- Nate Lemann
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (2024) MOVIE REVIEW
Your enjoyment of this summer blockbuster will vary widely depending on your mileage for Ryan Reynolds/Deadpool’s distinct brand of self-deprecating meta humor. I for one was more than down for this enjoyable rollercoaster of a filmgoing experience.
by Nate Lemann
Ryan Reynolds has been a figure of much debate his whole career. Many just could never get on board with his sometimes crass and overly knowing brand of humor and wit. For people of a certain age, our introduction to this movie star came at a formative time in our lives, finding something refreshing in a star that looks like he’s in on the joke when approaching some of the more laughable material. While many try to compare him to fellow Canadian great John Candy, he has always more reminded me of early Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, two comedic powerhouses who never took themselves (or the material) too seriously, inventing the viewer to have more fun with their outlandish schemes.
When Reynolds got matched up with the character of Deadpool, it felt like a match made in heaven: a quippy, smart-ass movie star playing the legendary "Merc with a Mouth". We all know by now how historically Fox botched his first appearance in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was. When he got the second chance at the famed character after some strategically leaked test footage (always heavily implied Reynolds helped get it out there to force Fox execs’ hands), we knew Reynolds was going to work hard at nailing his second chance at the character.
2016’s “Deadpool” was a massive hit that leaned into the bugs bunny aspects of the red-suited shit stirrer, with a hard-R sensibility. That said, underneath the humor and wild action set pieces was an earnest love story that grounded the film in an emotional core. I’d argue that it is the best arc of the trilogy so far and has the best emotional payoff for audiences. The 2018 sequel was a larger action spectacle that still grounded itself in an emotional core about found family and grief, playing the Deadpool character off a straight-man in the form of Josh Brolin’s Cable. While that film was a massive success, you can feel the chemistry between the two leads feeling...wanting. There must be another straight-man character from the comics that Wade could have good chemistry with, right?
Following the big Fox-Disney merger, Deadpool’s future got thrown into question: most of the Fox "X-Men" universe seemed destined for the trash heap, with 2019’s “Dark Phoenix” feeling like a bridge too far for that always confusing "X-Men" film continuity to continue. Deadpool had the fortunate position of feeling apart from that universe and still being a wildly popular character. It is that understanding of his precarious position in this big corporate mess that has lent itself so well to the set up for this new Deadpool adventure: the movie leans into the meta more than any of the prior entrants, basically substituting the over-engineered machinations of the studio system for the TVA, the bureaucratic arm of the MCU multiverse introduced in the “Loki” TV series. When Deadpool gets chosen to join the MCU (shockingly, the most bankable part of the Fox mutant universe), he is more than excited to get his mojo back and rub shoulders with Captain America and Thor.
But as his TVA contact Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen in a very unhinged bureaucratic role) explains, no one else will be coming over to the MCU with Deadpool, including his band of odd misfits that he built up over the prior two films. The exploration of soft rebooting characters for the MCU is an interesting way into the story. While the Fox films were far from perfect, the connection that had been made with the adaptations cannot be ignored. This film deals with the dilemma of what do we owe to these fictional characters/actors and crews that had spent so much time as these characters. When these reboots happen, it's like a character dying and being reborn, with the prior iteration never really receiving full closure. While many people have been on this film for being a big middle finger to traditional storytelling, I found it to be an actually profound use of the meta aspects of the character to explore these themes. The concept that there is something alive that merits consideration before just throwing it on the trash heap is not what I was expecting coming into this popcorn flick.
When Wade is told that his world could’ve survived if not for the fact that they lost their “anchor being” when Logan died in his self-titled 2017 masterpiece (the reverence they have for that moment is played with well - Paradox saying Logan’s final words along with the movie clip was a funny little bit). For those worried that Deadpool would ruin that pretty iconic and earned moment can both be relieved that they don’t undo that moment but may also be appalled that he literally desecrates his corpse by digging it up and murdering a plethora of TVA agents using the adamantium bones in his body.
