Deadpool & Wolverine: The Off-Balance Review.
Maximum Effort!
Deadpool & Wolverine released on July 26th. This review will break down the movie in detail but will avoid any major plot discussion.
Regardless, please consider this your spoiler warning.
As always, thank you for reading Off-Balance! Until next time.
Ryan.
By its very nature, comic book storytelling can often feel impermanent. Arcs will end, creative teams will move on and the slate will be wiped clean for the next adventure.
For a while though, it seemed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and to a lesser extent, the Fox-helmed X-Men films had somewhat circumvented this thinking. Both franchises, more than once, getting as close as the genre would allow to actual finality.
Whether it was an end-of-an-era farewell, à la, Avengers: Endgame (2019) for the MCU, Days of Future Past (2014) or Logan (2017) for Fox’s X-Men - the latter specifically, acting as a goodbye to actor Hugh Jackman’s time as Logan/The Wolverine, after nearly twenty years in the role.
But with the Disney/Fox acquisition in 2019 that saw mutants and other Fox-owned superhero properties be absorbed into the Mouse’s Marvel Machine?
It was a reminder that, for better or worse, in comics, anything is possible. Resurrections, clones or plucking a variant from a parallel reality, nobody ever really dies (unless, of course, you’re Uncle Ben).
A touch cynical perhaps but not entirely off-base, especially as the MCU’s continued investment in multiverse-focused storytelling over the past few years has only been semi-successful, particularly from a narrative perspective.
Though it is within the midst of this franchise-wide stagnation that Deadpool & Wolverine arrives. Propped up by both the hype of an extensive marketing campaign and the don’t-look-too-closely corporate machinations behind it.
Fair enough though, right?
If anyone was going to give this franchise, now almost two decades, 30-plus films and various TV series deep, a much needed shot in the arm? It would be Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson, as the titular “Merc With A Mouth”.
The character’s particular brand of crass, self-referential fourth-wall breaking meta humour, the perfect theoretical antidote to growing audience indifference (even if smaller-scale projects, like Echo, prove that isn’t a universal feeling).
And bringing Jackman out of his Wolverine-imposed retirement too?
I mean, c’mon, that’s a slam-dunk just waiting to happen.
The real question is though, does Deadpool & Wolverine meet those outsized expectations?
Depends on who you ask.
Six years following his time-travelling misadventures at the end of Deadpool 2 (2018) Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is at something of a crossroads.
His relationship with longtime girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) has ended and Wade, having retired as Deadpool, is now working as a car salesmen, alongside his buddy Peter (Rob Delaney).
And while he is still supported by the rest of his found-family, Wade is struggling to define both his relationship to kinda-sorta heroism and just who he is without the mask.
But when he is approached by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), who inform him that, due to Logan’s death (in Logan), his universe is slowly collapsing, Wade reclaims his Deadpool mantle and sets off on a journey across the multiverse to repair the damage by finding another Logan (a so-called “Anchor Being”).
Meanwhile, rogue TVA Agent Paradox (Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen) is attempting to build “The Time Ripper”, a device that will allow him to destroy Wade’s timeline as he looks to establish himself as the TVA’s big cheese.
So when Wade and his Logan variant of choice (a returning-to-the-role Hugh Jackman) find themselves in conflict with Paradox? He banishes them to “The Void”: a place in-between realities ruled by Cassandra Nova (played by Emma Corrin, as the forgotten twin of famed mutant Charles Xavier, Professor X).
Alongside a small resistance of other heroes, if they can get on without killing each other, Wade and Logan must work together to overthrow Cassandra, stop Paradox and save the very fabric of reality itself.
Alright? Alright. Did you get all that? Yeah, my bad. Should’ve told you to grab a pen.
Such excesses of exposition, set-up and overindulgence? They are the contradictions at the very heart of Deadpool & Wolverine.
More than anything else, it just wants to have fun dammit. As Reynolds gleefully mugs to the camera, before Deadpool and Logan have their first of many fights in the first act, “We know why you’re here!”
When it is given the opportunity to do so?
Yes, the movie lives up to its billing as 2024’s summer blockbuster of merit, building on not just what was so infamously established in the first two Deadpool movies but being superhero cinema at its most turn-your-brain-off enjoyable.
The action is crisp, the fight choreography is impressive, utilizing extended set-ups whenever possible, without too many rapid-fire cuts. It is also, unsurprisingly, gratuitously violent, in the best possible way - with Wade and Logan both possessing super-charged healing factors and unable to be killed by normal means?
Far surpassing even the most over-the-top moments of its predecessors, Deadpool & Wolverine almost seems to be goading the MPA, with every shooting, stabbing and misplaced katana through the shoulder as, even as a buddy-comedy, it pushes up against the very boundaries of an R-rated movie.
On the same hand, the humour, is (for the most part) another highlight as the bedrock for which these films are built on.
It is expected, naturally.
Ever since Reynolds debuted his first attempt at Wade Wilson in 2009’s oft-beaten down X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he has displayed an inherent knack at understanding just what makes the character tick.
He talks constantly, incessantly, fuelled, as ever by his incredibly raunchy, profanity-laced fourth-wall breaking approach, with no subject being off-limits.
Sex, violence, dark and blue comedy of the highest order. The movie as a whole, rival studios, the MCU and larger superhero-fandom, every known corner of pop culture. Canada-specific one-liners (both Reynolds and the character are Canadian), even jokes at the expense of his co-stars and their spouses/partners/general life decisions.
