Let’s set a baseline reality for this review: The Deadpool movies are good. The combination of self-deprecating humor, well-choreographed action sequences, and a surprising amount of heart was a breath of fresh, chimichanga-scented air when the original movie debuted in 2016. It still worked in 2018 with Deadpool 2, and even today if you pop on one of those movies, you’re bound to have fun.
Deadpool & Wolverine (the third movie in the franchise and the first from Marvel Studios after its parent company Disney acquired 20th Century Fox) mostly checks those boxes. This is a Deadpool movie, and a great one at that, but while the threequel does everything you’d expect, it sometimes feels held back, both by the visual and narrative baggage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and by its director, Shawn Levy, who clearly groks the humor but never quite finds his way around a great fight scene. It’s far from perfect, but when the pieces come together, Deadpool & Wolverine is a damn good time.
The Plot (No Spoilers)
From the moment that Marvel announced Hugh Jackman would join Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine, fans have asked one vital question: How will this movie respect (or ruin) the legacy of Logan? Well, the film doesn’t waste any time providing an answer, with an unhinged opening scene that unfortunately turns out to be the best action sequence in the entire two-hour-plus movie (more on my gripes with the rest of the action in a bit).
After the requisite *record scratch* “You’re probably wondering how I got here” moment, Deadpool & Wolverine reveals its basic premise. Turns out, after Deadpool 2, our hero tried to join the Avengers, got rejected, lost his mojo, got dumped by the love of his life, and wound up selling used cars with his pal Peter (Rob Delaney). But when the Time Variance Authority (basically the multiverse police, for anyone who skipped Loki) shows up and hauls Deadpool to its retrofuturistic offices, he’s suddenly given a new reason to live: saving his universe and the people who live in it.
For reasons I won’t get into here both because they might count as spoilers and because they’re frankly not that interesting, Deadpool recruits a washed-up Wolverine from a parallel reality and sets out on a multiverse-hopping adventure. The duo ultimately land in the “void” (a landfill for the multiverse’s rejects), where Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) rules a Mad Max-esque crew of supervillain rejects, while ragtag team of forgotten superheroes lead the resistance.
You can probably guess where this is going. It all leads to not one but two big confrontations as Deadpool and Wolverine race the save the entire Marvel multiverse. Play the Madonna song. Roll credits. The end.
The Good: Comedy & Cameos
Most Marvel movies are funny in a sort of quippy way where you chuckle throughout but forget all the jokes five minutes after leaving the theater. Deadpool is different. These movies are actually funny, not just because of the crude punchlines about pegging and soiling yourself, but because they refuse to take themselves seriously.
Deadpool & Wolverine is no exception. Ryan Reynolds has clearly honed this style over the years (everything else he does these days feels like Deadpool-lite), and he seems particularly at ease in the hands of his longtime collaborator Shawn Levy (The Adam Project, Free Guy). Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman brings a different kind of humor to the occasion. He refuses to play along with Reynolds’ schtick, but he’s not the straight man either. Instead, Jackman weaponizes his gruff Wolverine voice, lowering the decibel ever further than usual and throwing in plenty of curse words for good measure in his first R-rated superhero comedy.
Wisecracks aside, the one thing that always anchors a Deadpool movie (and any good superhero movie, in general) is the emotional journey at its core. The first two entries in the franchise centered on Deadpool’s relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) as he fell in love, struggled to feel worthy of that love, and then broke the rules of space and time to bring her back to life. Weirdly, Deadpool & Wolverine sidelines that relationship almost entirely and gives the emotional heavy lifting to Jackman instead.
This is a move that largely pays off. While the movie is too busy sprinting to each next joke or Easter egg to really dig into this Wolverine’s tragic backstory, there’s just enough meat on the bone to get audiences invested. Even with limited material to work with, Hugh Jackman proves Logan wasn’t a fluke. He’s more than capable of making Wolverine an emotionally complex character.
