Welcome back to the blog readers. We are finally back, baby! It has been way too long since I have discussed a Marvel Cinematic film with you guys, to the tune of 8+ months. The last offering we got, The Marvels (2023) was not the best film but it certainly had its moments. This film comes on the heels of a complete creative overhaul at Marvel Studios and the return of "Big Papa Iger" Bob Iger to front the multi-billion dollar conglomerate known as Disney. I have also loved the Deadpool films, with Deadpool (2016) and its 2018 sequel featuring great stories with extremely raunchy and funny humor. Now with Wolverine in the fold, what the fuck will happen? Stick around to find out.
Deadpool & Wolverine was directed by Shawn Levy from a script by him, Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells, based on Deadpool by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefield, and Wolverine by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr.. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, and Matthew Macfadyen. In the film, a reluctant Deadpool is pulled from his timeline by the Time Variance Authority to embark on a mission with an even more reluctant Wolverine to save his universe from destruction.
Like I said, it has been over 8 months since I have gotten to talk to you about a Marvel film and my excitement has been through the roof as to what on earth we were in store for in this film. I don't think any trailer could have gotten you prepared for the absolute chaos, madness, and glory that this film is. This film is fucking glorious in every regard. From start to finish, this film is a full adrenaline rush that does not overstay its welcome and gives career-best performances as Wade and Logan for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, respectively. The action is fast and furious for every action scene, and the humor is in-your-face, satirical in places, and self-deprecating for the most part (my favorite kind of humor). Also, I feel it necessary to say that this review, as with every other film review I do, will NOT contain spoilers, so you are safe to read ahead.
Ryan Reynolds has been turning into one of my favorite actors ever since I saw him in Deadpool (2016) (although I did see him first in the forgettable Green Lantern (2011)), and he honestly was one of the only reasons I was able to get through that Spirited (2022) film he did with Will Ferrell. I have been saying for years that he was born to play Deadpool, and he puts a whole lot of himself into this role. That is on full display again for this outing of the character, as he gets to be more relatable and wittier now that he has entered the MCU (sort of). Reynolds knows the ins and outs of this character enough to be able to give the fans another unforgettable outing as his pride and joy; his baby. And I cannot commend him for even getting Hugh Jackman back for one last ride. The chemistry between the two is chef's kiss perfection. I hope he hangs around for Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), but I will be grateful if this is indeed the last ride.
What is there to say about his costar Hugh Jackman? What is there to be said about the man who single handedly made Wolverine the most popular X-Man since 2000? What is there to say about the man behind The Greatest Showman (2017), a film that I believe should have gotten more love than it did? You say that Hugh still has what it takes, even though he is in his 50s right now. Jackman did say he didn't want to come back to the role of Wolverine unless the story and the heart was there, and this film had it in fucking spades. Jackman gives possibly his most heartfelt performance as the character, but a different version that apparently failed his world. In all the iterations of Logan we have gotten, we have never gotten one that is so despondent and broken as this one is, and Jackman sells us on this despair wonderfully.
I want to next talk about the villain of the film. Marvel has been known for mostly giving us half-baked villains in their films, with some of them being borderline bad. The Dark Elves in Thor: The Dark World (2013), the Kree chick in The Marvels (2023), Kaecilius in Doctor Strange (2016), and the Taskmaster in Black Widow (2021) (here's to hoping they redeem her in Thunderbolts* (2025)). I think Cassandra Nova (who is the villain of this film played by Emma Corrin) is middle-of-the-road. She was not a terrible villain, but she was no Thanos or Loki. I was not expecting her to be a fantastic villain, but I did see the intrigue in her character as the twin of Charles Xavier who he tried to kill while they were in the womb. But her motivations felt a bit half-baked and like mountains made out of molehills. I place no blame on Corrin, because they absolutely did their best to feel like they were intimidating, but I personally did not feel it from Cassandra.
Now I want to talk about the story and the comedy. I plan to talk about these together because I feel that they go hand-in-hand. I believe this story is one that has strong themes of guilt and redemption. Wade is feeling guilty over how his relationship with Vanessa ended up after something that happens early in the film and looks to redeem not only himself from bad decisions but his world from destruction for his girlfriend. Logan is feeling similar guilt for failing in his world; it is something that is heavily discussed in this film and is something that honestly made me very emotional. If you remember in the opening of this review, I said that they (as in Reynolds, Jackman, and Shawn Levy) really wanted to get this story right and not make a third film just to make one and based on the heart and emotion that Levy infused into this film, I believe they absolutely succeeded.
And of course, you cannot forget about the comedy in this film too. There is a whole lot of insult comedy that appears in this film, and I personally find that type of humor great. It winds up being the pussies that cannot take a joke that bring them down for everyone. This is supposed to be comedy, not literal insults ("Ableism. That won't go over well with the woke agenda" had me dying laughing because it is such a Deadpool joke to make but also so far out of left field that I did not expect them to make a joke like that in the first place). The self-deprecating humor is another kind of humor that I absolutely love, and I think Reynolds is an expert at these kind of jokes (in the last film, Deadpool literally kills Ryan Reynolds before he can take the part in the aforementioned Green Lantern). One of the big pressure points in terms of these jokes happen with one of the major cameos in this film (that I again will NOT be spoiling here), where it seems like they take a particular interest in jabbing about the appearance (or lack thereof) of this character.
And finally, I want to talk about the brilliant music choices in this film. The soundtrack was literally eclectic but perfect all at the same time. Only in a Deadpool film can you expect to hear "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC (awesome usage of it by the way) in the same film as "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and "Respect" by Aretha Franklin. Some of the other notable music choices in this film include a brilliant usage of "The Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh for the introduction of Dogpool (played by the awesome Peggy), a fun use of "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News in a montage that included another major cameo, a hilarious, yet brief, usage of "The Greatest Show" from The Greatest Showman, another drop-dead laughing use of "You're the One That I Want" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John during a brutal and bloody fight, and a heartfelt usage of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day in the credits. Like I said, only in Deadpool.
In conclusion, Deadpool & Wolverine is a raunchy, brutal, and hilarious outing for both titular characters that includes heartfelt performances, awesome music, and comedy and heart in spades. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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