A review on Hollywood feature length film, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). The feature length is directed by Shawn Levy. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen. The film continues Wade Wilson aka Deadpool’s journey to find his sense of purpose in Life. Deadpool & Wolverine is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
+ Crew
- Directed by Shawn Levy
- Written by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells and Shawn Levy
- Cinematography by George Richmond
- Edited by Shane Reid and Dean Zimmerman
- Music by Rob Simonsen
- Produced by Kevin Feige, Lauren Shuler Donner, Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy
+ Note
Deadpool & Wolverine is a swansong for the 21st Century Fox era of superhero films. The film brings major elements of the X-men franchise back into play to the current Deadpool mythos and functions as a buddy cop story of two characters with opposite personalities. Even after the purchase of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Ryan Reynolds was insistent that Deadpool always remained ‘R-rated’ to which Disney head Bob obliged. Another aspect that Reynolds was insistent upon was the return of Hugh Jackman in the film. Although Jackman was at first reluctant to revive his character Wolverine back from the dead, he was quickly convinced due to working alongside Reynolds.
Before its release, the film was heavily marketed with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman appearing as themselves in multiple advertisements including the Euro 2024. Since Avengers: Endgame (2019), the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a downward spiral of mediocre films and TV shows. Could Deadpool & Wolverine finally be the breakthrough that Disney is hoping for?
+ Main Cast
- Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool
- Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
- Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova
- Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle
- Rob Delaney as Peter Wisdom
- Leslie Uggams as Blind Al
- Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce / Pyro
- Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Paradox
+ Plot
In an alternative Universe, Deadpool has it all; loving girlfriend, trustworthy friends and all round comfortable life. Enter: Time Variance Authority. After informing Deadpool that his timeline is on the brink of annihilation, Deadpool needs to team up with his ‘anchor being’ Wolverine in order to defeat Paradox and save his universe in the process.
+ High Points
i – As expected, Deadpool & Wolverine is filled with provocative humor. Some of it works, others do not. But the ones that do are laugh out loud moments of the film. The self-deprecating humor has now officially entered the MCU and through Deadpool, Marvel can easily poke fun at their failures for the past 3-4 months.
ii – In the comics, Deadpool is famously identified as ‘Merc with a mouth’. And when it comes to the big screen, Deadpool’s bag of gags can become easily tiresome. But with the straight man of Wolverine, Deadpool has someone to play his jokes off from. And that is indeed an important aspect to the film. Reynolds and Jackman have natural chemistry with one another. The film heavily depended on the two protagonists and they did not disappoint.
iii – The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not known for its memorable villains. Apart from Thanos, Loki and a few others, most Marvel villains are under-developed at best. While Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova may not be a high tier villain in the MCU, she works perfectly as the ever powerful antagonist for Deadpool & Wolverine. Her mind blending, fingers through the skull effect is one of the most visually unique powers that has ever been put on the silver screen. It looks extremely uncomfortable and bizarre. Perfect and memorable for the villainess. Also Corrin does a fantastic job in bringing the character to the big screen.
iv – The opening credits scene was fun and full of dark humor. It is clearly obvious that Ryan Reynolds has been very passionate about the character of Deadpool since its debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and will always go the extra mile in his performance.
v – The Honda Odyssey fight scene! It was absurd, gory, unapologetic and masterful. While the MCU is not known for its creativity, this fight scene was glorious and brilliantly executed.
vi – In most of my reviews, you would almost never find me praising the use of licensed music in films but Deadpool & Wolverine did an amazing job in integrating the music into the tone of the film. None of it felt out of place nor forced. From Nsync to Madonna, the pop songs played a key role in fleshing out each and every scene of the film.
vii – The cameos served a role in the story and never felt out of place. Were they mostly fan service? Yes, I am a fan and I was indeed served. And at the same time, the cameos never took me out of the narrative of the film.
+ Low Points
i – Deadpool & Wolverine has some flaws and they are evidently present throughout its runtime. Let’s start with the humor. I believe this one sentence could summarize the film’s comedic direction: “Hey, isn’t homosexual sex hilarious?”. Unfortunately the jokes that do not land might prove to be detrimental to the film for some viewers.
ii – The villainess of the film Cassandra is extremely powerful. Yes, she is the twin sister of Charles Xavier aka Professor X but the film had almost no answers on how to neutralize her. Perhaps she needed more screen time to fully develop her character but nevertheless, characters are only interesting if weaknesses are also conveyed to the audience.
iii – I also believe that the film overstays its welcome. Clocking at around 129 minutes, it is 15 minutes too long. And there are plentiful scenes that could have ended up on the cutting room floor.
iv – I think we can all safely say that the concept of Multiverse has become tiresome in superhero movies now. It was unique and special when Spiderverse was introduced back in 2018 but by now, it is damaging the investment of the viewer for certain characters as they know that death has no consequences as their “variant” can easily be integrated into the sequel.
+ Overall
Despite its obvious flaws, Deadpool & Wolverine promises a good time. The humor might not be for everyone but then again, Deadpool has always been a divisive character to begin with.
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