This film is fun, but laborious, packed with an overabundance of snappy irreverent one-liners and well-known character cameos in R-rated language and supremely, sadistically bloody SFX combat scenes. Marvel puts their two A-List characters,Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) together to create a reluctant superhero buddy film stuck playing with timelines again. At the same time, the leads take adolescent delight in pot shots at their corporate bosses at Disney, Marvel and 20th Century Fox.
No matter how hard Writer/Director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Free Guy) with 4 other writers, including Reynolds, try to be self effacing, and self aware of the MCU’s shortcomings, they still can’t resist falling into all the traps that dragged down this cinematic empire. The priority of the film is still to service the loyal MCU fans who eat up every piece of minutiae and cameos that tie-in to every other Marvel property.
Let the jokes rollover you, no matter how silly or off topic they seem. Deadpool reluctantly commits to a hero’s quest to save his world, or in parlance of the multi-verse, his timeline. To do this, he must enlist Wolverine’s help. But the story gets muddled time and again with the intramural warfare and verbal gymnastics between Deadpool and Wolverine. And the world’s ugliest dog, Dogpool, with its incredibly long tongue, provides comic relief, almost licking Deadpool’s face off.
When the TVA (Time Variance Authority) recruits Deadpool to help safeguard his timeline, including the love of his life, Vanessa, (Morena Baccarin) before it’s erased. He presses Wolverine to join his mission, battling all the way. No matter how much bodily harm they inflict on each other, they keep coming back for more. It’s extremely brutal, but the cartoon violence is staged well for maximum effect. Hugh Jackman admits that his dance training for musical theater helped him get back in shape for the fight choreography. And he ate 8,000 calories a day to bulk up. And watch for big fan boy reaction when Jackman shows up on screen in the iconic yellow Wolverine suit and mask.
There are two heavies our heroes have to defeat. Mr. Paradox (Matthew McFadyan) with his sneering smile is kind of a run-of-the-mill TVA bad guy trying to become the leader of that organization. You know what to expect when you see him on screen. But the one to look out for, is Cassandra Nova played by Emma Corrin. She oozes venom out of every word, charming as ever with no remorse to kill with or without provocation. Both are doing all they can to prevent Deadpool and Wolverine from saving their timeline.
There’s always a climactic battle scene which follows the general outline of the genre. A bevy of familiar characters load the screen with surprises, ultra violence and funny asides. Blade (Wesley Snipe), Gambit (Channing Tatum with his mumble jumble accent), Electra (Jennifer Garner), Lady Deadpool (voice of Blake Lively), Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and of course Mary Puppins/ Dogpool (Peggy the Dog) keep popping up during the chaos in addition to scores of Deadpool clones.
Kudos to SFX supervisor Samir Buzatu and his department for covering all the mayhem on the screen. Credit to music director Rob Simonsen who had fun matching ironic songs to specific scenes that brought some giggles including”Huey Lewis & The News’ “The Power of Love,” Waylon Jennings’ “I’m a Ramblin’ Man,” Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” and Jimmy Durante’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Lots of good old songs in the soundtrack.
While this film is going to be big summer box office, we don’t think it’s going to help the trajectory expanding a new audience for Marvel. While Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are eminently fun to watch play together, it doesn’t seem as if it will expand beyond the fan boys. This film may have a limited shelf life, but this summer, Deadpool and Wolverine are contentious bickering frenemies who bring back some of that old frenetic Marvel MCU fun.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Marvel 2 Hours 7 Minutes R
