4 out of 5 stars

Since Avengers: Endgame (2019), there’s been a steady decline in critical acclaim and audience interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). There’s an unending stream of candy-coloured, psychedelic set-pieces, an abundance of green-screen, and an over-reliance on formulaic gags and predictable badinage. Perhaps due to oversaturation, the superhero film has lost a tremendous amount of bite. Who can save the MCU?

Our hero is not the type one might expect. He uses colourful language liberally and with great relish, is irreverent and distasteful, and has no qualms with separating a man’s head from his shoulders. He even has no moral concerns about desecrating graves, leading his mortal co-workers on a suicide mission, or murdering his nemeses. No, he doesn’t sound especially righteous. But he’s not the hero we deserve… he’s the hero the MCU needs.

The plot has never really been the central concern of any film in the newly established Deadpool franchise. It’s almost entirely been about watching a potty-mouthed assassin make unexpected pop-cultural references, blurt constant and overt sexual innuendos, and cram in as many F-bombs as is possible in a superhero film. His arrival in 2016 was delightful, and his return in Deadpool 2 (2018) was surprisingly fresh, as director David Leitch balanced both humour and pathos in an astounding display of skill.

As with any intellectual product that shows signs of dwindling, a crossover has the potential either to be a saving grace or a nail in the coffin. Fortunately, Shawn Levy’s recent outing proves to be the former. While Deadpool 2 was fantastic (unexpectedly so), I would not have thought that the character had much more to give. It seemed an uncommonly fitting and heartfelt end for Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). And yet, this recent crossover proves that the character still had room to grow (or regenerate) in a film that’s equal parts hilarious and affecting.

This is something that Wilson laments during the fourth-wall-breaking opening sequence: why are we getting another Deadpool film? Haven’t we seen enough of this wacky hitman, or will we wait until he’s already become too much of a good thing? Even more humorously, Wilson points out how tasteless—yet predictable—it is for them to bring back a character from the dead, despite how fitting Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) swan song was.

It’s this self-aware aspect that ensures the success of Deadpool and Wolverine. Everyone has had enough of Marvel (or at least, I certainly have), with the last five to ten years being inundated with spin-offs, reboots, television shows, and remakes. We don’t need more, which is a sentiment that director Shawn Levy rather ironically appears to share. All involved—especially Ryan Reynolds–seem to know that the ride could end at any minute; for this reason, they only seem concerned with having fun.

Because of this, the plot itself is all over the place, yet I can guarantee no one will care. It’s a relief that we weren’t given another humdrum, formulaic narrative; we wouldn’t have appreciated it, and neither would the writers, directors, or actors. Truthfully (and just as business heads at Disney were surely aware), the real appeal lies in watching two bad-tempered, expletive-prone, blade-slinging, immortal superheroes try and kill each other: “Let’s fucking go.”

Needless to say, on this front, Deadpool and Wolverine wholeheartedly delivers. Levy understood what the audience wanted, and he leaves your inner child happy. There are more F-bombs in this picture than there are in the entirety of Disney’s film archive, and the jokes are both adult-orientated and immensely immature (in the best of ways).

Scatological humour, though crass and juvenile, is funny for the same reasons, often because it appears unexpectedly. Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) informs Deadpool that he defecated while unconscious, to which Deadpool replies: “I wasn’t unconscious.” It’s silly stuff cleverly done, which will always succeed in making me chuckle.

Deadpool and Wolverine had most of the audience laughing even harder than mere chuckles. The meta gags, though risky, proved wildly popular and show no sign of abating. Again, the creators are in complete control of their craft and understand how to deliver a punchline in surprising ways. Wilson makes a lewd comment about his sexual inclinations being untested waters for Disney, right before winking right down the camera lens. There are also plenty of amusing references to the trade of characters between studios, with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox being the butt of more than one joke.

Everyone expects to laugh at a Deadpool movie—few expect to cry. However, both at Deadpool 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine, more than one person was weeping as the credits rolled. If nothing else, this is a testament to the quality of Levy’s film: capable of eliciting tears of laughter and pathos from one minute to the next. Wolverine has always been a tragic character and, if he’d stop joking every 15 seconds, we’d realise that Deadpool is, too. In the film’s quieter dramatic moments, Levy and the writers impart that with surprising grace.

