[8.4/10] *Deadpool & Wolverine* does well at what the Deadpool franchise has always done well: irreverent edgelord goofery with a side of loony violence. But it also succeeds in an area where the first two Deadpool installments fell short -- telling a straight character story for its spandex-clad antiheroes worthy of the audience’s emotional investment.
And if that weren’t enough, it takes something that's always been a part of the character’s cinematic vibe -- meta nods to the broader entertainment industry and superhero industrial complex -- and turns it into a heartfelt and surprisingly moving tribute to all the Marvel movies and characters that endeared audiences well before, and beyond, the MCU.
With all of that to accomplish, the film is *a lot* It packs in a ton of incident, a torrent of characters and cameos, and arguably one act too many for pacing purposes in its more than two-hour runtime. But while a touch unwieldy, what *Deadpool & Wolverine* serves up to the audience is never unwelcome. And more than anything, the places where it succeeds -- in its comedy, its fun action sequences, its worthwhile journeys for its eponymous duo, and its loving paeon to Marvel movies past -- it is easily the best Deadpool movie of the bunch.
That starts with the trademark “Bugs Bunny on crack” vibe of the title character himself. From the moment in the opening credits where Deadpool slaughters an array of nameless goons, brandishing his erstwhile rival’s adamantium skeleton, and breaking it down to the dulcet tones of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”, you know exactly what kind of delightfully demented hijinks you’re going to be in for over the next two hours and change.
The expletive-laden patter that saturated the first two films is back with a vengeance, despite the new Disney banner hanging over the production. The banter among Deadpool and his comrades sings as always, especially with Al. And beyond the dramatic chops that are table stakes for new partner-in-crime Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, he also makes for a good straight man to Wade Wilson’s actions, and gets in a few good dry ripostes of his own. So much of what distinguishes Deadpool from the slate of other supes is his trademark babble, and thankfully, the “Merc with a Mouth” remains intact.
The film also isn’t afraid to offer a buffet of its wacky/transgressive comic stylings beyond the chatter. The advent of “Nicepool”, a gentle, crunchy version of our resident red rambler, brings the laughs (and presumably, helps give Ryan Reynolds some face time). Gags centered around Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox, a contemptuous functionary at the Time Variance Authority have a distinct flavor, bolstered by the actor's winning performance. And the physical comedy of Deadpool’s clownishly expressive reactions and gestures lend themselves well to the yuks.
That ties into the movie’s visual verve in its big action sequences. Some of what *Deadpool & Wolverine* has to offer is pretty standard blockbuster fireworks. A group of heroes storming the stronghold of Cassandra Nova, Professor X’s twin and the movie’s big bad, is enjoyable from the emotional triumph, but pretty standard in its bad guy beat-em-ups.
But the opening bash-and-boogie of the TVA baddies has a real claret-soaked Looney Tunes quality to it in its inventive methods and framings of destruction. A brotherly-yet-bloody brawl between the two title characters in the close quarters of a Honda Odyssey finds originality in staging the skirmishes in a confined space. And the penultimate set piece, where the duo fend off a hundred Deadpool variants in one long “hallway fight” shot in a cacophony of fluid (and fluid-filled) motion brings enjoyable video game energy to the piece. Yes, there’s still some of the expected blood and guts, but the movie also offers more creativity amid Deadpool’s smash-and-grabs than that.
It also offers more depths. Rather than resurrecting Jackman’s Wolverine after his poignant demise in [*Logan*](https://trakt.tv/comments/128587) purely for comic fun, *D&W* instead finds its own measure of piercing pathos for the character. Amid the universe-hopping antics to find a new “anchor being” to save Earth-10005, Wade Wilson ends up bub-napping the “worst Logan”, and with him, a chance for redemption.
The film actually builds on *Logan*. There is great poetry in Laura/X-23 saving this Wolverine the way the mainline one saved her, and she serves as the emotional bridge between the two. A running joke about Logan finally donning the iconic yellow-and-blue duds turns into a heart-rending symbol of his regret. The way it dovetails with his guilt over how being a moody lone wolf who refused to join the X-Men led to all their deaths, deaths he could have prevented if he’d sucked it up and become a joiner, turns an object of fun and fanservice into something legitimately piercing.
