Here’s my Deadpool and Wolverine review which stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and more and directed by Shawn Levy.

Deadpool & Wolverine finally have a movie together but is it all spectacle and not having actual meat in it? Or is it really the return of Marvel Studios?

Deadpool & Wolverine was a fun watch with tons of Easter eggs and references and a decent story involving two of Marvel’s unkillable characters. I loved it for its irreverence and the comic book levels of gore and violence delivered by both Wade Wilson and Logan. The film gets props for sticking to their word of not disturbing what happened in Logan which was the first thing fans worried about when they announced the project back in 2022.

Ryan Reynolds can do a masterclass in playing Deadpool and he’s clearly got a good idea of what to do and what to say. The really good change we got here is that there’s a more impactful character growth and relatability in D&W as opposed to previous Deadpool flicks. Now we have a Wade Wilson that’s steering aimlessly for a few years after not getting what he badly wants and pushing away that one important person in his life. It had weight to it the whole ordeal that Wade went through and that’s a big positive.

“Sad Logan” or “Punished Logan” Is also on the same spectrum of Deadpool’s grief. He is however the endgame, the final stop in the road that Wade is trudging along. This was a multiversal Wolverine that pushed everybody he loves away and then lost them tragically and he can’t do anything to get them back. It took them this big adventure to realize that and everybody is happy including us fans. Hugh Jackman really showed that he was the heart of this story. Not only was he an anchor being, he was also the necessary element that made the film a lot more interesting. I have to admit after hearing his backstory and his capacity for good after that tragedy, you can see the pain and anguish he feels and I am all for that.

There’s also something wonderful but a little lacking with the villains in “Deadpool & Wolverine”. For one, both Pardox and Cassandra Nova are pretty obviously in cahoots, it’s not implied at the start but it’s very obvious. Between the two though, my money’s on Nova being a greater villain for the film. Emma Corrin didn’t have much to go for but her character’s pretty good as is and I am thanking the movie gods that they did not go with an evil variant of Charles Xavier because while its cool, it’s not as poignant as what we got. This villain opened a door for “sad Wolverine” to show viewers that he is an X-Man; he may not have been the best back when they were a team but in his core, he’s still a good guy. Meanwhile the film’s other villain Paradox played by Matthew McFayden looked the part and was certainly grating and obnoxious but when all’s been revealed, his whole arc was pretty generic. Still he did act out great as this snivelling weasel that tries to one up Wade. Sadly the other villains that showed up in the trailer barely appeared in the film and that’s totally fine because we want to see the good guys team up against them. Hat tip to Aaron Stanford who returns to the X-Men movies after his last appearance in X3: The Last Stand where he played Pyro. Here he’s doing that again and he’s still that sneaky little devil from those movies years ago.

The fight scenes were really gorgeous here whether it’s that final battle or that more personal fight inside the Honda Oddyssey where the two murder machines find creative ways to maim and kill each other. You never do get a dull moment with those scenes and you’ll probably want to watch the film again to really enjoy all those fights and all those superhero landings.

I don’t want to spoil anything much to you guys but the cameos and Easter Eggs are worth it. I’m pretty sure that there will be a lot of discussions on who or what those cameos mean in general but as a Marvel fan, you’ll love every second of those cameos and guest appearances. It also helps to pain this whole comic book vibe to this film not that we still need that considering how much Deadpool loves to break the fourth wall in this film. I was really hoping though that one of these cameos would open the door for more X-Men stuff but let me stop you right there, it won’t. Consider these cameos as just really nice nods to Marvel and Fox’s past and the movies they created.

For me, what really put this movie down by a few notches rather than setting it high in the pedestal is how they treated the ending and maybe the mid-credit scenes although I totally forgave them for this since every montage and tribute videos work extremely well with Green Day’s “Time of your Life” running in the background. I’m really getting annoyed with how Marvel is playing with the X-Men and the MCU. We all want it and it’s a little easy at this point to go and give what everybody wants especially since 2024 could have been the year of the mutants with the success of X-Men 97 and the whole “From the Ashes” reboot for the X-books properly addressing the mutants could have been top priority starting with this film.

Deadpool & Wolverine Review – Verdict

8/10

Deadpool & Wolverine when seen as an independent action movie starring two of the X-Men’s popular characters is a bonafide success but if you try to connect it to the problematic Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll feel like it was lacking. That was the dilemma I faced when writing this review. I enjoyed it as a solo adventure movie but when you shine a Marvel-lit candle on it, it kinda feels like a rehash of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all over again with all the good parts and the things that worked. Just like the two characters, there’s inner conflict and it gets passed on to viewers. Again, don’t get me wrong, as a solo flick or as they say in comic book parlance, a one-shot story its beautiful but if its truly set out to steer Marvel Studios in the correct direction, it kinda gave us more confusion.

Still an awesome film with great set pieces, crude humor, tons of R-rated violence and cussing and another good story starring Wolverine that they helped distance from the X-Men.

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Special thanks to SM Cinemas