It’s the team-up that Marvel nerds the world over have been dying for. But can the Merc With A Mouth and Logan save the MCU from itself, thereby crowning Deadpool “Marvel Jesus”? NB: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW – but does contain language some people may find offensive.
ADVERTISEMENT“Welcome to the MCU, by the way. You're joining at a bit of a low point.”
Deadpool’s greeting to Wolverine feels appropriate, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen better days.
Since the culmination of the Infinity Saga with Avengers: Endgame, the MCU has not only experienced a steady decline in quality but also properly tested the patience of its fans with countless TV shows to keep up with to understand their multiverse shenanigans.
Enter Deadpool, who makes his debut in the MCU with his third film, helmed by director Shawn Levy. It’s Marvel’s Hail Mary pass to get its mojo back with its first R-rated movie - and their only theatrical release of 2024.
No pressure then.
Following a bloody fight intro, we catch up with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds). Or should that be Wade Wilson, as he’s hung up the red-and-black costume after having found himself in somewhat of a midlife crisis. Depressed at being rejected by the Avengers during an interview with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), he has become convinced that he’ll never be able to amount to... well, anything.
Enter the TVA (the Time Variance Authority), who decide to snatch Wade from his birthday party and give him a choice: join the “main timeline” and play in the big leagues, or perish alongside his loved ones in his current universe, as that particular realm of existence is about to be wiped out.
If you haven’t watched the TV show Loki, this multiverse chat could be a tad confusing, but no worries – Deadpool wastes no time in lampooning that particular Marvel ill.
Wade dons the costume once more and starts to hop from universe to universe to find a variant of Wolverine (a returning Hugh Jackman), who we’re told was crucial to keeping Deadpool’s universe alive in the first place. This upsets the timeline watchdogs and leads the TVA’s Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) to banish our titular heroes to The Void – a trash heap purgatory which looks like a Mad Max set.
There, the odd-couple meet Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Charles Xavier's evil psychic twin with a face-fingering fetish, who reigns over the discarded characters from 20th Century Fox and its various IP holdings.
For those who have done their homework, there are rewards here.
Cue: fights, cameo-heavy mingles, and attempts to save worlds. While rectal stabbing everyone.
The whole thing is a non-stop deluge of metatextual references, in-jokes, cameos, fourth wall breaks and more dick jokes than you can shake an Adamantium dildo at. Oh, and plenty of Honda Odyssey bashing.
While that may sound like a rollicking and onanistic good time, the schtick gets old real quick, especially when the script – credited to five writers – does embrace the “more is more” principle a bit too tightly.
If the secret of comedy is timing, no one on the writing team has heard of it, as the guiding philosophy in the writers' room was clearly: “Come up with a relentless onslaught of jokes, throw them at the script and we'll exhaust the audience into laughing.” Had they selected the best ones and peppered them in at opportune moments, this film wouldn’t have felt like it was pummeling you into submission quite so much.
ADVERTISEMENTNot that the zingers don’t land. There are some excellent one-liners, with a lovely one about Paul Rudd’s inability to age, and a clear standout being Deadpool telling a shirtless and sweaty Wolverine: “Put your greasy tits away, you preening ****”
That last word is ‘slut’, by the way.
Oooh, turns out editorial redaction only works the first time around. Who knew?
The snag is that when your film is built solely around incessant wise-cracks, once the occasional laughter stops, you’re left with a stake-less plot, an underused Emma Corrin, and the sensation that such a hyped (and masterfully media campaigned) team-up could have been so much more than a wry bird-flip to corporate daddy who’s looking to get in on the self-reflexive joke.
ADVERTISEMENTMost damning of all though are the action sequences. They are well built up, with Deadpool at one point even turning to the camera and telling the audience: “Get your special sock out, nerds. It’s gonna get good.”
Except it doesn’t. It gets serviceable and uninspired.
One fight featuring three extra characters whose identities shan’t be spoiled here only ends up as another tension deflating people-run-at-each-other brawl edited by a child dizzy on lemonade.
Had another director (and editor) taken more time and care with the fight scenes, then the nerdgasms could have made for a very sticky time at the theatre. As it is, the payoffs under Shawn Levy are disappointing.
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While this may read like Deadpool & Wolverine is a disaster, it’s not.
Deadpool fans worried that Disney’s corporate jurisdiction (or "juris-dick-ion" as the Merc would doubtlessly say) would dilute Deadpool’s sweary edge need not have feared. There are all the “fuck” declinations, pegging jokes, blood and guts you could wish for. Pity it’s lacking heart.
But back to its dues.
Both Reynolds and Jackman give it socks (and a lot of muscle flexing, especially from the still impressively jacked Jackman); the soundtrack is an absolute blast, featuring the likes of *NSYNC, Goo Goo Dolls, Avril Lavigne, Aretha Franklin and a terrific Green Day needle drop over the well-handled end credits; and damning with faint praise though it may be, Deadpool & Wolverine is a damn sight better than recent MCU offerings.
ADVERTISEMENTWill it save the MCU? Probably not. It’s not as subversive as it thinks it is. Unless Marvel decides to use Deadpool & Wolverine as a pivotal point within the MCU canon to course correct and finally emerge from the convoluted dramatic cul-de-sac that is the Multiverse Saga, then perhaps our motormouthed hero still could be “Marvel Jesus”.
Outside of that improbable hypothesis, Deadpool & Wolverine still remains a middling crowd-pleasing corporate merger that feels conceptually audacious but needed more genuine irreverence and uniqueness. It’s all shits and giggles mocking the brand, but when you’re still succumbing to the same flaws you’re deriding, the film can’t hope for too much.
As Happy Hogan says when Wade is applying to become an Avenger: “You’re reaching too high. Aim for the middle and you’ll never miss.”
Without wanting to, Shawn Levy and his sweary band have followed that advice to the letter. So, don’t get your hopes up too high. And put your greasy tits away, Hugh. You're (still) making the rest of us look bad.
ADVERTISEMENTDeadpool & Wolverine is out in cinemas now.