It doesn’t always click.
It is, of course, a comedy first above anything else but even when important exposition is being delivered, as other characters are talking or when the movie approaches one of its few moments of self-seriousness, you can tell that Reynolds just can’t help himself, you know? He’s gonna get that wisecrack in.
Now, it is in character and that alone, that commitment to the bit as it were, is greatly appreciated. But chances are? You’re going to miss the odd punchline here or there. Not that it ever reaches a point where you’re actively trying to tune Reynolds out necessarily but more than once, it feels like he’s purposely trying to talk over himself in a way he hasn’t before.
I’ll say it: as the end nears, it becomes grating.
And while Reynolds may be the straw that stirs the drink (in addition to starring, he is also credited as a writer) and Deadpool, once more, is given his bare minimum of pathos, most of the movie’s narrative heft is placed on Jackman, who, in returning to the claws for the first time in seven years, tries to bring a different energy than what he delivered in the original X-Men films.
And for the most part he is successful, the variant of Wolverine he plays here more directly haunted by his past than most other versions of the character (including the few played by Jackman previously).
That alone, an impressive feat when you consider that “being haunted by his past” has basically been the character’s M.O since his introduction on the page in the fall of 1974.
Jackman, bringing a straight-forward honesty, a gravitas, that adds an intriguing wrinkle both as his backstory is slowly revealed and within his back-and-forth dynamic with Deadpool.
But inevitably, he is operating in the shadow of Logan, something, on multiple fronts, the movie can’t ignore. Once for laughs during the opening credits when Deadpool, looking to revive that specific version of Logan, promptly desecrates his corpse and again, at the movie’s mid-point.
For this version of Logan, his universe is beyond repair. The last of the X-Men, he wears his classic yellow-and-blue suit (!!) as a reminder of his guilt, in penance, for the lives he couldn’t save. But he is forced to confront it when speaking with his daughter from another timeline, Laura/”X-23”, a returning Dafne Keen from Logan.
Perhaps the movie’s most impactful cameo (revealed just a week before release, as to allow Keen to attend the premiere), Laura tells Logan that he can’t be defined by his failure: the man she knew, the one who died in her arms, he was a hero, one who gave his life so that she could aspire to something greater.
It is, on a whole, probably the highlight of the whole experience, if only because it allows the movie just a few minutes to relax. To dig into character dynamics far further than superficial bantering would allow.
It doesn’t last though, not really. It can’t. As Deadpool & Wolverine is pulled in so many directions, it can never truly succeed at anything (the overall humour notwithstanding).
As the 34th total film in the MCU, having major connective tissue to Loki, the television show, via the inclusion of the TVA but also acting as something of a love-letter to not just the X-Men films of past but the entire Fox-led superhero back catalogue as well (by way of its highly-publicized cameos throughout and the deep cuts referenced within its dialogue).
Deadpool & Wolverine wants nothing more than to be a buddy comedy, a classic road trip adventure between two personality-opposed characters who also happen to take particular pleasure in kicking the living snot out of each other. When it focuses on these elements? There is no denying its status as pure popcorn entertainment.
But ultimately, for my money, given all the other balls it is tasked with juggling, even within its looser framework, the movie is burdened with a responsibility it simply can’t manage (and shouldn’t have been required too, either).
Corrin does well enough as an antagonist, a dark mirror of sorts when compared to Charles Xavier (as is the intention, if you’re familiar with Sir Patrick Stewart’s past portrayal as the Professor) but Corrin’s performance, when all the chips are down, is predictably overshadowed by standard third-act, superhero-shenanigans.
And outside of Keen as Laura, none of the other big cameos are given much to work with, not unexpected (after all, it isn’t their show) but there isn’t much to them either. They’re there for the hype in the moment but are almost immediately forgotten once you leave the theatre, which is disappointing (with one notable exception, I won’t spoil here).
In the lead-up to release, as has become custom lately, Deadpool & Wolverine was given the red-carpet treatment - the movie that was going to “save” the MCU, a grand promise presented with such committed, “it is bigger than Jesus” energy, it would have made John Lennon blush.
Maybe it did, on one count at least, as the film’s opening weekend haul of some $440 million dollars worldwide can attest.
And there is the undeniable joy, as a long-time and on-record superhero enthusiast that comes with all those flourishes: again, the fight choreography, finally seeing Jackman in the character’s classic costume, the obscure comic references, the callbacks and all the little winks presented by those cameos and long-ago returning characters.
But Deadpool & Wolverine also speaks, more than anything, to what has plagued the past half-decade of this franchise. Wanting to ostensibly do something fresh and exciting, while in actuality, playing things as safe as possible.
Too afraid of poor critical reception, after a series of weak showings and their bottom line to challenge their audience in any meaningful way. It is filler, a stepping stone, a cozy placeholder but nothing more.
Instead of trying something new? They simply brought Jackman back into the fold. An uncontested layup, sure but wholly uninspired and within the Deadpool trilogy, specifically, the whole movie is a capper on diminishing returns.
Maybe as the MCU continues to build towards their next crossover event (the double-bill Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars) things will come into clearer focus.
But even then, in having both the Russo Brothers and Robert Downey Jr. returning to the franchise (the long-time Iron Man actor will now be portraying Doctor Doom), there is that inescapable sense of the MCU simply sticking to what worked as it tries not to rock the boat.
Deadpool & Wolverine, to its credit, tries to shake things up.
But it doesn’t come all that close.