Deadpool & Wolverine Review

At first I thought I'd write this review in the fourth-wall-breaking, foul-mouthed style of Deadpool - a cheap trick to tickle you, dear reader. But then, I thought, "F**k it, it's not like I'm getting paid the Ryan Reynolds' equivalent of a critic's salary." And no, contrary to what you may think, my ticket isn't paid for, either. Besides, I think an R-rated review would just about explode this website. So I guess I'll stick to the basics of a review: eye-catching intro → roundup of plot → an assessment of performances → a brief thingie on technicals → clever conclusion. AKA, put in my Maximum Effort™.

In one of film's first scenes, Wade Wilson / Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is at the Avengers headquarters pleading Happy Hogan to induct him into the Avengers. After all (wink-wink), Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox means it is finally Deadpool's chance to play in the biggest superhero sandbox of all time: the MCU. Time for lonely Deadpool to get a team of his own. (Ignoring X-Force, a ragtag group assembled by him in Deadpool 2 whose severely unqualified members all fell to their deaths on their very first mission.)

But Happy rejects Deadpool's application, calling him "not the world-saving type of superhero". Deadpool becomes so depressed by the rejection that even Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), the love of his life, leaves him. Stuck with being immortal, he decides to become dead inside instead. He hangs up his suit and gets a job as a used-car salesman just like his buddy Peter Wisdom (an X-force member that he brings back to life alongside Vanessa in the post-credits scene of Deadpool 2).

But the MCU itself comes knocking at Deadpool's door and pulls him into its prized construct: the Multiverse. As it turns out, ever since Logan's death, the timeline of Deadpool's world has become unstable. One of Time Variance Authority's overambitious middle managers named Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) takes it upon himself to accelerate its demise using a "Time Ripper" machine. Deadpool's only chance to save his world may be to bring in Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from a different multiverse. So he goes searching across time and space and finally finds one: the "worst" of all the Wolverines.

In a bar, drunk, depressed and looking far more ornery and aloof than usual, this Wolverine turns out to be a disappointment in his world. Bonded by their shared sense of aimlessness, Wolverine and Deadpool try to reclaim their legacy. But not before Paradox banishes them to the Void - the trash heap of the multiverse, ruled by Charles Xavier's evil twin Cassandra Nova and a cloud of black haze named Alioth - from which they must escape through a bevy of cameo-filled misadventures.

The jargon-filled plot is designed to appease Marvel nerds while also being superficial enough that Deadpool can engage in his signature self-effacing, meta, risqué humour, without any consequence. A lot of what's happening doesn't make a whole lotta sense anyways: Deadpool tries to help Logan go back in time and fix his world so that Logan can then jump timelines and come live in Deadpool's world. But between Deadpool's wisecracks, a boatload of B-grade superhero cameos, and Deadpool-Wolverine's legendary bromance, the film crackles with energy unseen in Marvel's recent slate of all-kosher films. Even though almost all of its vitality comes from Deadpool taking a piss on Marvel itself and its formulaic superhero stories ("miss after miss after miss" multiverse films). But mostly it is from Deadpool's juicy R-rated lines of which here is a sampling: calling Wolverine the "thundercunt from the undercunt"; calling Channing Tatum's Gambit superhero avatar "a succulent reminder of my own inadequacies". Then there are Deadpool & Wolverine's explosive, blood-soaked action scenes, set to some bopping needle drops, including a very memorable one set inside a Honda Odyssey, which may go down as one of the greatest product placements in a film ever.

Yet, there is more Deadpooling than Wolverining in this film. Even Hugh Jackman is a bit of a sideshow beside the all-consuming charisma of Ryan Reynolds, whose face, mind you, is hidden inside a mask for 80% of the film. Emma Corrin brings a playful edge to Cassandra Nova, but even when she seems a heartbeat away from vapourising the flesh off Deadpool's bones or even when she is "fondling" his brains with her fingers, she isn't remotely scary. Which may be just as well. Because the main act is the crowd-pleasing, charged-up sexual tension between Ryan and Hugh, which is fully realized when Deadpool and Wolverine get tied up together inside the Void for a glorious ten minutes of runtime.

Like every superhero movie, Shawn Levy's Deadpool & Wolverine is a hyper-constructed corporate film, but its genius is in making us not think so. It has such an irreverence and indie-quality that you almost imagine Ryan Reynolds himself cooking up the script over bowls of Ramen noodles while yelling "F**k it! Let's show them!" As we grow weary of the confusing, webby, self-serious plotlines of Marvel films these days, one that is as self-deprecating and outright hilarious as Deadpool & Wolverine is seriously welcome.