‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ review: Fantastic buddy comedy gives the MCU new hope
movie review
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Running time: 127 minutes. Rated R (strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore and sexual references). In theaters July 26.
“Good to see you,” Deadpool says to Wolverine early in their new movie.
“You’re joining at a bit of a low point.”
The sword-wielding superhuman also known as Wade Wilson violently slices up opponents, but he doesn’t mince words.
Everybody knows the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of which Ryan Reynolds’ near-invincible fighter is now a part, has been in a slump, with its films flopping at the box office and getting ripped to shreds by critics.
While retaking its cinematic crown will be a challenge, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is a giant, promising step forward for the franchise.
Director Shawn Levy’s laugh-a-second movie is easily the best Marvel has delivered since 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and provides similarly nostalgic pleasures in its whiplash-inducing number of retro cameos — none of which I’ll spoil, for fear of my own life.
Safer to reveal is that since the events of 2018’s “Deadpool 2,” Wade has been wading through his daily routine, lacking heroic purpose.
Meta as ever, he also gives us a corporate refresher course. “Disney bought Fox, there was a boring rights issue, blahdeddy blah,” Deadpool says.
There’s another terrific gag about the House of Mouse and a certain sex act that I won’t write, for fear of my own job.
Wade still shares an apartment with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) and was crushed to be rejected by the Avengers. Miserable, he’s stuck selling used cars.
It’s at his birthday party when Wade is unceremoniously summoned by the Time Variance Authority, the mysterious group that protects the “sacred timeline” (a multiverse thing that was on the Disney+ show “Loki”).
Deadpool’s Earth, the eccentric TVA head Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen of “Succession”) warns him, is at risk of destruction after Wolverine’s death in the 2017 movie “Logan.” The sideburned mutant was vital to its existence.
So, determined to save the world, Wade ventures off to different timelines in search of a replacement.
The two complicated heroes first met on-screen back in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” but they’ve never before gone on a tempers-flared road trip in a Honda Odyssey.
They’re the stuff of buddy comedy dreams.
Jackman’s Wolverine is snarling, angry and tortured, while Reynolds’ Deadpool is a witty court jester who always goes for the filthiest joke.
Wolverine hates his guts. Deadpool gushes over his ugly new pet, Dogpool. It’s hilarious.
Everything is. The third film is somehow even funnier than the sidesplitting previous two entries, and goes buck wild with risque humor and self-referential jabs.
“Either you help us,” Deadpool yells, “or my friend here is gonna sing the entire second act of ‘The Music Man’ with zero warmup!” Broadway’s Jackman, of course, knows his way around a jazz square.
The fights and effects are hugely improved also. They’re tactile, punishing, sweaty and believable — not pixelated. They’re also served with a side of silliness, underscored by upbeat songs such as “Like a Prayer,” “You’re the One That I Want” and NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.”
The story isn’t all zaniness, brutality and boy bands. There is a single thread of seriousness. When the pair encounters villainous Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin of “The Crown”), Charles Xavier’s twin sister in the “Mad Max”-like Void, her telepathy forces Logan to confront his emotional past.
Intense as Mount Vesuvius, Jackman is now the finest actor in the MCU, which has otherwise become too green-screenified and tongue-in-cheek of late.
Other than getting Logan back into the fold — in his comic-book yellow outfit, no less — my guess is that the plot of this film will bear little on the films that follow. Cassandra is a serviceable baddie, not a thunderous Thanos or Magneto that we need to see again.
That’s actually a relief. Keeping track of the overlapping stories of 34 movies has become stressful, like paying ConEd in August.
Deadpool gets that. While exploiting the multiverse for its own ends, Wade mocks Marvel’s stubborn and confusing obsession with it. “It’s miss after miss after miss!” he declares.
So true. “Deadpool & Wolverine” is no miss, though. It’s a hit. Finally.
