Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ movie review: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman enter the MCU

NOW STREAMING ON:

The Merc with a Mouth resurrects the adamantium skeleton of a long-buried Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine, a fast, flippant, and largely fun transition for both of these characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a heavy dose of surprise cameos. Despite the move to Disney and a change in directors, this third Deadpool movie matches its predecessors in over-the-top obscenity and irreverent humor but suffers the same form of multiverse fatigue that has plagued many recent superhero movies.

Deadpool & Wolverine immediately invites multiverse confusion with separate title cards identifying the setting as both “The Sacred Timeline” and “Earth-10005.” The distinction may mean something for viewers of Loki on Disney+, but for the rest of us, suffice it to say that the events of the film follow those in Logan and Deadpool 2, which exist in the same universe. While some form of The Avengers also exist in this universe, they’re only represented here by Jon Favreau‘s Happy Hogan, who turns down a request by Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) to join the superhero group in an early flashback.

More bad news for Deadpool courtesy of Mr. Paradox (Matthew MacFadyen) of the Time Variance Authority (again, see Loki): his universe is about to expire due to the death of Logan, with Paradox expediting the process using a Time Killer machine. To save the world, or at least Earth-10005, Deadpool must recruit the help of Wolverine, who is a corpse on his planet but available in infinite live forms across the multiverse.

Remember how hard the deaths of half the living beings in the universe hit in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame? How hard would that have hit if the movies explicitly showed you that there were an infinite number of those characters alive and well in other dimensions? The threat of this particular universe being ended in Deadpool & Wolverine carries about the same weight for the audience as the video game being switched off in the Matthew McConaughey bomb Serenity.

It’s an existential question, really, about the value of our own personal identity in a landscape of other selves, and thought-provoking material for a film like Everything Everywhere All at Once. But like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Flash, and other recent superhero movies, Deadpool and Wolverine only utilizes it as an excuse to resurrect long-dead and never-before-seen characters as a kind of we-can-do-anything free-for-all.

Still, that does have its own appeal. Deadpool & Wolverine picks up when the titular characters are sent to the Mad Max-like setting of The Void, an Island of Misfit Toys where unpopular iterations of superheroes from across the multiverse are banished. These include characters from previous Fox movies like Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) and Toad (Ray Park), and a few unexpected appearances that are best left as a surprise… as well as some new baddies, including Charles Xavier’s evil twin sister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corin).

The saving grace in Deadpool & Wolverine is that the movie itself doesn’t give two shits about its plot, with Reynolds’ titular character mocking the storyline and surprise cameos at every chance throughout the entire narrative. The movie works on the level of a spoof comedy or Mystery Science Theater 3000-like sendup, with the fourth wall not only broken but irreparably shattered; Reynolds’ nonstop commentary includes laugh-out-loud zingers as he lambasts both Fox and Disney and acknowledges multiverse fatigue and gormless nostalgia bait.

Still, as Deadpool slices through dozens of other Deadpools from across the multiverse for reasons of “hey, look at this!”, we can’t help but feel an opportunity was missed to really say something about these kinds of movies. And as Deadpool & Wolverine, two unkillable beings, are tasked with risking their lives to save Earth-10005, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. The next movie can just take place in Earth-10006, or pluck out a new-but-same Deadpool and Wolverine from wherever else.

Deadpool & Wolverine is flippant and fun enough to warrant a mild recommendation; if you liked the previous two movies, there’s little doubt you’ll enjoy this one, too, though it feels like a mild step down from Deadpool 2, which had what felt like real human stakes within its narrative. Still, it isn’t much of an epitaph for the Fox Marvel movies (it closes with behind-the-scenes shots of the X-Men and Fantastic Four films, set to Sarah McLachlan’s I Will Remember You) and doesn’t do much for the current MCU, either, taking place in the isolated confines of alternate dimensions.

In a movie full of surprises, one of the first was being handed a pair of 3D glasses before entering the cinema; 3D experiences have become increasingly rare at the multiplex, with Avatar: The Way of Water being the only memorable example in the past few years. Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t do anything special with the added dimension, but looks pretty great in IMAX, and the 3D enhances some of the surprise effects, like when some visual elements break out of the 2.35:1 scope and into 16:9 widescreen.

Deadpool & Wolverine

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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