A person’s enjoyment of Deadpool & Wolverine can likely be measured by how much they love and follow everything Marvel Studios. If you’re a person who explores every rumor, dissects every trailer, and gets goosebumps when the logo hits, there’s little doubt you are going to love this movie. If, however, that isn’t you and you’re either a tangential fan or not a fan at all, there’s a very good chance it won’t work as well. The film is so niche and so laser-focused on that audience, some of the cohesion that makes a great movie “great,” isn’t quite there. Nevertheless, it’s such a joyous, boisterous celebration of that world, all of its charm and intention largely gloss over those flaws.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine focuses on—you guessed it—Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, who also co-wrote and produced), and Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). As the film opens, Wade is more than a little lost in life. But when an opportunity arises to save his universe, he sees a chance to change that. To do so, he’ll need to find and convince another self-healing mutant, Logan, to join him, which poses a bit of a problem. Logan is dead. Once Wade gets around that though, the two instantly develop a tumultuous relationship bolstered by genuine, palpable chemistry between the actors, which often devolves into very long, very violent fights between them.
The best part of Deadpool & Wolverine is there’s an uplifting through line of redemption in it for, well, everything and everyone involved. There are constant jokes about how Marvel Studios has had missteps over the past few years, but this movie is here to save it. The main characters are looking for redemption too—from the past, from the world and more—and several supporting characters also get a chance to repair their legacies. All throughout, you’re rooting for not just the characters to finally get back to where they want to be, but the film and Marvel Cinematic Universe too.
Conversely, the biggest problem with the movie is those redemption arcs carry a lot of baggage from all across the timeline, meaning there’s a lot of ground to cover to set everything up. Deadpool & Wolverine is both a sequel to Deadpool 2 as well as Loganwhile also facilitating a transition of 20th Century Fox’s Marvel movies into Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, it has to set up its own story, one that necessitates the two comic book giants coming together with world-saving stakes that can eventually tee up several more years of Marvel movies.
So, because of all that, Deadpool & Wolverine is often quite uneven. Things start with a hilarious, gross, over-the-top action scene. That’s followed by a long stretch of much more subdued character-building and narrative. After that, another wildly exciting and revealing montage. Then, more slow exposition. This back-and-forth goes on for the duration of the film with very few exceptions. Luckily, if you are into Marvel movies and their dense mythology, almost all of that narrative is interesting and intriguing. It’s just that the whole thing feels like two different kinds of movies smashed into one with action that mostly happens to interrupt the storytelling, rarely to advance it.
All the while, one factor that links everything together is humor. Deadpool & Wolverine is constantly funny, especially if you are keyed into pop culture. There are lots (and lots and lots) of Marvel and movie-related jokes, but also plenty of quips about wildly random stuff, from sex to cars to drugs. Plus, the lines Reynolds says as Deadpool are some of the most random, vile, hysterical things you’ve ever heard. Often it takes a beat to process what he just said before a laugh because the quips are so fast and so smart.
In the grand tradition of the movies, though, later on the humor does take a back seat. That’s when the slower dramatic scenes become a showcase for the actors and the movie really starts earning its emotional chops. All throughout the film, Deadpool and Wolverine aren’t just trying to save a universe, they’re trying to save themselves and each other. To get there, each actor has a few very dramatic, heartbreaking moments where they bare their souls. It’s here that Deadpool & Wolverine is at its best because both actors, but Jackman in particular, really get a chance to evolve the characters they’ve played for so long and give the stakes a personal touch.
Standing against our heroes are several antagonists. One is Mr. Paradox, played by Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen, who is highly enjoyable. But the main villain is Cassandra Nova, played by The Crown’s Emma Corrin. Cassandra is ruler of the Void, a place between multiverses we’ve seen in previous Marvel shows but never quite like this. And while the character is intimidating and powerful thanks in large part to Corrin’s magnetic performance, she’s oddly underutilized. Cassandra is basically in three total scenes and while each is, clearly, hugely consequential to the plot, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of a movie so overstuffed that even the main villain gets lost.
The counterargument to that is most of what’s stuffed into Deadpool & Wolverine is flat-out awesome. That includes those aforementioned battles between the two main characters, some killer montages, an often laugh-out-loud soundtrack, and an incredible, you-wouldn’t-believe-it-if-I said-it list of cameos and surprises. Plus, those cameos are (mostly) more than just cameos. The characters actually do things in the movie, resulting in some of the most exciting and memorable moments in a big summer blockbuster since Avengers: Endgame.
That is, of course, if you understand why the cameos are there in the first place. While all involved are actors most people would recognize, often why those actors are in the movie may not be clear to someone who isn’t a huge Marvel fan. As a result, they work on a base level of “Oh, look a famous actor I didn’t know was in this” but work much, much, MUCH better if you’re like “Oh, a famous actor from role I recognize is in this.” Sorry, I’m trying to keep things spoiler-free.
And while there are bumps along the way, those scenes, along with a powerful, emotional finale, do eventually bring Deadpool & Wolverine to a satisfying place. There’s simply something to be said about a group of talented filmmakers, actors, and craftspeople making something so big and ambitious for such a specific group of people, especially if you are in that group of people. It’s like the ultimate fan film. Rough around the edges, sure, but made with complete selflessness and an aim to please.
Deadpool & Wolverine may not be as cohesive as many other, better, Marvel movies, but only one or two can match it in terms of pure joy and reverence for the genre. Fans will absolutely adore it and even non-fans should, at the very least, marvel at it.
Deadpool & Wolverine opens July 26.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
