Deadpool and Wolverine

5 outta 5

Deadpool and Wolverine is the third Deadpool starring film but due to corporate buyouts and expanding cinematic universes, it sort of becomes a quasi-sequel to multiple film and TV series, integrating into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline. It is a lot, but it is never overbearing, as the story really focuses on the two lead characters. If one doesn’t get the various multiverse references, that’s fine as it’s not the point. But for those that do, it’s fantastic. It is mostly a buddy film with some hyper violent and comedic splatter, but even with all the gags it has some genuinely emotional bits. And the two main characters constantly slice the heck out of each other but, as they can both heal, it makes for some really enjoyable, constantly messy chaos.

Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), the mutant merc with a mouth, has left behind his life of superpowered chaos and has settled into a used car salesman job with his buddy Peter (Rob Delaney). Wade is having a tough time as he has broken up with his longtime girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). But one day the multiverse managing Time Variance Authority, the TVA, knock on Wade’s door, and a TVA Agent, Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), tells Wade that he is going to rescue him as Wade’s universe is doomed to be destroyed. The reason is because in the future, an Anchor Being has died, the mutant named Logan (Hugh Jackman) aka the Wolverine. So, Wade scours the multiverse to find a replacement Logan, but the one he finds is rather unimpressive. Even worse, Wade and Logan get banished by Paradox to the Void at the End of Time with other multiverse refuse. They try to escape and save Wade’s timeline, but the murderous telepath Casandra Nova (Emma Corrin) and her gang of misfits may stop Deadpool and Wolverine once and for all.

A significant chunk of this movie’s worldbuilding and setting is based upon the MCU TV show Loki, which was pretty great. But as Wade is a newcomer in this world, the script does a good job of telling the audience what this complex world rules are. It works as a wild ride set in a crazy world of teleporting around the multiverse. And if one is kind of sick of the multiverse concept, even Wade himself rips on it as being played out. But like Across the Spider-Verse or No Way Home all the multiverse easter egg drops and cameos are just fleshing the world out by integrating things that came before into the story.

As often happens in Deadpool movies, there is a meta narrative that Wade specifically mentions that the former studio home of the X-Men was Fox which was bought by Disney. The Fox X-Men characters have been discarded to a trash heap and their universe is literally threatening to collapse. As the Foxverse never quite got a proper sendoff, this works as an ending for those movies. The characters that pop up from previous non MCU Marvel movies are fantastic to see again as they’re all kind of bitter about their universes being discarded.

Jackman returning to play Logan again is a very big deal as he went out with the absolutely fantastic Logan film. Deadpool and Wolverine respects the intention of Logan as the whole reason that Deadpool’s timeline is going to collapse is because of the death of Logan in that film as he was an “anchor being”, basically the ending was so good it destroys entire universes. But this movie also very gleefully and literally desecrates the memory of Logan in an awesomely bananas opening credits scene that features Deadpool dancing to N’Sync while taking out TVA agents. Jackman shows this version of Logan is even more pathetic and broken down than any before. Also, his angry snarls are even more bitter than usual, and where he tears a strip off Wade verbally that is really painful to watch, which leads to a crazy brawl between them.

Reynolds’ Wade starts off in a workaday job, but the TVA lets him back to his classic Deadpool mode. Some of his reactions are just hilarious, especially considering the emoting that is conveyed with the mask and the eyes. He constantly references the audience and past corporate mergers, which is pretty funny. But in all the Deadpool movies, there is an inner sadness to Wade’s quest and here he wants to save his loved ones and the only way he can do that is by saving an entire universe. Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox starts the movie off seemingly as the dull exposition guy, but he adds interesting layers. The other main baddie is Corrin’s Nova, who is basically an evil Charles Xavier and the way she can violate people’s minds is very freaky. She has a mercurial quality as she can seem rather chipper but then immediately attack.

Deadpool and Wolverine has spectacularly messy action and the finale features a long string of chaos that is just awesome to see. This is a very funny, very self-aware movie that still hits some emotional beats and pulls from the most random Marvel movie corners. And featuring two heroes who learn to bond by slashing each other and villains all day.