Throw in the way he makes an emotional appeal to Cassandra over how Charles would have loved her, his own noble sacrifice to erase the red in his ledger, and a recognition that Logan was “always that guy”, even in the good universe -- and more than anything, you have a film that *gets* Wolverine -- for laughs and for drama.
The same is true for Wade Wilson. While the devoted romance of [*Deadpool*](https://trakt.tv/comments/71510) and the self-serious “family drama” of [*Deadpool 2*](https://trakt.tv/comments/176552) were the soggiest parts of both films, *Deadpool & Wolverine* finds something more substantive and moving for its lead character -- centered on why he does this at all.
The script lays it on a bit thick. An amusing but heavy-handed early conversation with Happy Hogan makes clear that Deadpool needs to learn to do something because of the needs of others rather than the needs of himself. But by god, trite or not, it works. Showing how this off-the-wall numbskull nevertheless has a soft spot for the makeshift family represented by a treasured polaroid, one that makes him ready and willing to save the universe, is a heartening path to follow. The break-up and make-up with Vanessa is slight, but on the whole, the tack wrings some genuinely affecting material from a character who proves he can be more than just a high-powered joke machine.
Some of that is the meta. One of the joys of Deadpool is that he is, in many ways, a one-man Greek Chorus. His fourth wall breaks don’t just leave him winking to the audience, but commenting on the story-in-progress in a way that adds a *Mystery Science Theater 3000* energy where the call is coming from inside the house. And at the same time, the jabs at Reynolds’ own career, Disney Standards & Practices, the multiverse trend, and Fox’s absorption and demise, all come with that spark of “Can they get away with that?” bravado.
Despite the impulse to tweak and snark at all of the real world mishegoss that surrounds the MCU, the cape flick era, and the wider entertainment industry, *Deadpool & Wolverine* is ultimately a love letter to the Marvel movies outside the MCU’s umbrella. You can even think of it as the non-MCU Avengers, with the titular duo teaming up not only with Laura to represent Fox’s long-running series X-Men films, but also the likes of Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Wesley Snipes’ [Blade](https://trakt.tv/comments/514004), and even the Channing Tatum Gambit that never saw the light of day.
Some of this is pure fanservice. There’s background easter eggs galore in The Void -- the place where properties discarded by the TVA and the corporate entities it stands in for -- go to perish. Blade gets a reprise of the famous “skate uphill” line before the act is up. MCU luminary Chris Evans gets a chance to riff on his pre-Cap turn as Johnny Storm. But some of it clearly comes from a place of genuine affection for these films, a desire to give those characters one last hurrah, and an affirmation of the merit and memories that existed in the Marvel movie pantheon long before Iron Man came to town.
That's the rub of all of this. In-universe, Deadpool is straining to prove he’s worthy and aiming to save his universe, but the real life allegory is clear. With Wolverine dead, the studios have little use for the diminishing box office returns of Fox’s X-men universe. But Deadpool, as a character whose box office takes and cultural cache still have (and earn) currency, could have a place in the MCU.
Instead of the selfishness of jumping to the marquee (if diminished) superhero mega franchise and jettisoning all that came before, Deadpool fights to preserve the *Fantastic Four*s and *Elektra*s and even the [*X-Men Origins: Wolverine*](https://trakt.tv/comments/117667)s that may not fit perfectly into the current Marvel cinematic firmament, but which still meant something to the audiences that experienced them. He doesn’t just go on a quest to prove he matters by joining the MCU, or by saving Earth-10005 from destruction, for his family and friends; he goes on a quest to prove those films matter, that their characters are worth holding onto, for their real life fans sitting in the theater.
For once, the metatextual elements that have always been at play for Deadpool are more than just donkey sauce drizzled over the layers of gore and goofery at the center of the character’s films. They are, instead, something that elevates the film to be about more than two men’s personal paths toward self-actualization amid their off-kilter adventures. They’re also about a quarter century of films that had their ups and downs across eras and studios, but which have value and meaning worth preserving despite the inevitable voids of continuity reboots and boardroom takeovers.
In that, *Deadpool & Wolverine* does more than bring back what fans loved from its first two entries. It does more than fortify the dramatic side of the series that was never much of a selling point until now. It does more than smash together your favorite action figures from beyond the MCU’s sunny shores. This grand guignol gem of a film also uses its meta mayhem and winking asides to honor a spate of movies that paved the way for the Avengers, and argues that, no matter whose name is on the door, they too are worth saving.
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