VOD film review: Deadpool & Wolverine
Review Overview
Cast
8Maturity
3Enjoyment
6David Farnor | On 19, Oct 2024
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen
Certificate: 15
It’s a strange state of affairs when Deadpool, the most self-referential, self-aware and self-congratulating outsider in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is also its most consistently entertaining figure. After a string of misfires and uneven TV outings, not to mention the Jonathan Majors problem, Marvel’s brightest stars are its most unexpected and meta – Agatha Harkness on the small screen and Deadpool on the big. After two films, you’d expect the foul-motor-mouthed Ryan Reynolds vehicle to have run out of steam, and jokes, but this third outing turns out to be Deadpool’s strongest yet, thanks to the addition of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to the party.
Deadpool and Wolverine have long been frenemies on and off the screen, with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman also sharing a playful mock feud in real life. Now actually together, the characters are a good fit, with their self-healing powrs and barely hidden streak of self-loathing. That means lots of opportunities for endless fights between the two – one punch-up inside a car is inspired – but also an opportunity for an actual story arc of semi-redemption.
The script is a hastily assembled grab bag of narrative threads, using the post-Loki timey-wimey backdrop of the MCU to make the most of the Fox/Disney incarnations of Marvel characters. Matthew Macfadyen is having a ball as a petulent villain from the Time Variance Authority, who sends Deadpool and Wolverine into The Void (“from Loki Season 1, Episode 5?!”), where they end up head to head with Cassandra (Emma Corrin), the evil twin of Professor Charles Xavier.
What follows is mish-mash of cameos, fan service and puerile jokes, loosely held together by cameos, fan service and puerile jokes. Director Shawn Levy crafts some fun set pieces, but it’s Reynolds and Jackman who give the whole thing a (fairly undeserved) emotional heft, weaponising their screen personas and their MCU histories with ruthless, relentless energy. Deadpool has always been better when not playing solo but bouncing off other people, and Jackman’s return to Logan’s shoes – this time with yellow costume – brings a fresh humour and sense of warmth to the franchise. The result is too long and hardly Avengers: Infinity War, but that’s kind of the point. Is it childish? Yes. Is it entertaining? Also yes.