. And while there are jokes a-plenty in this high-energy superhero experience, the core is two lead characters who see themselves as failures and must find a way to redeem themselves. This film proves that failures come in many forms. They can look as good as Hugh Jackman in the iconic yellow-and-blue Wolverine suit.
Reynolds is as hilarious as ever as Deadpool, and Jackman also gives a strong performance. Emma Corrin delivers a fantastic experience as Cassandra Nova, the villain with a strong personality. The storyline can feel thin, as if it’s a loose thread meant to tie together a lot of fun sequences and cameos, but the experience of watching this film makes it all worth it. It’s a winking, nodding celebration of everything Marvel — one that comic nerds and film buffs alike can celebrate.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the start of a new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The House of Mouse has embraced a hard ‘R’ rating for the first time, and if this film is anything to go by, the sky’s the limit from here on out. Take it from us — the site whose name Deadpool himself would undoubtedly giggle uncontrollably at.
SCORE: 9/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach (although this movie’s going to be an 8 once the hype dies down, let’s be for real).
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Deadpool & Wolverine review.