When Deadpool goes searching through the multiverse to find a solid replacement for his world’s Logan (highlighted by a very fun montage full of varying styles of the famed bruiser), he finally lands on a Wolverine who is the biggest sad sack and pariah in his world (though is the first iteration of the character with a comic accurate suit). Paradox doesn’t care, shooting these two immortal mercs into the void from “Loki”, now an allegory for development hell where discarded versions of characters are thrown onto the trash heap to be erased from the histories for good. The cameos then come fast and hard, showing us many versions of famed characters that we grew to love over the course of two decades of Fox marvel movies, highlighting especially the ones who have really been marginalized in the Fox-Disney merger, as well as a few who got forgotten in the overly complex franchise machinations of 21st century moviemaking.
Their primary antagonist in the void is Cassandra Nova (Emma Corin), a never before adapted, evil twin sister of Charles Xavier. She is god here and with a serious sociopathic streak, with one of the more disturbing ways to get inside her preys’ minds. After narrowly escaping her for the moment, the odd couple go on a journey to find their way back home to save Wade’s world from getting snuffed out by Paradox. Once Reynolds and Jackman get to play off each other, the movie really starts to sing, as the odd couple chemistry between the two just jumps off the screen. What is basically one of the best set pieces in the Deadpool films is the Honda Odyssey fight that is basically like a sex scene between two brutal men who can’t die but get their aggression out by hate-stabbing the other into oblivion.
Reynolds is reliably great in this franchise, nailing the "Denice the Menace" wit of the character and delivering hellishly funny lines throughout. This maybe the second best performance of Jackman’s Wolverine filmography, nailing the lone wolf and deadbeat qualities of the comic version of the character in some very satisfying ways. Corin and MacFadyen both are having fun playing their villain roles with knowing winks, the former a sadist and the latter a bubbling buffoon version of a corporate exec trying to win brownie points with his supervisors. The cameos should be found enjoyable by those in the know and with an appreciation for the Fox timeline and films.
The script is jammed stuffed with jokes that will tickle your Reynolds funny bone, if you have one. I do and greatly enjoyed its irreverent humor and wit. Others not on the same wavelength should know themselves and that this movie just isn’t for them (sorry if you haven’t realized that after three films now). It's that part of the internment community that just have started to feel insufferable. We get it: you don’t like Ryan Reynolds and are holding a very well made comic book movie to an unreasonable standard of reverence (i.e. “Logan”). For as much as I find some meaningful art in CBMs and movies in general, at the end of the day they are not above reproach or irreverent evaluation. There is a mix between having respect for one’s art and taking oneself too seriously. If there is a way to poke fun at oneself that feels earned and in-line with character driven moments, it should work and I believe this film accomplishes that well.
Others have complained that this film is too generic looking but in my mind the production design on this is actually pretty great and the filmmaking is very accomplished for a comic book film. Shawn Levy knows he is making a comic book movie here and makes a film that feels more like a comic book than some pretentious “evolution” beyond the comic book aesthetic (for as realistic as the black suits in the original "X-Men" films were, there is something just enjoyable in seeing Jackman finally getting to wear multiple comic book accurate versions of his iconic costume).
The thing that I keep coming back to in this film is the rewatch factor: so many of the set pieces and sequences just have a fun and enjoyable tone and vibe that it lends itself to multiple watches. All involved got the assignment and are pitch perfect in their respective roles. Is this “Avengers: Infinity War”, a ponderous and Shakespearean tragedy brimming with gravitas? Hell no and it doesn’t need to be. This movie is just flat-out entertaining and builds to great moments of stirring heroism very well. This movie may not be for you and that’s fine. This was for me and am not ashamed to say so.
FINAL RATING: 4/5 Stars (Ultra fun bit of popcorn entertainment with a great use of meta humor)
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