Deadpool & Wolverine

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew McFayden and a bunch more you’re probably best to not know about until you see them for yourself.

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Where It’s Available: Movie theatres! (I actually went to one. I’m as shocked as you are) Also Disney Plus around November or so I guess?

Well, it’s happened. The Merc with a Mouth dropped over 100 f-bombs paid for by the Mouse House. The film is big, bombastic and chockful of cameos, in-jokes and meta-narrative and it’s backed by one of the most eclectic soundtracks you’ll ever see. And it fucking ruled.

Deadpool & Wolverine opens with Deadpool visiting Logan’s grave from.. well.. ‘Logan’ (spoilers for a 7 year old comic book movie classic, sorrynotsorry). Some.. things happen and then Deadpool finds himself engaged in an adventure across the multiverse. Honestly, talking about the plot is effectively impossible because half the fun is seeing who shows up and what happens. Suffice it to say that - at least for a ‘multiverse bullshit’ superhero movie, it’s easy enough to follow and makes enough sense that you don’t groan out loud. The biggest talking point here is - do the gags land? Far more often than not, yes. Yes they do. I had a stupid grin on my face for damn near close to the entire film.

Hugh Jackman had a dump truck full of money driven to his house to come back for this (and apparently a very honest and sincere request from Ryan Reynolds himself) and dude goes *hard*. It’s almost enough to give you whiplash seeing how much emoting Logan does - he’s giving Oscar speeches while Deadpool is off in the corner making fart jokes. He’s bringing his chops from ‘Logan’ (which, honestly, was absolutely robbed of attention during Oscar season. The film is ‘that’ good). But it’s part of that juxtaposition that makes this film so ‘fun’. At its core, these two characters are yin and yang. Opposites, but they work in concert.

For his part, Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool and gives a very Deadpool-esque performance. Expect lots of winking at the camera and the tiniest bit of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gravitas. This is the third one of these now, so you probably know what to expect coming in.

Emma Corrin plays Cassandra Nova - an AU sibling of Charles Xavier, who killed him in the womb (no, I’m not joking). They hit the right balance of scenery chewing and understated menace mixed with a healthy sprinkling of trauma. The character is intense and thoughtful and probably the best Deadpool baddie we’ve had in the first three films, certainly. Joining them is Matthew McFayden (best known as Tom in ‘Succession’) who is a delight playing a villain who is.. well… basically Tom from ‘Succession’.

The Good: As mentioned previously, there are a *tonne* of cameos - and the all hit the mark to varying degrees. But there is one in particular that made me positively giddy, both from a “whoa, holy shit!” aspect *and* a “hmm.. where can this go from here?” aspect. I can’t wait to see.

The Bad: The film is actually pretty heavily connected to the Disney Plus tv series ‘Loki’… which isn’t a bad thing at all, if you’ve watched it. If you haven’t, you might be a ‘little’ lost (not so much that it would be a significant detriment to your overall enjoyment of the film, however).

The Ugly: At one point Deadpool gets to try out Wolverine’s adamantium claws and… uhh… it doesn’t go so well.

Is it Safe for Kids?: Umm… did I mention there are more than 100 F-bombs in this movie? More than that, it’s got some very… shall we say.. ‘adult’ humour. No. Leave the kiddos at home unless you want to have some interesting conversations with your eight year old about ‘pegging’.

The Verdict: At this point the whole ‘MCU is alive/dead’ discourse is so tiresome I’m convinced that the MCU itself is like Schrödinger’s Cat - it exists in its own box and every time a new film comes out you can open it and find out for yourself. The fact that the film self-referentially buries phase 4 in a gag halfway through the movie says that the filmmakers are pretty over it too. Regardless, as a movie and introduction to the X-Men overall into the MCU as a whole, this film works on all levels. It’s funny, it’s smart and Shawn Levy’s action sequences are quick, bright and well-paced. In terms of the post-Endgame movie canon, I’d rank it just behind Guardians vol. 3. A fantastic addition to the canon and I’m excited to see the doors that open as a result of this film’s success. 8.0/10