REVIEW: Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Movie Reviews

There’s a reason Marvel sold Deadpool & Wolverine on the premise and the cameos; those and the humor are the strongest parts of the movie, the rest of which sits on a rickety plot, bland villains, and character work that comes way too late to have the impact it should. But it’s fun – oh boy, is it fun.

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is in a funk, separated from Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), working as a car salesman alongside Pete (Rob Delaney), and back living in an apartment with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). But when an opportunity to join the MCU from the Time Variance Authority comes with a dark twist, Wade must search the multiverse for a variant of the only man who can help him save his universe: Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

I’m going to be as vague as possible with this review because the cameos, hidden plot points, and other things that weren’t in the trailers start early in Deadpool & Wolverine, and I don’t want to ruin them for anyone who reads this. That’s partly because I don’t like to do that in general – I care about movies, and I want people to be able to experience them properly – and it’s partly because this is the biggest reason to see the film. Deadpool & Wolverine is fan service ramped up to levels that would make Spinal Tap’s brains melt, and while it’s fun and gratifying to see a lot of this stuff, it’s a shame that it couldn’t have been accompanied by a better plot.

And there are massive problems with the plot. After the opening fifteen minutes or so (during which one important plot point makes zero sense), it’s barely a factor until the end, with only a few mentions from Deadpool here and there as he and Wolverine bounce from one set piece/encounter/fight to another keeping it alive. I’m not sure if the idea was to have them on an adventure similar to those old Hope and Crosby films, but even those had stronger plots than this. There are some pretty huge stakes in Deadpool & Wolverine, but it never feels like it; nobody’s treating it like the potential catastrophe it is, even Wade, who stands to lose everything. And I get it; the point of this one is to be fun, so they didn’t want the emotional stuff bogging down the 48 Hrs. vibe. But there’s little to hold onto except the next laugh or surprise appearance from whoever else is on deck.

It’s only in the last forty-five minutes that Deadpool & Wolverine gets to the character work, and by then, it feels obligatory, like someone realized they had to give Hugh Jackman a chance to act now that they finally got him back in his signature role. And that’s a shame because when he’s finally allowed to bare his soul and talk about his regrets, doubts, and the pain he feels, Jackman is excellent. During his tenure at Fox, I think most of us probably took Hugh Jackman for granted because he was in every X-Men movie to some degree (except Dark Phoenix). But seeing him again after he’s been gone for a few years – and what everyone thought was for good – makes his return as Wolverine feel special, even if this isn’t really the movie he deserved.

As for Ryan Reynolds, you know what to expect from his Deadpool, and that’s all here. Well, the comedy part, anyway; the heart of the first two films is mostly absent from Deadpool & Wolverine, especially where Wade is concerned. Most of his supporting cast is barely in the movie, with Vanessa treated like an afterthought when she should be the driving force behind everything he’s doing. Speaking of Wade’s one true love, Vanessa is a completely different character in Deadpool & Wolverine, with their break-up making no sense and being inconsistent with the woman we knew from the first two Deadpool movies. Blind Al is barely there, I think Dopinder speaks one line, and the X-Men regulars – Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Yukio – are more cameos than a lot of the “cameos.” I understand it’s an overstuffed movie as it is, but these friendships (sort of) were built up well in the last two films, and something feels missing without them.

For this, I lay the blame squarely on Marvel, Kevin Feige, and Zeb Wells. See, the writing team behind Deadpool & Wolverine is the same one that wrote the first two, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, with some help from Ryan Reynolds. But this one also has Zeb Wells, who was one of the writers on She-Hulk. I’ve long assumed this was Kevin Feige demanding to put his stamp on the first Deadpool movie under the MCU banner to satisfy his ego. And what’s the result? Some of the same stupid stuff that’s sunk recent Marvel movies and shows: character inconsistencies, jumbled plots that don’t make sense, an emphasis on humor over heart, a lack of stakes even when there technically are stakes, and a reliance on key-jangling cameos and Easter eggs. I have no problem crediting Reese, Wernick, and Reynolds with what works because they wrote two excellent movies about Deadpool, and Zeb Wells wrote for… She-Hulk. Oh, wait, I’m sorry; that’s totally unfair of me. Zeb Wells also did some uncredited writing on The Marvels. Feeling good about Daredevil: Born Again now?

So, no, Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t a great movie. But it is a lot of fun, and I had a blast watching it. The cameos and references are mostly executed very well, and it’s great to see some of these folks again. (There’s one huge exception whose big moment is so wasted and unsatisfying that I wonder why they even bothered.) The humor lands pretty much every time, with the exception of one of the two major villains, who is a complete joke and never feels like a threat, which I chalk up to the MCU influence. (Remember when we were all salivating at the thought of the Fox side of Marvel “coming home”? Things change.) Deadpool has a million terrific gags that mock Marvel, Disney, Hollywood, comic books, the MCU, and even wokeness. Wolverine gets a few decent ones, too, although I kind of wish his humor was toned down a little to contrast him better with Wade. It’s not terrible or anything, and Hugh Jackman makes the lines sound natural coming from Logan, but there are too many of them for too much of the film, which is an offshoot of the suppressed drama issue.

The action is mostly good, although there’s one big sequence later on that is very haphazardly filmed, which is confusing. Shawn Levy acquits himself quite well in some of the fights, with one in the final act that looks terrific. But this one, which is a big deal considering who is involved, is confusing and poorly edited in the beginning; it gets better, but it isn’t what it should have been. What is great are the many, many fights between the title characters, which look good and are as hilarious as you’d expect fights between two guys who can’t kill each other and use lethal weapons would be.

Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t what it should be, and it isn’t nearly what I hoped it would be, but it’s still a great time in the moment. It’s definitely worth a watch, and it’s got plenty of laughs and fun, plus some good acting from Hugh Jackman when he’s finally allowed to emote, although I’m not sure how it’ll play on repeat viewings, once all the surprises are no longer surprises. It’s essentially the skin on fried chicken; it tastes great when you crunch into it, but you need the meat to fill you up.