The movie’s best moments, however, don’t come from either of the superheroes who share the title card. Instead, it’s the cameos that deliver Wolverine & Deadpool’s biggest twists and also its funniest jokes. As promised, this movie bring in some seriously impressive actors from Marvel movie history, including several that will subvert audience expectations. Without going into too much detail, it’s safe to say the film is more of a tribute to the 20th Century Fox era of superhero moviemaking than a chance to unite Deadpool with the MCU’s greatest hits. That may be disappointing to anyone hoping this movie would be Avengers 4.5, but by taking on less pressure to set up the future, Deadpool & Wolverine has a chance to actually enjoy itself in the present.
That said, Deadpool & Wolverine does dump a lot of exposition on audiences, most of which seems designed to set up Avengers: Secret Wars. Thankfully, it’s mostly confined to the first 40 minutes. Once you get past the opening act, the movie is mostly just fun — even if it’s annoying that Marvel Studios is basically making us do our homework before getting to the good stuff.
The Bad: Action & Visuals
So here’s the biggest problem with this movie: The action is kind of... bad. While the extremely fun and gruesome opening sequence that plays over the title credits — in which Deadpool murders and dances to the tune of *NSYNC — sets a very high bar, the rest of Deadpool & Wolverine unfortunately never comes close to matching it.
Without going into too much detail, the rest of the movie is shaped around a few big action sequences. We get the requisite Wolverine versus Deadpool fight, a big Avengers-style team-up, and a maximum carnage moment. Watching the two heroes fight is fun, but ultimately meaningless because of their healing powers; it’s also shot in a way that makes the action hard to follow.
The worst action scene, however, is the one with the most potential. It’s also the one that deviates most from classic Deadpool fair, instead attempting (and failing) to pull of an Avengers-level set-piece. Once our heroes round up a team and launch their attack against the villain’s stronghold, it feels like we’re about to get a classic Avengers fight scene. You know the type, where the heroes all move with perfect blocking so everyone is perfectly framed by the camera while their powers interact and combine in interesting ways, all culminating in an epic “splash page” moment in which everything comes together in a single, perfect slow-motion shot like a full-page panel in a comic book brought to life. Unfortunately, Deadpool & Wolverine has none of that. The action in this scene is harried and chaotic, and there’s no sense of teamwork, let alone the kind of splash-page moment that directors like Joss Whedon, the Russo brothers, and James Gunn all mastered in their Marvel movies.
As for that final gory fight, it’s a step up from the team-up moment but still feels lacking. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what went wrong here, except to say that Levy leans so heavily on CGI that the entire sequence looks more like a video game than a live-action movie.
Visually, Deadpool & Wolverine is also a disappointment. While it’s not quite the gray Marvel sludge or VFX overload that’s plagued some recent MCU movies, it’s not exactly a sight to behold either. The “void” here looks beige and dull, which is especially disappointing when you remember how stunning it looked in Loki just a few years earlier; all those beautiful green and purple shades are washed out, leaving a vast expanse of nothing.
The movie is also clearly chasing after a Mad Max aesthetic, with the villain’s henchmen dressed in S&M-esque chains and driving post-apocalyptic trucks. But what makes George Miller’s Wasteland look so great is the saturated colors — bright reds and oranges against a gorgeous blue sky. Instead, with a few rare exceptions, like the TVA’s Mad Men-inspired offices, the movie is a visual dud.
Final Thoughts
I could keep going, but dividing this movie’s various qualities into good and bad isn’t the only way to measure its success. A film isn’t just a list of a pros and cons; it’s a piece of art whose value comes from the way it makes you feel (and also the box office, where I’m sure Deadpool & Wolverine will crush). And while there’s plenty that’s wrong or disappointing about this movie, there’s just as much to love in its clear passion for the two main characters and the entire X-Men franchise — not to mention its refusal to cram Deadpool into an MCU crossover without first paying tribute to where he came from.
Deadpool & Wolverine might not be the best Deadpool movie, but even if it wasn’t the only Marvel movie coming out in 2024, it’d probably still be the best of the bunch. Because while some of the parts here might not work as well as they used to, when you put them all together, you still get something great.
