Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) review

Dir. Shawn Levy

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

The most amusing detail in Deadpool & Wolverine is its existence as a eulogy for the 21st Century Fox era in Marvel (which followed Disney’s acquisition of the studio in 2019). One can write the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) without mentioning any of the Fox films, but that would omit the X-Men, Blade, and Fantastic Four franchises, along with a handful of other franchise-hopeful installments that floundered for one reason or another.

Since Marvel’s improbable 30+ movie-run culminated with Avengers: Endgame, a logical capstone for the series as a whole, the subsequent works in “Phase Four” and “Phase Five” have struggled to usher in the next chapter (probably because the first chapter felt like the length of two-dozen novels). Couple the origins stories of several obscure comic characters and collectives I’d swear never existed until some Mandela effect timeline made it so, with an overabundance of TV shows that quietly became required viewing as opposed to extracurricular assignments for die-hards, and Marvel finds itself a muddled, multiversal hellhole to the extent that the foul-mouthed Deadpool might be the only one who can save it.

Enter Deadpool & Wolverine, a collaboration birthed despite the latter character’s death seven years ago. Apparently, Hugh Jackman was such a big fan of Ryan Reynolds’ work as Deadpool that he wanted to revive the character specifically for such a union to occur. This proved convenient as Marvel heroes and villains share the same commonality with slashers: they only stay dead until it’s time for more money to be made. Nothing some narrative gymnastics and the introduction of other inexplicable universes can’t fix.

Deadpool & Wolverine takes place six years after the previous film, with Wade Wilson (Reynolds) now retired and in full embrace of his loser existence after not being accepted into the Avengers. He retreats to wearing a hairpiece and working at a massive used car dealership, at least until Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) summons him. Paradox tells Wilson that his timeline is decaying due to the loss of an “anchor being,” an individual whose existence stabilizes their respective timeline. That anchor being happens to be Logan, better known as Wolverine (Jackman). Deadpool decides to go rogue and pluck another Wolverine from an alternate timeline and use him as the replacement. The best Wolverine he can find, however, is washed-up alcoholic who wallows in past failures. This Wolverine isn’t so much fed up with stupidity as he is fed up with life and everyone in it. Thankfully, his new forcibly assigned partner never stops talking, swearing, and finding ways to bring up “butt-play” at various points.

One thing leads to another and results in both Deadpool and Wolverine marooned on a Mad Max-esque “metaphorical junkyard” overseen by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the twin of Charles Xavier. It’s here where our two antiheroes come into contact with a number of familiar characters from Fox-commissioned Marvel movies. Spoiling these would be a crime, even if none truly amount to much other than glorified cameos. It’s almost criminal one, who hasn’t appeared as his character since 2004, gets very little to do, although I’m sure the payday couldn’t be denied. At the very least we get a taste of what Channing Tatum would’ve been like as Gambit, whose solo superhero flick never materialized.

Deadpool & Wolverine is bound to frustrate you if you try and stay committed to follow its storyline. The abundance of universes, the varying logics on display, and the fact that there are multiple versions of the same heroes/villains in varying plains of existences if all overwrought and unaided by an onslaught of backstory, regardless of whether it’s Deadpool or Mr. Paradox spewing it. Digested as a Marvel-branded roast of the almighty superhero titan, the film has its own merits, evident in sequences such as when Deadpool and Wolverine fight one another with the backdrop being the shattered remnants of the 20th Century Fox logo.

Also enjoyable is the soundtrack. Deadpool & Wolverine has one of the most fun opening title sequences of the year as Deadpool acrobatically defeats an army of henchmen while also having time to stop and dance as NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” blares. The song is played in its entirety, while bones and blood-splatter contribute to the laundry-list of names of those who worked on the film. It’s anarchic, nasty, and beautiful, just like Deadpool himself.

Deadpool and Wolverine also make an ideal pair for more reasons than their polar opposite personalities that echo the unlikely amalgam of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in 48 Hrs. Their common-ground here is the fact that both of them are self-professed losers. Deadpool can’t join the Avengers, and is again hellbent on doing right by Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), who the film never cares to let say more than two connected sentences. Meanwhile, Wolverine has a massive amount of blood on his hands following past failures. At this point in their lives, the two deserve one another. Through all his cheeky mugging, fourth-wall breaking, and profuse swearing, Reynolds does manage to achieve some recognizable pathos through a character he’s entirely comfortable embodying. You should already know how good Jackman is playing someone who has had enough of everyone’s bullshit too.

While it might be justifiable with most of the film taking place in a generically named locale known as “The Void,” it comes as something of a surprise that Deadpool & Wolverine is as visually ugly as it is. Its palette is dominated by drab colors, so much so that it feels like the soundtrack — featuring “Like a Prayer,” “The Power of Love,” and “You’re the One That I Want” to name a few bangers — has to work double-overtime to bring life to the dreary scenery.

You might be pleasantly shocked to the extent Marvel allowed themselves to be the butt of the joke throughout this film. “Welcome to the MCU, by the way,” Deadpool tells Logan before Mr. Paradox. “You’re joining at a low-point.” These cracks give the faintest optimism that Kevin Feige and others have recognized that despite making these characters so indispensable to the cultural landscape they’ve also effectively oversaturated the market with one property and rewritten the rules to the point nothing matters. To the point that Wolverine is now “back” after being killed, Deadpool justifies this pretty succinctly: “Fox killed him, Disney brought him back. They’re gonna make him do this till he’s ninety.”

Appreciated like a rules-free work of sketch-comedy (aided by the fact that this is the work of five credited writers), Deadpool & Wolverine stumbles into significance by pointing out the flaws and foibles of new superhero movies. No character ever stays dead. The multiverse was created as a way to revive the fallen and extend respective universes. The villain will always partly underwhelm due to not having the recognition and development of the hero who will inevitably defeat him. This feels like an aside more than a crucial chapter, which makes the fact that it’s in part undone by so much needless exposition just a tinge more irritating.

My review of Deadpool
My review of Deadpool 2

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen, and Channing Tatum. Directed by: Shawn Levy.