Time: 104 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Graphic violence, sexual references & offensive language
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool
Hugh Jackman as James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine
Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova
Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Paradox
Director: Shawn Levy

I was sceptical about Deadpool & Wolverine for a number of reasons. I knew that it was going to indulge in a lot of fanservice, seemingly more so than even Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Nowadays I am very weary of fanservice heavy comic book films, as well as multiverse movies in general. The trailers also didn’t do a lot to make me excited. For what it’s worth though, Deadpool & Wolverine turned out better than expected.

While I enjoyed the movie from my first viewing, I don’t think the story was all that great. The plot is simple enough and leaves a lot of the multiverse concepts in the background (probably for the best). Looking back at it however, it feels strangely empty, largely just focussing on Wolverine and Deadpool going from one place to the other. You could say its something of a road trip movie for some of it in that regard, but the dynamic between the two of them isn’t entertaining or interesting enough to prevent the middle section from occasionally dragging. I really wouldn’t be surprised if this came as a consequence of the writer’s strike. Surprisingly, the Deadpool films don’t undercut the dramatic and emotional moments with random comedy, which is more than can be said for most of the recent other MCU movies. For Deadpool & Wolverine, some emotional beats work, but it isn’t as effective as the past two movies. The personal stakes of the title characters aren’t perfect, but are decently established. When it comes to the much larger stakes though, you don’t feel them at all. There’s plenty of humour, with dark comedy, meta comedy, pretty much everything you’d expect from a Deadpool film by now. A lot of it is hit or miss, some works, some really doesn’t work. 

Then of course, there’s the cameos and the nostalgia and fanservice, which a lot of people are anticipating. Let’s just say that when it comes to fanservice (especially with comic book movies), I’m not the type to foam at the mouth and clap like a seal just because they show a character that I recognise, no matter how much nostalgia they may hold. That said, I generally liked the use of fanservice in this movie, or at least tolerated it. There is one cameo which sounded desperate on paper, but the performance and stuff that was done with the character made me okay with it. The one exception in terms of writing and filmmaking was a particularly embarrassing sequence in which one cameo character after another entered a room dramatically, pausing in front of the camera as if waiting for the applause to finish. That was quite awkward to watch, especially as their appearances didn’t generate the audience reaction in my screening that I think was intended. All the cameos in this movie come through the use of the multiverse, which was also done in No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness. Like with those movies, Deadpool 3 just uses it for fanservice and nothing else. I will say that it does benefit slightly from being a love letter to the Fox X-Men movies, so I did enjoy it on that level. That said, I’m not really sure how these cameos will work with people who don’t recognise most of these characters or haven’t seen their respective movies.

Ryan Reynolds again is great as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, embodying the character quite well and delivering the quippy lines, humour and moments of drama. One of the standouts of the movie is Hugh Jackman who reprises his role of Wolverine/Logan, following his assumed sendoff with 2017’s Logan. One could be concerned about how the movie would handle the character, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think this movie ruins Logan. Jackman is really good in this part, and is fully committed. It’s just a shame that most of his screentime is just Wolverine being grumpy and angry (mainly towards Deadpool). This version of Wolverine (which is different from the ones we saw in the prior X-Men movies) is established as being a failure to his world, but isn’t given much as a character beyond that. It often feels like Jackman is doing the heavy lifting in providing the emotional depth. That said, there are some scenes where he’s allowed to actually act. Reynolds and Jackman have good chemistry, even when most of their scenes consist of Deadpool annoying Wolverine, and the latter telling the former to shut up. The relationship between these characters develops over the course of the movie, but not really in an organic way, and feels quite forced. Emma Corrin plays the main villain Cassandra Nova, who had potential but is very underutilized and wasn’t given nearly enough screen time. That said, Corrin is having a ton of fun in this part and is quite entertaining in their scenes. Another entertaining villainous performance is seen from Matthew Macfadyen, who also hams up his performance so much that he’s enjoyable to watch.

I was very sceptical of Shawn Levy being the next director to helm a Deadpool movie, but his work here was a bit better than expected. The action was quite enjoyable; despite being under Disney, this is probably the most violent and bloody of the 3 Deadpool movies. Most of these action and fight sequences are well done with some good choreography. That said, some of the scenes in the third act which involve large numbers of characters looked so cluttered and messy that it is hard to follow what’s going on. The visuals and CGI are also a very mixed bag, ranging from looking pretty good, to looking very generic and flat. It’s not a huge mark against the movie, but I have to mention that there is a particular mask that is included as part of a costume which was intended for some comic accuracy fanservice; it looked horrible and they probably shouldn’t have bothered with it.

Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t without its faults especially with its writing, but was better than expected. It’s generally funny and entertaining with some good action sequences, and a great cast. As far as post-Endgame MCU movies go, it is one of the better ones. If you couldn’t vibe with any of the prior Deadpool movies though, I wouldn’t count on this one to surprise you.