Deadpool & Wolverine
In cinemas now
The marketing for the latest entry in the MCU promised big things. Time travel, multiverse-hopping, the return of Hugh Jackman’s Logan in a comic-accurate costume and, most importantly, lots of cameos. Unfortunately, whilst I have always loved the Marvel franchise, I have grown disillusioned with its cameo craze and the rampant fan servicing that has swept the superhero genre as a whole, both of which are criticisms you can level at Deadpool & Wolverine.
Frustratingly, there are glimmers of greatness lurking beneath the surface of this film. I really enjoyed the majority of its first act, especially the opening action sequence, which is absolutely incredible. Shawn Levy, for all his faults, has shown that he can direct some truly awesome fights when they’re not ludicrously CG-heavy. The jokes for the first 15-20 minutes mostly hit the mark, too. I particularly enjoyed Reynold’s delivery when remarking about a certain adamantium-clad corpse. I also found the set-up for Wade Wilson’s journey to be a mostly solid foundation for what could’ve been a very compelling arc. I must also point out that the needle-drops throughout the film are very fun as well.
However, that’s about all the enjoyment I could find in this feature. Once our two leads get dumped into the Mad Max homage that is The Void, the film starts to get incredibly grating. The cameo appearances (which I won’t spoil) are almost laughable. Not only do the characters that appear have very little relevance or anything of note to do, the areas of Marvel films they decide to pull from ranges from slightly questionable to ridiculously baffling. I’m sad to say that it completely took me out of the film and made me so much more aware of the fact that I was watching a corporate cash grab.
Ultimately, I think the best way to describe Deadpool & Wolverine is lazy. Whilst there’s some humour to be enjoyed, the majority of it is visually unappealing, completely lacking in imagination and, at times, pretty annoying. It is a very frightening indication of where we are headed with this once-beloved genre and suggests that Marvel Studios are as creatively bankrupt as feared.
