Marvel has had a rough go of it in recent years, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being one of the biggest low points. So is Deadpool & Wolverine the film that will turn everything around for the MCU? No, definitely not. However, it is a film that does a number of things drastically differently than we have come to expect from Marvel since Disney took over, and the film itself makes no secret of that.
This is a spoiler-free review of Deadpool & Wolverine.
With some big bucks, Kevin Feige managed to get Hugh Jackman on board for Deadpool & Wolverine to return in his titular role. And that’s not the only big name we’ll be seeing in the latest Marvel film, as names like
Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and Jon Favreau shoot past. It doesn’t stop there, because there are also a number of cameos in the film that fans will enjoy. Deadpool & Wolverine is a film that is full of fan service and also full of jokes and gags, although sometimes it is a bit too thick.
Let’s start with a small piece of the story, because that’s only a small portion of the film. Don’t expect huge changes for the MCU, because this film is fairly self-contained. On the one hand that’s a shame, but it’s also nice to see a film within the MCU where the stakes aren’t that high. Deadpool leads a civilian life, but is looking for more meaning. The TVA does have a job for him, because a timeline is threatened again, which means Deadpool can save lives. He doesn’t really feel like it, but he does it anyway, together with someone who doesn’t feel like it at all: Wolverine. Of course, the film again features all kinds of variations of characters, as we’re used to from the Marvel series Loki. Fortunately, Deadpool doesn’t take this seriously at all and sometimes even makes fun of it in bizarre ways.
In my opinion, one of the strongest points of Deadpool & Wolverine is that the film does not take itself too seriously. If you feel like having a good laugh during a superhero film, this is your chance. The humor in the film is often quite crude and that feels refreshing for a production by Marvel and therefore actually Disney. Sometimes the film tries to be a bit too funny, because the jokes follow each other in rapid succession. In that respect, the frequency could have been a bit lower, because now it seems as if Deadpool & Wolverine is trying a bit too hard to be funny. The last time a Marvel film was really funny for me was Ant-Man and the Wasp and fortunately this one comes close.
Full of surprises
As I described earlier in the film, there are a number of excellent surprises in Wolverine & Deadpool that I really did not see coming. Of course, you expect a few things around X-Men, but the film also contains enough surprises that you do not see coming. Although I am not a huge fan of the characters Deadpool or Wolverine, it even managed to satisfy me. In particular, a reference to a franchise (I will not reveal which one) completely outside the Marvel universe is sure to get a laugh.
A slightly less big surprise is the return of Wolverine, which we have been waiting for a long time. I didn’t immediately expect this to do anything to me, but it worked a lot better than I had expected beforehand. It is as if Hugh Jackman has never left his role and it actually tastes like more. That is why it is a shame that it will probably be a long time before we see another film with Wolverine or even the X-Men. Don’t expect a big return of the X-Men in Deadpool & Wolverine either. It was no secret that the film is not about that, but if you do expect it, you will be disappointed.
However, I do have a small critical note regarding Deadpool & Wolverine. We just talked about the wafer-thin plot, but the story could have been better. The film is entertaining and with the sharp humor we get through the more than two-hour film, but it only really starts to captivate me in the last half hour. The climax even gives me a little goosebumps and the main antagonist of the film only really becomes interesting at that moment. As soon as this antagonist shows what powers the character has, the film is actually almost over. Finally, I also wonder what the film means for the rest of the MCU, because it could go in many directions, but the film does not really provide any clarity.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a hilarious film with perhaps even a few too many jokes at times. Nevertheless, the jokes that do come along are spot on. It is also great to see Hugh Jackman again as Wolverine with the accompanying iconic suit, which still fits him like a glove. It is almost as if he has never been away, his character feels so familiar. The story of the film is less, in fact the plot is wafer-thin. That does not matter much for this film full of surprises, but it could have made Deadpool & Wolverine a lot better than what we currently got to see.
