The Oscars have talked about adding new categories to appeal to a wider demographic. If there was one that rewarded backroom office-politics navigation in order to get a massive studio to give the fans exactly what they want, Ryan Reynolds should win. Heck, he should win a Lifetime Achievement Award after “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
When Reynolds’ Wade Wilson/Deadpool entered the “X-Men” Universe – now combined with the MCU in the wider multiverse – in 2009, this movie would’ve been impossible. In fact, the Merc with the Mouth – although he had a comics cult following – was seen as a fan-service cameo by the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” filmmakers, so he is artificially silenced by goo over his mouth.
In 2024, we’re firmly in an era where fan opinions (including outrage) are heard by studios, and they have abandoned the old idea of “ignoring the old timeline.” The original “Ghostbusters” timeline continued after the new one started, two old “Spider-Man” timelines merged with the new one, and the Burton “Batman” timeline leapfrogged two newer timelines to return in “The Flash.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” (2024)
Director: Shawn Levy
Writers: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Into this arena steps “D&W,” the wildest multiverse, meta, fourth-wall-breaking adventure of them all – one that could jump the shark 100 times except that Reynolds, one of five (!) writers, is not off-the-cuff like his alter ego. And Shawn Levy, called up to the big leagues after “Free Guy” and “The Adam Project,” directs fight scenes with clear professionalism.
And the editors keep things moving. One hundred twenty-eight minutes is a bit long, and Deadpool admits this by ensuring the audience “We’re in the home stretch,” but “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was 20 minutes longer, so the MCU is trending in the right direction.
Cameos in The Void
OK, so I could talk about the F-bombs (116, still far short of “The Wolf of Wall Street’s” record 569) and gratuitous violence, but I’d merely be sharing my own taste, which is always the case with comedy. (It’s to the film’s credit, I think, that the violence clearly plays as comedy now. It’s easy to rip studios, but I wonder if Disney carefully calibrated an adjustment.)
To my taste, the F-bombs work fine because Hugh Jackman delivers a lot of them as Logan/Wolverine, and Jackman’s a helluva performer. (Technically, he retired from the role in 2017’s “Logan.” So he’s an even more beat-down version of Wolverine here – with a comics-accurate costume! — which allows him to play out a juicy “What If” arc.) Wolverine gives a pointed critique to Deadpool in a Honda Odyssey that ranks up there with Al Pacino’s terrifying verbal attacks in “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “Heat.”
The violence doesn’t mesh with my taste, so thank god the whole film isn’t like the opening sequence, wherein Deadpool digs up Logan’s corpse and uses his 206 adamantium bones (while adding the expected erection joke about a 207th bone) to slaughter officers from the Time Variance Authority.
Slow exposition (which Deadpool hangs a lampshade on) follows from villain/plot driver Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen). But then those old-fashioned aspects of entertainment – story and character – kick into gear when Wade is blasted to a branch of the multiverse called The Void.
This is a brilliant conceit by the writers (or a brilliant borrow, if they’re drawing from comics lore). It’s a “Mad Max”-ian world of discarded superheroes and supervillains, thus allowing for tons of cameos from defunct Marvel movie timelines – maybe not as many as there are F-bombs, but they are all a ton of fun.
A winning Gambit
Our modern world of intense fan knowledge comes into play with the introduction of Channing Tatum’s Gambit, drawn from the actor’s longtime interest in playing the role, well-chronicled by entertainment media.
He’s as awesome as the hype, but what’s really crucial to “D&W” being more than a shallow ride of cheap thrills and ’memberberries, is Emma Corrin (“A Murder at the End of the World”) as Cassandra Nova. Comics fans know her as the sister of Charles Xavier, but the “X-Men” film saga hadn’t mentioned her.
The Void is the perfect realm for this evil telepath to rule, and any boringness to her invincible status is countered by Corrin’s silky performance and the “you don’t see that every day!” special effect of Cassandra reaching her hand into people’s heads and rooting around.
Of course, Deadpool has to make a quip about how Cassandra doesn’t wash that hand, but – like Wolverine (watch Jackman react to the dumb lines to see the depth of his skills) – we have learned to put up with the Merc with a Mouth.
If “D&W” were tailored to my sense of humor, there’d be 25 percent less comedy. But that ends up being a relatively minor complaint because of what might be the behind-the-scenes reason why Jackman and so many superhero actors from defunct storylines came back: The story and character arcs of “Deadpool & Wolverine” are close to the MCU’s highest standards.