By the time you reach the third film in a franchise, it either works for you, or it doesn’t. Like if seeing Deadpool straight murder a bunch of people with a corpse while dancing to N*SYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” doesn’t sound like your jam, then Deadpool & Wolverine, the third entry into the Deadpool franchise, isn’t for you. If that DOES sound like your jam, though, then you probably liked the first two Deadpool movies, too, and will like #3 as well.
Ryan Reynolds returns as Deadpool, and Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine even though Logan already gave him a perfect send-off. And yeah, the film acknowledges that. The whole first act of Deadpool & Wolverine is basically an acknowledgment that they’re tarnishing Logan’s legacy.
But it kind of doesn’t matter? Because Logan still exists, and Hugh Jackman is still, amazingly, twenty-four years after X-Men, finding new levels to play as Wolverine, delivering yet another stand-out performance. It’s not exactly a surprise, he’s been the highlight of many a bad X-Men movie, but Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t bad, per se, it’s just definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. This entry into the franchise more than any other feels completely unhinged. Ryan Reynolds, who produced the film and co-wrote the script with Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and director Shawn Levy, leaves no stone unturned. There is not a single cocaine joke he does not make, no one goes unscathed.
The film attempts an arc for Wade Wilson, Deadpool’s non-super persona, but after being rejected by the Avengers, Wade goes into a spiral that ends with him working at a knock-off Carmax with Peter (Rob Delaney). He’s got a very noticeable hair system, a few friends, and is doing a passable job convincing everyone, except Peter, that he’s happy with his lot in life as plain Wade Wilson. He’s apparently given up the blade and is no longer Deadpooling.
Until, that is, the Time Variance Authority shows up and informs him that his universe’s “anchor being”, which is a plot device to justify pulling Wolverine into the story, has died and so it is going to end. To save his friends, and thus the universe, Wade dons his red suit and goes multi-verse hopping in search of a new anchor being. This is a tremendously fun sequence that parades Hugh Jackman and some others through a bevy of comics-accurate versions of Wolverine over the decades. Deadpool gets the multi-verse right: it’s only good for cameos, otherwise it’s a stupid gimmick that no one likes.
But boy, does Deadpool & Wolverine deliver on some doozies. And it’s not just that it’s fun to see different versions of characters, for the most part, this film makes them count, either by providing a fun action sequence to show off that character’s potential on screen, or to honor an actor who got the short end of the franchise stick. Under the dick jokes and horror-movie levels of fake blood, there’s a heart in Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds knows what it’s like to be done dirty by the superhero machine, and he spends a not insignificant portion of this film giving others the chance to go out on a high note.
This is, of course, the first Deadpool movie produced by Marvel Studios, and it’s their first R-rated movie. Rather than feel like an uneasy alliance, though, Deadpool & Wolverine feels like the best of both worlds. Deadpool sacrifices none of his R-rated humor, none of the blood and guts of the action sequences, and none of the fourth-wall mockery aimed at the corporate overlords, but this film more than the previous two has a story structure that mostly justifies the nonsense happening on screen (and it has that ugly, flat MCU style directing! Wooo!). More importantly, Deadpool & Wolverine has heart, pretty much all of which is aimed at Wolverine.
Jackman gets to play a failure, a Wolverine who let down the X-Men and never got to right his wrongs (a la Logan). Jackman is still so good at playing this character it boggles the mind. Here, though, he gets to play that drunk, angry version of Wolverine with a comedic bent, a perfect straight man to Deadpool’s yammering silliness. The contrast of Jackman’s straight face and Deadpool’s slapstick works really well, it’s almost vaudevillian. Jackman and Reynolds’ real-life friendship tangibly informs their performances, which are hugely fun, and only made more enjoyable since the rest of the film doesn’t suck around them.
Again, though, if Deadpool doing homicide and corpse desecration to Y2K pop isn’t your thing, this movie is not for you, but if you can roll with that, Hugh Jackman emerges as the MVP of Deadpool & Wolverine. The film looks pretty bad, Shawn Levy is never the most adventurous director, but the MCU house style of flat lighting definitely brings him down a couple notches. At this point, though, everyone is so inured to it, I doubt most people will even notice.
The cameos, the jokes, and Hugh Jackman’s legitimately good performance cover a lot of visual crimes. It’s so full of references and “I’ve waited forever for this” moments, a little bad lighting—or a lot of bad lighting—isn’t going to get in the way of fans enjoying it. Deadpool & Wolverine is basically a two-hour nerd blow job.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing exclusively in theaters.
