A wise man once said that there are no two words in the English language more harmful than “fan service”. I paraphrase of course but if that exact quote was legit, I imagine a film like Deadpool & Wolverine would be EXACTLY what that person would be talking about. Whenever a film is said to be filled with fan service, that always to act as some sort of certified trump card to neglect any kind of legit criticism to be regarded against the film, giving free realm to label critics that don’t like it as haters of un. It is also enough to basically determine what one will feel about the movie before they even set foot in the theater. When taking all those factors into account, you should know exactly what you are getting into with Deadpool & Wolverine because the film clearly doesn’t try to be anything but what you expect it to be like.
For fans that were excited just by the mere fact of Hugh Jackman coming back as Wolverine in his classic yellow spandex outfit and interacting alongside with Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool, they will be happy. For fans that basically wants this to be the equivalent of MCU Reddit Fan Theory: The Movie, they will be happy. For fans that want to see Marvel poke fun at itself and take shots at itself for their recent shortcomings, they will be happy. For those that are bother by just one single aspect that I just mentioned, not only will they NOT be happy but they will likely be the ones to cry this as being the death nail of Marvel and cinema in general, A.K.A. Film Twitter’s worst nightmare. To put it simply, Deadpool & Wolverine is both as good as fans wanted it to be and as bad as haters wanted to be at the EXACT same time!
I can basically stop right there because that alone should indicated if this movie is for you or not. Even in an age where everyone already makes up their mind how they feel about something months before it even comes out, Deadpool & Wolverine has no interest in subverting or exceeding expectations but meaning it at the exact same level. For me, as someone that is a big fan of the first two Deadpool movies, I enjoyed myself well enough but I really hope that Marvel doesn’t make a film like this ever again. There’s only so many times where you can go “WOAH! I can’t believe they got *SPOILER* to come back as *SPOILER*!” before it gets incredibly old.
Premise: Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon unites with his would-be pal, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), to complete the mission and save his world from an existential threat.
I would go more in-depth than usual when reviewing these big movies but the plot is barely the point for a movie like this. All it mostly amounts to is a giant excuse to get Wade Wilson into the MCU, team up with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, throw some shades at itself and superhero movies in general, and insert as many cameos as one could find on an MCU reddit fan page. Sure, there are moments of emotional weight here and there (particularly with two standout sequences with the worst Logan confronting his past) and all of the characters have clear cut motivations which they follow through on but for the most part, it would be hard to mistake this from other recent “fan service”/course correction movies out there, most notably The Flash.
To be sure, Deadpool & Wolverine is a better movie than The Flash without a doubt. There’s nothing in here even as remotely awful as the abominable CGI cameos of dead actors, all of the cameos are live and breathing people, and it’s all played for laughs while even drive forwarding the rather paper-thin plot. However, similarly to one of last year’s biggest summer bombs, you still can’t help but feel like the entire reason for this film’s existence is solely based with the audience in mind first and the characters of the story second. It’s not so much the way that the characters reacts to these moments of fan service but rather how the fanboys feel.
Say what you will about Spider-Man: No Way Home but that film knew to put Tom Holland’s Peter Parker front and center and that is what his story that had to be told. Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse used it’s multiverse concept to perfection to craft genuine, multilayer stories with fan service being the icing on the cake. You also had X-Men: Days of Future Past, a movie which existed just for the sake of erasing two bad X-Men movies, who used it’s time traveling mechanic and obvious course correction template to craft a film about our heroes fixing the mistakes of their past to make for a better and more uplifting future. Unlike those movies I just mentioned, Deadpool and Wolverine never really amounts to much under the skin than being a easter egg fest and a love letter to the 2000s era of Marvel superhero movies.
Thankfully, despite relying solely on action, comedy, and fan service, it does deliver on that when it counts the most. While not being the best in any of those categories in the Deadpool movies, there is genuinely enough fun to be had with what the movie has to offer. The fight scenes has just as much blood and gore as the first two movies, with the main standouts being the opening action sequence and the duels between Deadpool and Wolverine, it had just as much fourth wall breaking humor and pinches as itself than before, and there will certainly be one or two moments that will put a genuine smile on a longtime Marvel fan’s face. (There’s two in particular that I BETTER see in an upcoming Avengers movie.) The cast and crew knew exactly the movie that they were going to make and they made for the best of it.
