Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Review

 "Welcome to the MCU.  You're joining at a bit of a low point."

-Deadpool

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has retired from being the mercenary Deadpool until he is kidnapped by the Time Variance Authority (TVA).  With the death of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Wade's timeline is deteriorating and Wade is given the opportunity to join the Sacred Timeline.  Wade decides to fight back in order to save his friends and timeline and searches the multiverse for help in the form of another Wolverine.  Unfortunately, the only Wolverine he can get to help him is known as the worst Wolverine in the multiverse.

Spoilers below.  In short, this isn't a very good movie in terms of narrative or story.  I wouldn't say it's really about anything.  It's an excuse to have Deadpool and Wolverine in the same movie and done properly.  It's more of an event special and less of a film.  It's fun, but definitely the weakest of the Deadpool trilogy.

What Works:

The best part of the movie is the opening.  It truly is fantastic.  In voiceover, Deadpool asks how we're going to do this movie while treating the movie Logan with the reverence it deserves.  He tells us they aren't.  Deadpool proceeds to dig up Logan's skeleton and beat many TVA agents to death with it over the opening credits.  It's hilarious and the perfect way to follow up Logan.  I laughed my ass off and only wish the movie hadn't peaked immediately.

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have amazing chemistry and that's what holds the rest of the movie together.  Not only are these guys two of the best cast superheroes of all time, but they're friends in real life.  That chemistry really bleeds over, especially when they fight each other, but also when they work together.  This is a buddy-cop superhero movie and that only works because of these two.

There a ton of cameos in this movie and a lot of the minor ones I could take or leave, but there are a few highlights.  Bringing in Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), Elektra (Jennifer Gardner), and Blade (Wesley Snipes) was actually awesome.  I haven't seen any of their movies apart from the first Blade, but it was still cool to get these characters an ending.  My favorite was finally getting to see Channing Tatum play Gambit.  I was following that unproduced Gambit film pretty closely and it's awesome and hilarious to see Tatum finally get the chance to play Gambit.  I also love that they reference that Wesley Snipes and Ryan Reynolds didn't get along on the set of Blade: Trinity.  That makes it even funnier that Snipes actually agreed to be in this.  

Finally, the movie is very funny with some solid action.  I don't think it ever hits the heights of the first two movies in either category, but it's solid nonetheless.

What Sucks:

The story is pretty basic and really not that engaging.  It's really just an excuse to have Deadpool and Wolverine spend a whole movie together, as opposed to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  There really isn't anything else to get you invested in the story.

I think the character arcs for both Deadpool and Wolverine are lackluster.  We've seen regretful Wolverine before.  This isn't anything new.  And Deadpool's storyline about wanting to matter more doesn't really work.  Ultimately he figures out that he is important to his friends and family, but none of them are in much of the movie, so it loses a lot of impact.

We have a lot of characters in this film and most of them feel underused.  Deadpool and Wolverine of  course get the bulk of the screen-time, but the only other character that gets an appropriate amount of screen-time is Peter (Rob Delaney).  Everyone else is underused.  There are a lot of great characters here from both the Deadpool films and many others and it sucks that we don't get much for any of them to do, apart from a handful of lines.  The biggest offender is Vanessa (Morena Baccarin).  The relationship between her and Wade is the crux of their characters.  Vanessa was underused in the previous film and even more so here.  It's a damn shame because I really love their relationship.  I want to see more of it.

Verdict:

I had fun watching Deadpool & Wolverine.  It's not much of a narratively-driven story, but it was a fun and entertaining spectacle to watch.  The opening is incredible, Reynolds and Jackman are great, a lot of the cameos are fun, and it's very funny.  It's weaker than the previous Deadpool films, the story is lackluster, some of the characterization is lacking, and most of the characters are underused.  It's a fun time at the theater, even if it could have been better.

 7/10: Good