Deadpool & Wolverine - Movie Review

The Movie: Deadpool & Wolverine

The Director: Shawn Levy

The Cast: Everyone

The Story: Wolverine is recovering from his injuries when he crosses paths with the loudmouth Deadpool. They team up to defeat a common enemy.

The Rating: 8

The Review:

After a run of missteps and diminishing box office returns, Marvel took a step back with its cinematic universe to reassess and reassemble before building up to the inevitable climx of the multiverse saga. I feel like now we're at a point where we really need a Marvel movie and we really need a Marvel movie to be not just good but great. In a plot twist that's as inevitable as it is ironic if not mildly inappropriate, Deadpool aka "Marvel Jesus" has been given the task of getting the MCU express back on track in his typically foul mouthed and blood soaked manner.

As you probably know, there are a ton of cameos in this movie and I'm not going to reveal any of them so I won't be going into too much detail about the story. The basic idea is that the multiverse is in peril and Deadpool is tasked with saving it. If you haven't watched Loki seasons one and two, you might want to run through them so you understand some of the finer details of the story but it's really not essential and it's probably more important to know the history of the Marvel movies like X-Men and Fantastic Four that Fox was putting out until Disney bought them.

When I attend a press screening for a movie, the PR reps will always ask to give a very brief quote telling how I felt about the movie. My answer for this movie was that it's a lot of fun and it's a lot of Deadpool. Of course, the story focuses on the two titles characters and Deadpool is as non stop with the bathroom humor and middle school age antics, its even joked about in the movie, which for me starts to wear thin pretty quickly so I was happy that Marvel chose to pair him up with Wolverine to provie a bit of balance.

For context, I thought the first movie was good and the second movie was okay although upon rewatching them both recently, my opinion of them dropped a little, especially the second one. It's just not a good movie even though Ryan Reynolds tried his hardest to make it work. I do have a lot of respect for Reynolds really wanting to get the character right and always doing everything he can to give Deadpool fans what they've been wanting for years. And that takes me back to the movie as a whole as there is a ton, and I mean a ton, of fan service mostly involving the aforementioned cameos.

I was very satisifed with how Marvel puts the Fox realities to bed once and for all while honoring so many of the characters that made those movies memorable without throwing too much against the wall just to see if it'll stick. There has also been a lot of speculation that Marvel would use this movie to completely reset the MCU and maybe even do away with the whole multiverse thing. Does that happen? Kind of but not really. the MCU is more cleaned up a bit than completely overhauled which was fine with me, I've still been on board with most of what this phase has given us so far and we can now start to see the overarcing story steer towards Secret Wars.

The last thing I'll say is that it was really great to see Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine again, maybe for the last time, maybe not, as his take on the character is one of the most iconic of any superhero ever put on the silver screen. Jackman and Reynolds pay off of each other really well and you can tell they had a lot of fun bringing moments to life that fans will geek out over. I'm glad this movie turned out to be one of friendship, chosen family, and heroism. Even with the onslaught of Deadpool antics, the comedy is also very self aware, at times really smart, and nothing is sacred which is where most of the biggest laughs came from. Again, keeping this spoilery free so go see for yourself what all that means.

Is Marvel back? Deadpool and Wolverine is definitely a step in the right direction and, on its own, is a very satisfying action comedy that will leave you wanting more. Also, yes there is a post credits scene so make sure to stick around for that.