Last night my son and I were sitting at home trying to decide what we were going to do together this weekend. We had a “buy one, get one” deal on tickets for the movie Twisters and began to buy those but ultimately decided to shift over and buy tickets to the new Deadpool movie. We almost never go to the movies, but I recently brought my daughter to see the new Despicable Me movie, so it is only fair that I take the boy out to a movie too. I am glad that we did because it was a great activity out of the house that both of us enjoyed.
I’ll begin with a little background we have with the movies and comics. Both my son and I have read plenty of the Deadpool comics and enjoy them very much. Without getting too deep and nerdy about the particulars involved in various runs, I’ll say that we love Deadpool comics. We also thought the Deadpool movies thus far have been a solid offering but not perfect. Deadpool 1 was so much more than we thought we would ever get in a live action movie but Deadpool 2 started showing some chinks in the armor. I liked Deadpool 2 but much of that is due to Ryan Reynolds simply being an amazing Deadpool and not so much that it was a great movie overall. Not all the jokes landed, and too much of the fan service lacked something special. None of that is meant to be significantly negative, more that part 2 was just a weaker offering. Not every movie can be the best movie. Which brings me to the new movie.
Right from the very beginning Deadpool & Wolverine started flashing its increase in production quality/budget. It looked better, sounded better, and had more sophisticated choreography (dance and fight). You may not think that matters until you see how much better a dance based joke or goof hits and is funnier due to it. Ryan Reynolds is giving the full force of the role and for once it felt like the tone of the movie around him also played more towards the comic books style. One of the largest driving forces of the movie is nostalgic references and cameos with better execution than in the previous movie. Disney certainly flexed hard with the amount of Marvel and Fox Marvel IP they wield. If you are familiar with the diverse material they are pulling from the movie will be a nonstop “oh its___” and if you are not as familiar you will be hit with a lot of “well that’s cool” little moments. I will say that the plot was erratic but honestly had no impact on how well the movie entertained. In all reality, so many Deadpool stories have nonsensical or randomly changing plots that he intentionally sabotages as a character element. So, it’s not exactly a stretch for a Deadpool story to be hilarious due to its interpersonal interactions and comedy laced brutality with little in the way of organized linear plot lines.
The movie included much of the current Marvel canon while having the majority of the content surrounding Fox Marvel properties. You could tell that the movie was designed to keep within the groundwork from the Disney plus shows but balanced classic MCU and Deadpool franchise threads so that it was not overbearing. By the end of the movie I felt very satisfied by the amount of older references, new live action representations, new takes on previous elements, and a feel that the Deadpool franchise can continue standing on its own legs. I did not walk out feeling like Fox Marvel was completely dead or that Deadpool will now be fully inserted into the MCU. Deadpool still feels like he’s a little outside in his own world but peeping into the rest of the Marvel universe just enough to cause chaos as needed. I like that and hope it stays that way. As a summary review I put an emphatic two thumbs up for Deadpool & Wolverine and suggest that anyone looking for a funny rated R action film go see it.
Leave a Reply