Shawn Levy has directed some films, well one in particular, that have remained engrained in my mind since I first saw it. Despite this, I’m not the biggest fan of his latest work. Free Guy was perfectly acceptable but it didn’t make me feel anything, and The Adam Project felt like a movie that had nowhere to go from the beginning. When news broke he’d be at the helm of the upcoming Deadpool film, I was skeptical but willing to give it a shot. After seeing it, things could have gone worse.
Set in a world post-20th Century Fox acquisition, Deadpool & Wolverine sees the titular antihero Deadpool racing to save his friends and the world with the help of familiar faces.
Deadpool & Wolverine marks the third Deadpool film, though Marvel and Ryan Reynolds have stated that it isn’t Deadpool 3. At this point, everything there is to say about Ryan Reynolds' performance as Wade Wilson/Deadpool has been written/said, so I’ll spare you. The same can be said for Hugh Jackman, reprising his iconic role of Wolverine. The supporting cast is fine, but you’re watching for Reynolds and Jackman, and you know it.
There is something strange about this film. It feels exactly like a Deadpool film without feeling like a Deadpool film. The action is what you’d expect, with plenty of flashy and kinetic choreography, and enough gore to make Michael Myers take a breather. The visual effects too are…what you’d expect from Marvel in 2024. There are times when they look great, and as you’d expect, they’re the scenes Marvel has traditionally been very good at. Anything to do with digital doubles or CG faces, and they’re clearly out of their depth. A review on Letterboxd said the Arrowverse had better CGI, and, while mostly a joke, some scenes hark back to the golden era of the Arrowverse.
Besides the obvious, much of the conversation surrounding this film is around the cameos. Without giving anything away, I can say that almost all of them are really fun. I had the fortune of going in quite blind regarding the rumored cameos, so when each one appeared, I was genuinely surprised. I will say, however, a lot of them felt like fan service instead of a way to progress the story. Admittedly, every movie that’s tried this has suffered a similar critique, and I’m not sure there’s a way to not make it feel this way, but it still can’t help but feel forced and, in a way, cheap.
A common critique I see on social media about Marvel, especially recently, is their color grade. Their films have been accused of being soulless and devoid of color, and while that can be said about certain scenes in this film, I’d argue that their lack of color actually works to serve the story. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the color choices made in certain scenes were a creative decision because other scenes throughout the film are vibrant and bursting with color. The cinematography, beyond the somewhat spotty VFX, is fine. There isn’t anything insane or special about it — this isn’t Sam Raimi directing, after all (no offense Shawn Levy, director of Big Fat Liar (one of my favorite movies ever)).
As someone who isn’t up-to-date on the latest happenings within the MCU, the story of Deadpool & Wolverine I found to be, at times, confusing. I found it very easy for myself to get lost in the narrative, and not in the engrossing kind of way. More than that, though, the story was just kind of boring. Sure, the action was fun, but the stakes felt pretty contained and the various MCU connections felt like a forced play more than an organic fit. It didn’t feel like a long story either, which helps, because the film feels the perfect length. It teeters right on the edge of being too long and feeling like it, but right when that feeling starts to creep in, we’re assured in a way only Deadpool can do.
The fourth wall breaks, the signature of Deadpool films, are still here in Deadpool & Wolverine and it feels like they’ve found the sweet spot when it comes to Wade’s/Deadpool’s audience interactions. There aren’t nearly as many as in the previous movies, but when he does address us, it makes it more entertaining. I found a lot of the jokes, both to the audience and in the film, to be funny and land quite well. The humor never feels like it overtakes the story or film in any way, which every Deadpool film has been able to masterfully balance, and when the movie needs to tug on the heartstrings, it does.
All of this is to say that Deadpool & Wolverine is perfectly fine. It feels like a cop-out to say that, but it’s true. It isn’t nearly as bad as some of the latest Marvel outings, but it’s nowhere near as good as Marvel’s A-game or hell, even the first two Deadpool films. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continue to prove they’re the only people who can play their respective characters, and Shawn Levy earned himself a spot on Feige’s "Trusted List of Directors", for now. Everything else is fine, good even. And with the box office numbers looking as good as they do, maybe Wade Wilson was right when he called himself Marvel Jesus. Maybe.
From Letterboxd: To be a kid again.
Rating: 3/5
Deadpool & Wolverine is playing now in theaters. Go. Movie theaters rule.