‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ – Review
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Deadpool has jumped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Merc With a Mouth is about to tear things up in a full-on, all-out, R-rated action-adventure team-up featuring the legendary Wolverine. Deadpool & Wolverine is everything you could want and more. LFG!
The Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline, pulls Wade Wilson / Deadpool from his quiet life and set him on a mission that will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) alongside Wolverine.
Marvel Studios fans have been waiting with bated breath to see what would become of the completely outlandish and over-the-top mercenary anti-hero Deadpool and whether or not he would ever find a home in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadpool took pride in being a Rated-R character, and we were often left wondering if we would ever see him in the MCU. Well, after much patience and a whole lot of wish fulfilment, fans the world over now have their wish as Wade Wilson/Deadpool completely gatecrashes the MCU as only he can, and he’s bringing along the X-Men’s gruff loner Logan/Wolverine with him. And the whole experience makes Deadpool & Wolverine an utterly epic cinematic event!
Hollywood megastar Ryan Reynolds has made it his life’s mission to bring Deadpool’s story to the big screen, and so far, he’s succeeded in being a total double shot of Deadpool in 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2 to cinemas. Now he’s aiming for a triple winner with Deadpool & Wolverine, and this is the ultimate fanboy/fangirl, wish-fulfilment, comic book movie experience that we’ve been longing for. And it’s AWESOME. Helping Reynolds to shape this crazy feature together is Shawn Levy, a frequent collaborator and long-time friend of the star, and the two bring a boundless sense of energy and totally unfiltered creativity to the picture that ramps up the excitement minute-by-minute. Levy’s working relationship with both Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, two former collaborators, allows him to let each actor play to their strengths, both dramatically and comedically, and the result leads to a very special watch.
The prospect of seeing Ryan Reynolds return for a third Deadpool movie is incredibly exciting, and being teamed up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine only adds to his energetic sense of fun. Bringing Deadpool into the MCU is a big step for Reynolds, and he has a lot of fun playing around with the literal concept of Marvel as a brand, while his ad-libs will leave you in hysterics. And there are many of them. Clad in his form-fitting red costume and spinning his swords with glee, Deadpool goes for it this time. And it’s a literal universe-saving mission for this character. While he’s a completely anarchic and wild character, Deadpool & Wolverine leaves him with a ‘literal’ world-saving mission, and for the first time, we see him get serious as a character. Deadpool & Wolverine gives Reynolds a real about-face turn to play as the Merc with the Mouth, and there’s a whole heap of dramatic tension and character development movements that make his third outing as the character that much more memorable.
We never thought we’d see it, but Hugh Jackman has decided to bring out the claws for another outing as the X-Men’s resident berserker, Wolverine. And it’s a performance unlike you’ve ever seen him give before. After the heart-wrenching performance of Logan, we thought that was the final curtain call for Jackman’s Wolverine. But leave it to Deadpool to find a new way to gift us with the ultimate superhero buddy-comedy and Jackman’s back in a completely new direction with his career-defining character. This version of Logan is a washed-up, burnt-out, and totally fucked-up former X-Men, whose the world’s biggest loser and is content just to drink his immortality away. But cue an encounter with Deadpool, and the claws come out, and these two get into a hell of scrap that eventually forms a partnership that might just be able to save Wade’s world after all. Jackman gives audiences his most comic book-accurate performance of Wolverine to date, and you’ll cheer in amazement when he pulls out the quintessential 1990s yellow and blue suit and goes to town in a pure berserker rage. Jackman goes for it one last time as Wolverine (or is it?) and finds a new dimension to the character that will leave audiences whooping and hollering.
Both Deadpool and Wolverine get put through the wringer in Deadpool & Wolverine, and they face off with one of the creepiest MCU villains yet in the form of totally unhinged telepath Cassandra Nova. Bringing Cassandra, the twin sister and dark shadow to Professor Charles Xavier, is Emma Corrin, and they totally bring it as this psychotic and petulant villain. Filled with deranged narcissism and deviously manipulative, Cassandra is a villain who seers her presence into the audience’s minds, and she puts Wade and Logan through a grinder of pain. Corrin’s performance reminds us of characters similar to Hans Landa and Angelica Pickles, and this gleeful sadism that they inject into the role of Cassandra will keep audiences on edge and give Deadpool & Wolverine a different set of world-ending stakes than audiences are used to.
Deadpool & Wolverine is an MCU event unlike anything we’ve seen before, and it completely stands out as an original and highly creative piece of entertainment. From its hard R rating, sensational comedy and fourth wall breaks, and self-referential narrative musings, it’s an utterly wild ride that builds minute by minute, and this is a cinematic experience that needs to be seen on a big screen as part of the movie-going collective. Watching this with others in a cinema leaves you filled with the collective energy and excitement that only a Marvel Studios film can bring, and with all of its twists, turns and surprises, Deadpool & Wolverine is a picture of superhero action-comedy overlord.
While not wanting to fall into SPOILER territory, I will say that Deadpool & Wolverine is pure Marvel Comics fan service with everything you could want. Reynolds, Jackman, and Levy present a film that is a tribute to and a celebration of the superhero movie and the world of Marvel Comics. There are so many incredible surprises in this one that will leave you wide-eyed with amazement. While staying away from narrative-specific lot points, I will say that mutants have made their debut in the MCU, and they’re here to stay!
Deadpool & Wolverine is everything you could want and more, and thanks to its creative narrative, ultraviolent action, whimsical humour and crazy energy, it’s a cinematic experience that MCU-mutant-fan joy that only these two characters can bring.
Image: Walt Disney Pictures