I’ve wrestled with why the film becomes uncommonly powerful for a superhero movie. Perhaps it’s because the Deadpool films never really tried to be anything more than what they were: fun was guaranteed, with anything else just being a bonus. We’re caught off guard by the solemn aspect of Deadpool and Wolverine’s conversations; but when the shock dissipates, you recognise how genuinely these emotions are felt. Despite their superhuman abilities, both feel like real people.

In this respect, Levy’s film succeeds because of the emphasis on character over plot, something that has always subtly defined the Deadpool franchise. The mutant Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) intends to destroy every universe—which itself serves as a meta-textual gag, lamenting the proliferation of cinematic universes and confusing timelines present in both the MCU and X-Men franchise—but she’s almost forgotten about by the audience (if not the filmmakers, too).

It’s not that Levy considers it unimportant, just secondary; he and the screenwriters clearly understand that the film will be remembered for how audiences connected with the characters, and how loudly they laughed. With this in mind, the creative team shrewdly chose an eclectic, entertaining soundtrack to assist the humour. During the opening credits, Deadpool blithely dispatches time-police while doing a dance routine to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”.

Jay-Z, Eric Carmen, Avril Lavigne, and AC/DC all make an appearance—the soundtrack must have cost a fortune. Even Madonna, who’s notoriously reluctant to license her music for cinema, contributed her iconic “Like a Prayer” for a surprisingly affecting sequence. Whoever put together the track listing deserves a raise, as the music behind Deadpool has always been a part of his massive appeal. It is arguable that without DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It To Ya”, the first film would not have screeched out of the starting gate to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.

This last point brings us to the central question many will have regarding this new instalment: will it make money? Well, it’s predicted to break records and has already grossed more than $100M in about three days. So, yes, it’ll undoubtedly be a massive box-office success despite the astronomical $200M budget. Perhaps more to the point: will it inject the much-needed life into Marvel’s floundering multiverse? I think the answer to that will mostly come down to personal preferences.

If you’re still keen on Marvel, then the prospect of Deadpool’s addition to The Avengers will be enticing. However, for my money, I think the character would be diluted in big groups. Besides the fact his meta humour and fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans wouldn’t be appreciated—or even permitted—in a larger ensemble piece, he would simply feel out of place. I like Deadpool’s episodic adventures, which are both solipsistic and charming. True, he’s learned to be less selfish, which represents an endearing character arc for Wilson—but I don’t want to watch him become virtuous.

If he joins The Avengers or is reduced to bland cameo performances in other Marvel pictures, they’ll completely eradicate his appeal, essentially neutering the character. However, I fear this is precisely what will happen, that both Reynolds and Jackman will be roped into these roles until they’re 82 and 90, respectively.

It must be said that, if there were any actors to be chained to a character for eternity, Reynolds as Deadpool and Jackman as Wolverine wouldn’t be bad choices. Simply put, they fit the roles perfectly. While I find something oddly perverse about watching an actor as talented as Jackman be reduced to a comic-book character time and again, he plays the role so well. He’s irreplaceable as Wolverine.

With exceptional range, Wolverine doesn’t just become a snarling, embittered antihero in the Australian’s hands. There’s a sadness in his eyes that transcends time and plot. Although I wish he would commit to more complex roles like his character in Prisoners (2013), some of his best work has been as the curmudgeonly mutant, with Logan (2017) being a prime example of this.

And of course, Reynolds also succeeds (once again) as the undying loudmouth, the nonchalant assassin. Although perhaps possessing a little less range than Jackman (something which the perennial jokester has said himself), he can be serious. The franchise would not be the same if Reynolds could not elicit empathy from the audience when it is needed.

Perhaps the two leading men will be destined to play these roles until they are geriatrics. It’s Hollywood’s Promethean punishment for a job well done, for bringing a character to the people so vividly that they cannot be seen as anything else. Marvel needs stars now more than ever, with the characters of Deadpool and Wolverine being their last real hope of drawing in casual audiences.

As enjoyable as Deadpool and Wolverine are, it would be a shame if that ended up being the case. We do not want the pair to outstay their welcome. Though we may feel tempted now, I don’t need to watch Disney beat a dead horse, or exhume it in five years like Wolverine’s adamantium corpse. It’s a great final chapter for both characters—time to quit while we’re ahead.

USA • CANADA • AUSTRALIA • NEW ZEALAND | 2024 | 128 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Shawn Levy.
writers: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy (based on characters from ‘Marvel Comics’).
starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford & Matthew Macfadyen.