Deadpool & Wolverine marks the first time Ryan Reynolds’ Merc With a Mouth and Hugh Jackman’s clawed mutant have arrived in the MCU. It’s clearly one of the most highly anticipated team-ups in recent movie history, and the end result is one that will do anything but disappoint hardcore fans.
I’ll admit these two are still at the top of their game with this entry’s combination of over-the-top violence and humor, and because of that, the movie mostly works, but the structure is a bit messy. Nevertheless, Reynolds, Jackman, and director Shawn Levy deliver a bombastic cacophony of a spectacle.
This threequel picks up with Reynolds’ Wade Wilson retiring from being Deadpool after his attempt to join the Avengers is denied. He now works as a used car salesman and he’s broken up with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin).
However redemption is waiting for Wade around the corner in the form of the Time Variance Authority led by a character named Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfayden). Mr. Paradox gives him the chance to live the “Sacred Timeline” on Earth.
This timeline is in danger due to the death if Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and so Wade has to use a time travel device of sorts to journey through the multiverse and find a variation of Wolverine. There’s a lot of convoluted mumbo-jumbo in this movie and it’s one of the speed bumps that makes this entry a step or two back from the previous installments.
Of course, everything leads up to the face-to-face meeting between Deadpool and Jackman’s Wolverine. We expect a lot of banter and bloodshed between the two, and the movie gives us exactly what we’d expect in spades.
Like the first two movies, this one has a lot of fun with Reynolds and Jackman both together and separately. The opening credits amp up the gore factor to comically ridiculous heights set to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” and even the two titans get their own smackdown set to “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease.
There are some funny moments in Deadpool & Wolverine, and the action scenes are top-notch, but a lot of the rest is murky with its ebb and flow. For every scene featuring a break in the fourth wall or a jab at the MCU or 20th Century Studios, there are also a few scenes that have to explain how the timelines are connected, which can get elaborate and not as interesting as the rest of the movie.
I don’t know where Deadpool and company go from here in the MCU, and I’m not sure it will be successful. However, while this film doesn’t have the lightning-in-the-bottle approach the first one had, it is an improvement over the second Deadpool installment.
Deadpool & Wolverine is mostly satisfying, but it’s not a maximum effort.
Grade: B+
(Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore, and sexual references.)
