Review for Deadpool & Wolverine

Introduction

Can Marvel Jesus save the MCU?

Ever since the original Blade came to the screen in 1998, comic book movies have been conquering the box office like no other genre. They’ve always tried to make comics come to life on the silver screen, and since 1978, there have been moments like Superman, Tim Burton’s Batman, that gave us hope, managed to impress, but they could never gain a permanent foothold. But Blade, and hot on its heels, The X-Men made it clear that the CGI enhanced films of the turn of the millennium onwards, could finally bring the comic book image to the screen without compromise. These titles became franchises, and other franchises like Spider-man, a reinvented Batman and other superhero IPs like Daredevil, Hulk, Watchmen and the like started making their presence felt.


2008 saw the next revolution in comic book movies. Iron Man came out, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born. Now, all the pantheon of heroes could crossover with each other, and a bigger, more cohesive story could be told over the course of a couple dozen movies and TV show spin-offs. DC got in on the action with their own unified universe. And all was good, until Avengers Endgame, which capped the story that was unfolding at that juncture with a big, climactic epic movie. Thereafter the MCU started a new story, something to do with the multi-verse. But it’s been 25 years since Blade, and even if Disney have shelled out for rival studio 20th Century Fox to bring the X-Men into the MCU, people might just be getting genre fatigue, or they’ve failed to make the multi-verse story interesting enough. The MCU films since Avengers Endgame just aren’t doing the same kind of money; the fans are no longer as excited about each new instalment. But speaking of The X-Men, Disney are rolling the dice on the MCU, and seeing if introducing Deadpool will revive fortunes. Forget that, Wolverine’s coming too.


Wade “Deadpool” Wilson wanted to be someone meaningful, to live up to his expectation of what a hero should be. Of course, being a dick is something of a handicap, so when he crossed realities, tried joining the Avengers, and got rejected, it wrecked his life. Not only did he lose the love of his life, Vanessa, but he wound up hanging up the suit, and getting a job selling cars instead. Six years later, The Time Variance Authority shows up at his door with a recruitment pitch. They’re in charge of the multi-verse, and they tell Deadpool that he will be perfect to help keep reality on track. They’re just one catch though, Deadpool’s own universe lost a key individual, and as a result is doomed to destruction. The TVA expect events to unfold as they should, maybe even help it along a bit, but Deadpool would much rather save his own reality. He just needs to find a replacement to that key individual from another reality. He needs to find Wolverine... Only he finds the worst Wolverine of them all.

The Disc

Deadpool & Wolverine gets a 2.39:1 widescreen transfer on this disc, and you get the choice between DTS-HD MA 7.1 Surround English, Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 Surround French and German, and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English Audio Descriptive, with subtitles in these languages and Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, and Swedish. If you want better than this, then 4k UHD beckons. But the Blu-ray itself is very pleasant as a transfer of a modern movie should be, clear and sharp, with rich and consistent colours. The image is impressive when it comes to clarity, detail and contrast, and the action and effects come across with suitable impact. The audio also lives up to that, a nice immersive and bombastic track that serves the action well, with Deadpool’s typically eclectic pop music soundtrack present and correct. The dialogue too is clear throughout, and I didn’t resort to subtitles once.

Extras

You get one disc in a thin BD Amaray style case, wrapped in an o-card slipcover. The disc boots to a slightly animated menu. You’ll find the following extras on the disc.

Finding Madonna: Making the Oner (6:23)
Practical Approach: Celebrating the Art of Ray Chan (9:44)
Loose Ends: The Legacy Heroes (10:11)
Wolverine (6:09)
Deadpool’s Fun Sack 3 x3 (3:22)
Gag Reel (4:39)
Deleted Scenes x3 (2:17)
Audio Commentary with Shaun Levy and Ryan Reynolds

Conclusion

I had a hell of a weird time with Deadpool & Wolverine. I enjoyed it off the bat. I enjoyed the hell out of it. The story drew me in, the characters were as fun as ever, and the irreverent, fourth-wall shattering comedy was all present and correct, as well as the profanity and the uber-violence that makes most other comic book movies pale in comparison. And at the same time, I didn’t quite enjoy it the way that I had hoped. Deadpool pushed what could be done with the comic movie genre. Deadpool 2 pushed it even further, made it even better. And there’s part of me thinking that by joining the MCU, Deadpool & Wolverine pushed it too far. This film is just too meta! There’s a point in the film where Deadpool refers to a character, and the actor playing the character, and that threw me out of the film, and I had to clamber back in. And it happened more than once through the film. The suspenders on my disbelief kept snapping. That’s not good.


It’s also a bit of a cheat to sell this as Deadpool and Wolverine enter the MCU. For one thing, it’s reliant on that whole multi-verse thing that the last Phase of the MCU has been trying to sell. They try to get these characters out of their isolated realities into the MCU, but that is really only at the beginning with Deadpool’s failed attempt to join the Avengers. Then it’s the MTVU we have to rely on, as the Time Variance Authority was introduced in the Loki TV series, not the movies. And other than the occasional graze by an MCU character or two, the real crossover characters are veterans of those early, pre-MCU movies that I mentioned up above. Some characters are recast, and some see the original actors reprise their roles. It’s the kind of thing that the Flash movie did.


What’s most appealing about Deadpool is that it’s a bromance movie wrapped up in a ‘save the universe’ quest. Deadpool finds that his universe is on borrowed time, and the way to save it is to find Wolverine. There’s a multi-verse of Wolverines out there, and the one that he finds is the worst of the lot, a veritable loser so wrapped up in his misery that he’s good for nothing. And when they meet, it’s hate at first sight, and given their respective regenerative factors, they tend to argue by trying to kill each other. But the carrot is always dangling there, the chance to save their respective worlds, and the more adversity they face together, being cast into a dead-end dimension where all unwanted superheroes end up, the more they start to bond. And this is great fun, it’s the best aspect of the film, and I have to say that I loved it from beginning to end.


It’s the story that doesn’t bear much thought. The first two Deadpool movies had strong narratives to back up their irreverence, but this one doesn’t have the chops. It’s Deadpool joining the MCU, and it twists itself into paroxysms to make the most of nods and references. It plays fast and loose with continuity, and goes so far, especially to make the Logan movie fit into its back-story that for me it breaks it to the point of feeling more like a parody. Deadpool & Wolverine to me is written like a love letter to the fans, and in my experience love letters to fans rarely work. Deadpool & Wolverine might just be the Superman III of the franchise. By God it’s entertaining, but I don’t think it will stand the test of time.