Movie Review | ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ - Making Marvel great again

In my review for Twisters, I praised the film for delivering an outlandish production with over the top action that was refreshingly set in the real world. Now, with Deadpool & Wolverine, I’m flung right back into a reality of multiple realities, superhumans and, much to my surprise, a genuine emotional centre.

It’s not expected with a film like Deadpool & Wolverine. The name alone suggests two hours of checking boxes to make good on a promise laid down in the travesty that was 2009’s X-Men Origin’s Wolverine. The duo’s last pairing was not without its problems, chief among them being the Merc with a Mouth had his mouth sewn shut. Finally, after years of waiting, fans get not only the characters as portrayed by the actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, but in their iconic, colourful costumes to boot.

The story itself is convoluted, inconsistent, and a bit incoherent. The film’s answer to this is to have Deadpool mock any instance of exhaustive exposition or shameless influx of random action. In truth, the film is only taking a more blatant approach, but it’s no different than the best Marvel has to offer. The MacGuffins, the plot twists, have always been meaningless window dressing. Deadpool & Wolverine understands that in order to matter, the bells and whistles aren’t enough. There has to be something worth caring about to anchor it all.

The film is in fact fan service on a silver platter, but it’s touching storyline is par for the course for the Deadpool films thus far. His irreverent humour is once again balanced by his love for those closest to him, giving a film about the threat to the multiverse, intimate stakes. As for the humour, the jokes range from juvenile to genuine cleverness. Some have mass appeal, others will have a very specific audience of three people in your average cinema. Much like the characters in the film, Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t always care about appealing to everyone, as long as they can strike a chord with a meaningful few.

Deadpool & Wolverine manages to do as much as it does and still has a plot worth caring about. Jackman and Reynolds prove yet again how good they are as these characters, with Jackman in particular somehow doing more this time around than he has in all his 24 years as Logan. Superhero movie fans will go wild for the film’s litany of surprises, but most everyone will find a story to connect to.

Rating: Big Screen Watch

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.