After years of development hell, Ryan Reynolds got his passion project made in the shape of 2016’s Deadpool, in which the Canadian actor played the Merc with a Mouth who likes to break the fourth wall and say something funny and filled with profanity. Released at a time when the superhero movie was thriving, the Tim Miller-directed Deadpool was essentially a parody of the genre, and yet instead of killing it like Blazing Saddles killed the western genre, it only enhanced the superhero boom and Deadpool himself was getting his own franchise. In this current age where the superhero craze might be fading, does Ryan Reynolds once again playing his most iconic role stay relevant?
It has been six years since Deadpool 2 and with the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, there was a possibility that Deadpool would be integrated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now back with his R-rated attitude intact, the long-awaited Deadpool & Wolverine seems to be about Wade Wilson going through an existential crisis as whether or not his role as the wisecracking mercenary matters. That crisis is put to the test when the Time Variance Authority pulls Deadpool from his quiet life and sets him on a mission to save his universe, partnering with a reluctant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from another universe in the process.
Along with the return of Reynolds as Deadpool, you also have the return of Hugh Jackman in arguably his most iconic role; certainly the role that made him a movie star back in 2000, when the first X-Men movie was released and launched the reemergence of superhero movies. After 2017’s Logan, it felt like the perfect send-off for Jackman’s Wolverine and though this movie tries to have its cake and eat it by not attempting to trample the legacy of James Mangold’s brilliant deconstruction film, there is that sense that Jackman can’t seem to let go of the character.
That said, Reynolds and Jackman are a great double act in their title roles, where one is the straight man and the other is the funny guy, and you probably guess which is which. Although Reynolds’ recent career has been about playing roles that are very similar to Wade Wilson, when he is actually playing Deadpool, you are reminded why he was perfectly cast in that role, even if not everyone is on board with his brand of humor.
As for Jackman, finally rocking the “yellow spandex” in Deadpool & Wolverine that we robbed from all those years, he too reminds why he is perfectly cast as Wolverine whose no-bullshit persona is a nice contrast with Reynolds’ carefree performance. It may not reach the heights of Logan, but if Jackman is to retire from this role after this, it would be a good note to end on.
Since Deadpool & Wolverine is built upon the buddy dynamic between its two leads, what is the movie’s place in the MCU? Well, apart from the TVA from the Loki TV series, this doesn’t leave much of an impact with this well-established shared universe and is actually about looking back at the past.
In a similar vein to Spider-Man: No Way Home, the movie is about nostalgia over a particular period of superhero cinema, specifically in this case when Fox produced their own line-up of Marvel movies, not just the X-Men franchise. With this constant look-back at a studio which is personified here like The Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes, there is an over-indulgence of cameos, some of which are delightful and others remind you why the Fox era was a rather maligned time.
Directed by Shawn Levy who co-wrote the Deadpool & Wolverine with Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells, the movie tries to achieve a lot and like the two leads, they got lost in the chaos. Amidst the heavy amount of gore and comedy, as well as a tone that is just as flippant as Deadpool himself, the plot is too paper-thin to give the emotional weight, which is about the eponymous leads becoming heroes as a way of redeeming their past mistakes.
As for Emma Corrin who shines as the main villain Cassandra Nova who can literally get under your skin, there aren’t enough scenes with her, considering she has to share some of the villainy with Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox; if only Cassandra was a villain in one of the X-Men movies.
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