Deadpool & Wolverine Review: A Fan Service-Loaded Mess, But A Hilarious Fan Service-Loaded Mess

The mix of outrageous comedic sensibilities and ability to break the fourth wall allows Deadpool as a character to get away with a lot cinematically that other big screen superheroes can’t. If the audience is perpetually kept in a fit of laughter intense enough to evoke tears, it makes it easy to look past most script and story issues, and any kind of gratuitous fan service is made far more palatable when it is slathered in self-awareness.

There is, however, a standout difference between how those special qualities are employed in director Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine compared to the first two movies in the Ryan Reynolds-led series. In Deadpool and Deadpool 2, the extreme humor and winks to the camera are fun bonuses to go with protagonist-centric plots, but the third chapter is wholly defined by them – resulting in a narrative is a complete mess that really falls apart with any applied scrutiny.

That being said, it’s a complete mess that does successfully keep you entertained and howling for two-plus hours and features a number of smart and weird surprises that will put big smiles on the faces of comic book fans everywhere.

Picking up in the wake of the time travel antics at the end of Deadpool 2, the sequel sees Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) inexplicably travels across dimensions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but when he gets rejected for Avengers membership, he returns home and makes the decision to retire his red and black suit for good. He makes for an awful car salesman who can’t stop himself from swearing and talking about his sex life with customers, but he is content living a life surrounded by close friends.

This contentment is unfortunately interrupted by agents of the Time Variance Authority (see: Disney+’s Loki series), who come to Wade’s door during a birthday celebration and take him to see a mysterious gentleman named Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen). The antihero formally known as Deadpool is told that he has the opportunity to become the great savior of the Marvel Cinematic Universe… but doing so would mean leaving his own universe and letting it get destroyed. Not willing to selfishly sacrifice all of the people he loves, he dedicates himself to searching for the one hero who could potentially fix everything: The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

It’s hard to imagine that Deadpool & Wolverine won’t be remembered as the funniest comedy of 2024.

There are criticisms to be levied against Deadpool & Wolverine (and I will levy them), but above all else, it can be said that the film is a raucous good time and will make you cackle until your sides feel like they have been punctured by Logan’s adamantium claws. There is a phenomenal comedic magic that Ryan Reynolds is able to conjure when he sinks into this character and throws on that mask, as his comedic timing is impeccable and with every breath comes some kind of ridiculous witticism, weird threat, or meta commentary that inspires hysterics. There will be value in a second screening for many reasons (there are tiny references and easter eggs hidden everywhere), but the greatest plus will be hearing lines that I missed while recovering from giggle fits.

Like the previous two Deadpool movies, the new film is a spotlight for the comedic talents of Ryan Reynolds, but it’s not solely a one man show thanks to the strong supporting cast (most of whom I can’t discuss in this spoiler-free venue). Hugh Jackman’s greatest contribution to the work leans more to the dramatic side of things – as he delivers buckets of gravitas playing a Wolverine variant who is responsible for the death of the X-Men in his own world – but he is also a perfect straight man foil to Reynolds. Logan’s ever-lowering tolerance of Deadpool’s shtick adds a extra layer of appreciation for the red-suited menace’s motor mouth, but his distinctive brand of gruff aggression also inspires independent laughs.

Deadpool & Wolverine unfurls a lot of awesome surprises, but it has major story problems and lacks an individual style.

It’s rare that a joke overstays its welcome (an exception being an opening credits fight/dance sequence set to N’Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye”), and audiences will be hard pressed to not be entertained by the experience as a whole, but there was also a point toward the middle of the screening when I internally asked myself, “When is this movie going to add some meat to its plot?” That question never got satiated.

In addition to certain things that simply don’t make sense (such as Deadpool’s aforementioned trip to and from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for his Avengers audition), certain plots/ideas are introduced and then dropped (like Deadpool becoming the savior of the MCU) and the antagonists are deeply underwhelming. Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox ends up being little more than a vehicle for exposition about the film’s big McGuffin (a Time Ripper capable of instantly destroying branch realities) and Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova is ultimately a run-of-the-mill supervillain craving power over the universe.

The energy that should be spent on building a story is instead diverted into orchestrating cameos and exciting showdowns, which ends up being a blend of wild and surprising fun as well as some ham-fistedness. As a decades-long comic book fan to whom Deadpool & Wolverine is directly appealing, I think it’s a cinematic gift that there are multiple sequences where the two titular, superhealing mutants are beating the ever-loving shit out of each other (particularly their scuffle within the confines of a Honda Odyssey), and I’m blown away by some of the cameos that the blockbuster pulls off (not to mention the brilliant inside baseball jokes that they inspire). At the same time, there are some developments that feel like they were added to the script via Post-it note, and the film fails to deliver a satisfying ending because so little creative effort is put into the narrative.

Unfortunately, the film is also a step down stylistically compared to its predecessors. While both Deadpool and Deadpool 2 feature sequences that do a wonderful job highlighting the particular talents of directors Tim Miller and David Leitch (the frozen in time opening credits and Cable prison attack respectively coming to mind), Shawn Levy doesn’t provide any kind of individual flash that lets the film stand out stylistically from the other 33 films in the MCU canon – beyond the extreme gore and violence, that is. He demonstrates a knowledge of how to appeal to Marvel fans, evidenced up front by finally getting Hugh Jackman to wear the iconic yellow and blue Wolverine costume, but it’s a movie that is lacking in signature moments that don’t involve cameo revelations.

In reflection, Deadpool & Wolverine is comparable to Avengers: Endgame, but with comedy emphasized over narrative coherence. Some of the shine comes off the apple when you really start thinking about the work, but it’s worthy of recommendation nonetheless. On opening weekend, the dizzying jokes-per-minute rate is going to result in theater hallways vibrating from regular bursts of hysterical laughter as moviegoers experience one of the funniest movies in years, and everyone will be joyfully buzzing about the unexpected moves it pulls off. It has a lot to offer while still not being Marvel at its best.