Jackman Adds Heart To A Still Wildly Irreverent ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’
When Disney bought 20th Century Fox I assumed it would be the end of the Deadpool franchise. I was bummed but not terribly surprised. The Deadpool movies would never fit into the MCU — they’re raunchy, violent and unserious in a way that directly undermines the almost religious fervor that the MCU has built. When Deadpool and Wolverine was announced I had an additional eye roll. Logan is one of my favorite movies using a Marvel property. It’s a perfect send off to the character of Logan/Wolverine. A perfect send off to Hugh Jackman’s years-long Wolverine performance. Deadpool and Wolverine immediately starts by ripping off the Logan honoring band-aid.
In many ways this is Deadpool’s Barbie. The central thesis is asking “what was I [Deadpool, Wolverine] made for?” This creates an interesting central drive for the film — while it is a MCU product it isn’t just about the space lasers, alien armies, CGI, etc. It is about the human (mutant?) struggle for actualization and purpose.
The film is essentially a 2-hour meme. It’s about the Disney/20th Century Fox merger, it’s about superhero movies, it’s about multiverse fatigue and the Wizard of Oz, it’s about the torches former heroes never got to pass but mostly it’s about love. Our love as an audience for the genre, but also the characters’ love for each other. I wasn’t expecting a Deadpool film to have quite as much heart as it did, even less so for so much of it to be actually earnest.
It is still, however, a Deadpool movie. The jokes, needle drops and references are relentless. In a lot of ways it felt like the film was made in direct response to my biggest Superhero Genre complaint of late — aren’t these movies supposed to be fun? Deadpool seems to understand the question and crafts a well-plotted superhero-type movie that still has its legs under it. While there are multiversal pieces everywhere in this phase of the MCU, Deadpool and Wolverine at least has some fun with it, bringing us an absolutely fabulous Deadpool kills Deadpool homage with some wild visual gags. Deadpool also cites his sources, turning to the camera at one point to explain where you might have seen a character if you were confused about them. The characters both new and returning have depth, integrity and their own style of humor that still fits neatly into the movie.
The star of this film by a country mile is Hugh Jackman, though, playing a deeply haunted multiversal version of Logan. His heartbroken prickliness is equal parts funny, compelling and sad. The differences between the previous iterations of the character Jackman has played still feel apiece with Wolverine. I can’t speak about much of the other cast without getting into spoilers but they all seem to understand their assignment to a T. The action has character and is fairly easy to follow even when it’s cluttered. Is the movie perfect? No. It’s still a slightly bloated superhero film. Not every joke lands. Some beats are predictable. I’m sure some won’t feel it’s subversive enough but I felt there was enough thought, stupidity and depth in most choices that I had a great time. It was lovely to get to know these characters on a different level and I even found myself a little misty in the credits, which seemed to acknowledge that this is likely the final standalone Deadpool film.
I give Deadpool and Wolverine (Marvel Studios; R; 2 hrs 7 mins) a 4 out of 5.
