REVIEW: Deadpool & Wolverine wipes its feet on Fox’s grave

by | Aug 5, 2024

If you think the return of Wolverine in this movie cheapens his well-earned death in Logan, then welcome to comics – nothing is sacred or permanent, not even death. 

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

Vuvu Rating: 7/10

The Merc with a Mouth’s third instalment is both a love letter to Fox’s X-men franchise and an obituary to the now Disney-owned 20th Century Studios. 

Centered around Deadpool attempting to save his timeline from being annihilated, the film gives us an honest, if slightly underdeveloped, look at Ryan Reynold’s’ Deadpool’s view of himself. Someone destined for greatness but unable to reach it without the help of someone he views as greater than himself. Most portrayals of Deadpool often forget the core aspects of the character. The insecurity he masks with humour, and bravado he employs to cover the pain. 

Irreverent to an almost masturbatory extent, the film starts right where 2017’s Logan concluded. In classic Deadpool fashion, he speaks directly to the audience while using Wolverine’s decomposed skeleton to decimate oncoming TVA agents to the tune of NSYNC’s BYE BYE BYE. Taking the multiverse shenanigans of post-endgame MCU to the extreme, Deadpool & Wolverine manages to reinvigorate Marvel’s fourth-phase slump, while packing the entire movie with enough fan service to make even the most casual fan salivate. 

In 2019, Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox for a whopping $71 billion and immediately renamed it to 20th Century Studios. This marked the final nail in the coffin for what was once a legendary studio, home to more iconic franchises than Deadpool has Disney-friendly euphemisms for cocaine. Allegedly, the prospect of adding the X-Men to its billion-dollar Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was the main motivation for the purchase. However, it left an important question unanswered: how will Fox’s favourite mutants wrap-up their convoluted (and occasionally disastrous) story? 

The film gives Marvel a clean slate to work from, but more than that, helps us wash the salty taste of 2019’s Dark Phoenix from our mouths. With the titular characters travelling to “The Void”, a location for discarded characters accurately described as “a little Mad Max-y”, hilarious dialogue carries us from one gratuitous action scene to the next. Unfortunately, the plot and character work to take a back seat to Director Shawn Levy’s insistence on ever present winks to the audience. 

The movie does more than laugh at the decline of Fox (who infamously butchered Deadpool’s first appearance), instead choosing to arrange a worldwide chorus of audience members to roar directly in their face. With a $400 million global box office, it is safe to say it managed to arrange a two-hour contemporary dance on Fox’s grave. But nonetheless, Reynolds’ love of the character can be felt in every drop of blood on-screen.

Deadpool & Wolverine wraps itself up with a montage of bloopers and clips from some of the most iconic scenes in the 22-year history of Fox’s X-men. The movie goes to great lengths to give every character stuck under the Fox umbrella a conclusion worthy of their influence. The modern reincarnations of the characters are given as much respect and presence as their original versions. 

With some actors having portrayed these characters for the better part of two decades, Deadpool put a heart-shaped bullet hole into some of my all-time favourite characters. With the intricate web woven ever larger with each MCU release, this movie is a direct lesson. A character may actively desecrate everything you hold dear as a fan. And all you can do is enjoy the ride. 

FEATURED IMAGE: Deadpool & Wolverine promotional poster. Photo: Disney

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