Six years later Deadpool 2Wade Wilson aka Deadpool is back on the big screen. A new adventure that marks his official entry into Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, and which reforms an unlikely superhero collaboration first seen in X-Men Origins : Wolverinein 2009.
A new Marvel opus that plays the redemption card through self-mockery, using the maligned MCU as a luxury punching bag. Here is our review, guaranteed without spoilers.
The film’s story
After failing to join the Avengers team, Wade Wilson goes from one odd job to another without really finding his way. Until the day when a high-ranking member of the Anachronistic Variation Tribunal offers him a mission worthy of him… on the condition that he sees his world and everyone he loves destroyed. Refuse to do so, Wade dons the Deadpool costume again and tries to convince Wolverine to help him save his universe…
Hugh Jackman et Ryan Reynolds dans Deadpool & Wolverine.
© Marvel Studios
Our review
A free choice from Fox’s Marvel catalog, Deadpool has signed two surprise hits at the box office, collecting more than $1.5 billion with his cinematic escapades. A success that Disney, owner of Fox productions since its acquisition in 2019, could not pass up, and which today brings the “Merc With a Mouth” back to the cinema for an opus more unbridled than ever.
Let fans rest assured right away: this third opus remains in the pure “bad kid” spirit of the first two films, that is to say irreverent, joyfully gory and outrageously gritty. It also resurrects a Wolverine who we thought had definitely retired following the events of Logan (James Mangold, 2017). But that was without counting on the possibilities opened up by the multiverse, and without a doubt (a little) by the lure of gain.
Matthew Macfadyen dans Deadpool & Wolverine.
© Marvel Studios
This “Deadpool 3” therefore seizes the opportunity to offer a hyper-referenced “buddy movie” (whose structure will remind some Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and its quantum world), which sticks the grumpy Logan with a Wade always ready to break the 4th wall to remind the audience of the complicated state of the Marvel universe and the absurdities of Hollywood. Good news: like the first two films, this one has been rated “R” in the United States, meaning that it is prohibited for those under 17.
A freedom of tone preserved and highly entertaining for the viewer, and which allows Disney to make its self-criticism and its mea culpa on the quality of its productions, also invoking the forgotten past of the Marvel franchise. Because if the term is a little misused today, this Deadpool & Wolverine is above all intended to be a true love letter to the Fox period and its productions from the 90s and 2000s.
Emma Corrin dans Deadpool & Wolverine.
© Marvel Studios
It is thus difficult to sulk in one’s pleasure in the face of a few improbable and jubilant cameos, even when they shamelessly pull on the string of nostalgia… and not much else. Far from being bored with a complex story, Deadpool & Wolverine is thus more the last hurrah of a bygone era than the epic and anticipated meeting between Deadpool and the MCU.
This new adventure thus ultimately remains in the somewhat restricted sandbox of its own meta universe. A frustrating observation given the possibilities opened up by the thunderous arrival of the red and black superhero at Disney which, if it works well in the first half, severely marks time in the second.
Deadpool & Wolverine plays the fan-service card again.
© The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Studios
Indeed, Deadpool clearly doesn’t know the saying. “The shortest jokes are the best”. And just like in the first two opuses, his clown act inevitably ends up being exhausting, for want of bringing substance to his parade of jokes. The anal jokes are clearly less funny after an hour, and the punchlines lose their force.
Despite a surge of emotion brought by a somewhat facile nostalgia and the always fair Hugh Jackman, we can thus regret that Ryan Reynolds did not succeed in transcending a character who will have gained little substance in three films. An opus certainly far from being unpleasant, but for the fans above all.
Deadpool & Wolverine comes out in theaters on July 24.
- Watch the movie trailer:
Conclusion
Global mark
How does the rating work?
Deadpool & Wolverine certainly succeeds in its promise of an entertaining show, driven by nostalgia and fan service above all, notably thanks to the exercise in self-mockery operated by Disney and Marvel. But the adventure unfortunately lacks ideas and breath to be much more than a big joke, and the long-awaited revolution of the MCU. A small 3 stars.
