Anthony's Film Review - Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

Marvel Studios has made some daring moves with this amusing feature...

Making a crossover movie is not an easy task. That was a big reason why I was so impressed with the Marvel Studios movie Spider-Man: No Way Home. The way Marvel Studios juggled both the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Spider-Man and the two non-MCU versions of Spider-Man from Sony was a beautifully balanced effort. It left me appreciating all versions of Spider-Man equally and their respective production companies equally. I imagine fans of any of those live-action Spider-Man adaptations can feel equally appreciated.

If you want more of my thoughts on that movie, just read my review. Here, I am reviewing Marvel Studios's next major MCU/non-MCI crossover effort: Deadpool and Wolverine. I will say it right now. I enjoyed this movie but nowhere near as much as Spider-Man: No Way Home. For one thing, Deadpool and Wolverine are characters who come from more violent non-MCU film universes (at least, the last film for the latter). Also, there is an element of over-the-top delivery in the humor and action, which I will soon explain.

This movie brings non-MCU characters into the MCU in the same way that Spider-Man: No Way Home did: by taking advantage of the ongoing multiverse plot element that is currently occurring at this point of the MCU timeline. Just have a plot where the non-MCU characters are from an alternate universe and somehow wind up in the MCU. After all, the MCU films of Phases Four through Six are supposed to comprise the Multiverse Saga (just as MCU Phases One through Three are the Infinity Saga).

It is actually very easy to sum up the characters and settings, because this movie involves mainly four of each. First, there is Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) who comes from the universe portrayed in two Deadpool movies from 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios as a Disney subsidiary). Second, there is Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) who comes from the universe described in multiple films, from X-Men in 2000 to Logan in 2017. Third, there is the antagonist Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), who works for the Time Variance Authority that is the setting of the MCU series Loki on Disney+. Finally, there is the second antagonist Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), who occupies a purgatory universe called the Void.

As for the plot, it is very simple. Deadpool's universe is going to be destroyed by the TVA but he has a chance to move to the universe considered sacred (that is, the MCU). Deadpool also needs Wolverine with him, so he does a few tricky moves to bring him along. From there, both Deadpool and Wolverine are on a quest to restore both their home universes, which means they would have to contend with both Mr. Paradox and Cassandra Nova. That's pretty much it.

And you know what's funny? I didn't pay too much attention to the plot, not because it's dumb but because it functions mainly as a satire of and tribute to the non-MCU Marvel movies of 20th Century Fox. There are plenty of lines of dialogue, often coming from Deadpool, that break the fourth wall and directly reference certain films, not just reference the events of those films. This is where the humor is over the top. The fourth-wall-breaking was so frequent for me that I paid attention mainly to that. Did I still enjoy it? Certainly. But would I still enjoy a character story more? Sure.

Now let me talk about the action being over the top. Specifically, I am referring to the intense blood and gore. When Marvel Studios announced that it would bring Deadpool into the MCU, the big question was whether this movie would tone down the R-rated violence of the first two Deadpool movies. Marvel Studios decide to take the bold move of leaving it that way. The result is the first R-rated MCU movie. It's not a PG-13 movie that has just enough graphic violence, plus profane language, to make it rated R. It exceeds that bar quite noticeably. It's a fairly strong R.

Is there anything I could say about the two title characters? Just this: Deadpool is the main character with much of the film's lines and Wolverine is the supporting character along for the ride. Is there chemistry between them? Depends on what you mean by chemistry. If you mean chemistry in the usual sense of two people clicking and getting along, the answer is no. However, there is a different kind of chemistry going on: the antagonistic kind, where conflicts bring out who they really are. It kind of turns the buddy movie upside down, resulting in a sort-of anti-buddy movie.

Sometime during the second half of the movie, it became clear what kind of Marvel film this is. It's not like Spider-Man: No Way Home with 50% MCU and 50% non-MCU elements, with both sets working together so well as a cohesive whole. Rather, Deadpool and Wolverine is more like 25% MCU and 75% non-MCU, with both sets of elements still distinct enough. They're not totally like oil and water, but each isn't fully dissolving into the other. This is really a 20th Century Studios production in association with Marvel Studios, not the other way around. Imagine a continuation of 20th Century's Marvel but under the new management of Marvel Studios, if that new management takes a mostly hands-off approach.

In the end, I rate Deadpool and Wolverine a 7 out of 10 on my rating scale. For a while, I wondered if anything about it would bump it up to an 8, but ultimately nothing did. It's just a silly action comedy film. It's approach of being over the top did something paradoxical for me: it made it fun for me while preventing me from liking it more. Based on this movie, has the MCU gotten better or worse? I'll leave that to the die-hard fans. Just as a movie by itself, it provides a simple bloody good time.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Deadpool and Wolverine, visit the Internet Movie Database.