Deadpool & Wolverine

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), the soldier-turned-mercenary known as Deadpool, applies to become an Avenger but is rejected and also splits with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). He settles into a quotidian life before he is apprehended by the Time Variance Authority. TVA operative Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) informs him that his timeline is deteriorating due to the death of James Logan “Wolverine” Howlett (Hugh Jackman), who was pivotal to the timeline’s existence. Paradox offers Wade an opportunity to join a different timeline, but Wade instead decides to hop across timelines in order to find a still-living Wolverine who can save his own.

 

Crude humor, violent slapstick, and fourth-wall-breaking self-awareness are Deadpool’s shtick, and that will always be divisive. Even those who find the character and sensibility off-putting, however, should at least be able to appreciate Reynolds’ wholehearted embrace of the role. Here, he’s paired with another performer whose dedication matches if not outpaces his own. Now in his mid-50s, Jackman has played Wolverine for nearly a quarter-century, subjecting himself to a ridiculous diet-and-workout regimen each time. It’s to his credit that this portrayal is markedly different, and not just because he finally dons a comics-accurate costume. In making Jackman a leading man, prior films also romanticized the character, accentuating his haunted, Byronic qualities. Here, he’s still haunted, but he’s also violent, surly, profane, and frequently drunk. His abrasiveness is both truer to the source material and openly contemptuous of past attempts to make the character more marketable and kid-friendly.

This reverence masquerading as irreverence can be found throughout Deadpool & Wolverine. There is biting-the-hand humor aplenty, but there is also a genuine affection for characters whose days have passed or who were never given their cinematic due to begin with. Within the film, the Void – a place outside of time first introduced in the Loki series – serves as a dumping ground for the discarded and a way for Marvel to pay homage to the characters it licensed (to Fox and other studios) before regaining creative rights. A list of Void inhabitants would spoil several (mostly welcome) surprises, but for viewers of a certain age, nostalgia is inevitable.

 

The Void is also home to Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), who serves as the film’s primary antagonist. For all intents and purposes Charles Xavier’s evil twin, she has all of his telepathic power and none of his empathy or morality. Corrin gives a fascinating performance here, often playing Cassandra as something like a curious child even as she inflicts horrible punishments on those who defy her. Unfortunately, her screen time is relatively brief, and the role as a whole feels underbaked. The same can arguably be said for several other supporting roles though Leslie Uggams as Wade’s blind, cantankerous, coke fiend of a roommate continues to steal every scene she’s in.

 

Story is always secondary to action and comedy in a movie like this, but even by those standards, Deadpool & Wolverine is narratively very thin. Fortunately, there’s enough excitement to make up for it, thanks to Shawn Levy’s surehanded direction. The expected throwdown between the title characters does not disappoint, and the franchise continues its proud tradition of treating drawn-out brawls as quirky music videos. Add to that a number of amusing Easter eggs (a shoe store, Liefeld’s Just Feet, mocks the inability of Deadpool’s comic book creator to draw them), and you’re in for a fun – if shallow – ride.