Title: Deadpool & Wolverine
Describe This Movie In One Reality Bites Quote:
VICKIE: Would the two of you just do it and get it over with?
Brief Plot Synopsis: Merc with a mouth meets the best at what he does.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3 Rob Liefeld Captain Americas out of 5
Tagline: “Everyone deserves a happy ending.”
Better Tagline: “Finally consummating a relationship eight years in the making.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: After saving the future for Cable and resurrecting his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) — and Peter (Rob Delaney)! — Wade “Deadpool” Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself adrift. Unable to distinguish himself as an Avenger or a used car salesman, he’s given an inadvertent new lease on life when the Time Variance Authority, in the person of Mr. Paradox (Matthew MacFadyen), who lets slip that Wilson’s timeline is doomed thanks to the death of its “anchor being,” one James “Logan” Howlett, also known as the Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).
“Critical” Analysis: Deadpool & Wolverine is the only movie in the seemingly unending Marvel Cinematic Universe set to be released in 2024. It’s poised to annihilate the box office, giving Marvel Big Kahuna Kevin Feige some breathing room after the misfire that was The Marvels and the big pile of shit that was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Now that Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox have been subsumed under Disney’s tentacles, it raises the question: can Deadpool be a viable part of the MCU?
Maybe? Disney probably isn’t going to start producing R-rated Avengers movies anytime soon, and all this multiverse crap has rendered any concept of narrative coherence moot. Until now. One thing you can say about D&W is that is takes some steps to shove things to a manageable timeline. Problem is, it probably won’t be the one in which any future X-Men (or Fantastic Four or Avengers) movies will be set.
With that in mind, director Shawn Levy and the cadre of screenwriters (Reynolds is one) both reference and pay homage to Fox’s past Marvel efforts, while at the same time lobbing bombs at everything from the early F4 movies to Wade and Logan’s own briefly fraught cinematic past.
As with any Deadpool movie, it’s hard to figure out what, if anything, to take seriously. Knowledge of the first two seasons of Loki will be helpful, seeing as how the TV show explains just what the hell the TVA is and what they’re doing here. How Wade Wilson figures into any of this remains to be seen, but from what Deadpool & Wolverine gives us, pretty much everything is on the table.
Those who aren’t fans of Reynolds’s meta commentary on the genre itself are going to be irritated. Then again, if you aren’t into tasteless 4th wall breaks and grievous bodily trauma, why are you at a Deadpool movie in the first place?
And hopefully you’ve managed to avoid spoilers to this point, because there are some impressive Easter eggs (the one dedicated to DP creator Rob Liefeld is especially on point) to go along with a few truly inspired cameos. One, in particular, offers devastating commentary on the future state of one movie in particular, and reader: I cackled like a bitter nerd.
Could perhaps one fight scene set to an incongruous pop song have been excised? Sure. Does the winking shtick wear thin after 2+ hours? I suppose. There’s no denying that Reynolds and company are the only ones right now making comic book movies that aren’t often a complete slog. Chalk it up to a stubborn unwillingness to take this crap seriously and the genuine chemistry between Reynolds and Jackman
Even if the first half of that relationship consists of Wolverine telling Deadpool to “shut the fuck up.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters today.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