Of course, Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine is the main selling point of the movie and what helps to differ this one from the past two movies. While this is not the same version of Logan that we have followed from 2000 to 2017, Jackman is still able to sell this new, “worst” version of Wolverine far better than the script demands for it. He makes for a perfect bitter counterpart to the always crazy and wisecracking Merc with the Mouth, fitting the new yellow spandex, something that has been in the making for nearly 25 years (Screw you, Bryan Singer!), like the absolute perfect glove you would expect. And as stated before, he does have two genuine standout moments with Dafne Keen’s X-23 (She’s already been in the trailer so it’s NOT a spoiler!) and Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova that only work as well as they do because of Hugh Jackman’s adding that extra emotional depth to the character. There is no way this movie would have worked without the pairing of Hugh and Ryan respectively but since it does, I could not help but love the hell out of those two bouncing off one another.
As for shortcomings, outside of the ones I mentioned, there are times to where the pacing grinds to a screeching halt with the characters adding some mumble jumble about the TVA and multiverse and just too much spent on trying to make sense in any of this. I also found myself missing 99% of the side characters from the first two Deadpool movies, with only really two main scenes with the whole gang. And while some of the jabs at the MCU and Multiverse Saga are funny, there are some that comes across as rather mean-spirited (especially in regards to a certain variation of Deadpool. It also doesn’t help that there are so much jabs at it that it seems like it’s going to lead to an ending that confirms that Marvel is done with all of these multiverse shenanigans and they are ready to try something different but then……doesn’t.
If this review makes it seem like my thoughts of Deadpool and Wolverine are all over the place, that’s because I’m trying to give multiple perspectives as to whether or not this movie will be for you. For the longtime fans, thereās a lot of fun and enjoyment to be found here with the insane amount of cameos, action beats, full 4th wall breaking humor, and just seeing Hugh Jackman in that classic yellow X-Men suit for the first time ever. That being said, if you are expecting a compelling straight-forward plot on par with the first two Deadpool movies and look for more than just fan service and easter eggs in a movie, you will likely be disappointed. As enjoyable asĀ Deadpool and WolverineĀ is, I canāt help but find the character more engaging on his own adventures with his own friends and family, which is why this is perhaps my least favorite of the Deadpool movies and inferior to the last two standalone Wolverine movies.
But still, I enjoyed the action when it happened, I enjoyed (most of) the gags when they happened, I enjoyed the cameos when they happened, and I couldn’t help but be happy when I got to see Deadpool and Wolverine actually interacting together in their proper comic book counterpart suits. I just only wished it I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed all of those in the first two Deadpool movies.
This is a movie that the discourse surrounding will make me want to hate it, especially with the outrageous “THE MCU IS BACK!” to “THE MCU IS DEAD!” takes I’ve been seeing online, but for the moment I got what I mostly wanted for Deadpool and Wolverine, even if I wanted a bit more from it.
I’ll give it a three out of four stars for now.
Until the discourse and aftermath drives me sooooo bananas that it will make me drop it to a two and a half out of four stars.
Again, you’ve already decided whether you like or hate this movie so think for yourself.
Other comments:
- I can’t get BABY BYE BYE BYE out of my effing head!
- I would LOVE to know the backstory behind how Ryan Reynolds was able to get that one actor to come back given the bad blood that both sides had for one another.
- Also, the backstory on that one other cameo for Wolverine!
- It’s awkward how the same studio that made Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, that uses it’s cameos to flirt with and mock the find of fandom that care more about filmmakers making Reddit fan porn than their own work of art, make a film that basically acts as a tongue-and-cheek “Sorry!” to fans that didn’t like that movie.
- Shawn Levy doesn’t have the “sauce” that Tim Miller and David Lynch has. Did I do that right?
- And please stop using the phrase “sauce” all the time. It’s annoying!
- This weekend I learned that the internet and social media was mistake.
- Also, about you know what coming back as Doctor Doom for Avengers 5? Um………we’ll see how it goes…….I guess.
Adam's Blog 