By Marc S. Sanders
Hollywood back stories have created a quandary for the studios’ celebrated film franchises, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney has purchased the properties and copyrights belonging to 20th Century Fox and now, at last the X-Men can properly meet Captain America and the Hulk and Spider-Man…well only if Sony will let the wall crawler come out and play. So, how should all these guys meet one another, especially now that some of these actors who play these superheroes have received their AARP cards? Furthermore, some of these characters are dead…at least for now. Marvel producer Kevin Feige has the answer. Only Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), the Merc With The Mouth who breaks the fourth wall at any given moment, can bring this all together.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the best of the smart aleck hero’s three movies. Yet, it’s more of just a gimmicky flick than anything else. This proudly excessive two-hour tentpole picture operates like a solid collection of Saturday Night Live skits, with buckets of blood to splatter instead of The Three Stooges’ cream pies.
Allow me to break down this very thin storyline. Matthew MacFadyen is Mr. Paradox in a three-piece suit. He informs Mr. Deadpool that his timeline is about to fizzle out of existence. Somehow, our hero has to locate help from a Wolverine variant of another universe (Hugh Jackman, of course) to make things right again.
There’s your open door into the silliness that normally comes with Deadpool. Our title characters are tossed into a Mad Max kind of wasteland called the Void and an abundance of cameos commence from here on out. The suprise appearances are a lot of fun and I dare not spoil a single one of them. The rest of the internet did that the night before the film actually opened. I shan’t lend to that egregious violation. (I’m looking at you Variety, Yahoo and Entertainment Weekly. Was it truly necessary to go in that direction?)
I could never relate to the other Deadpool movies. Sure, they had some hilarious wink and nod gags, at the expense of Reynolds’ career experiences with past superhero franchises. Yet, those other films were also trying to work too hard with storylines weaved in as well. They became tiresome and Ryan Reynolds is not the Bill Murray of yesteryear or even Robert Downey Jr. His schtick in this element was overdone.
With this third installment, the approach works with an Airplane! or Naked Gun finish. That being said, it takes a lot of knowledge from prior Marvel films within the 20th Century Fox warehouse to get every gag. It helps to know what other super hero movies missed out on getting green lit, which ones tanked at the box office and who are some of these very obscure characters that were churned out of the meat grinder. If you know these guys, then you’ll applaud the purpose they serve to of any jokes or story references that allow this new picture to operate.
I found it fun. I think most lovers of Marvel movies will too. Yet would someone like my sixteen-year-old daughter catch every reference or cameo that walks into frame? Some characters have not appeared on screen in over twenty years. Reynolds and company also toss out one-liners that reference dated Hollywood gossip. There was a lot of explanation that I had to fill in for my wife on the drive home.
Beyond all this, Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, work really well together like a good buddy cop picture. Get these guys back together again in a Lethal Weapon or 48 Hrs kind of movie and I’m there. Honda might not be too fond of these guys, but their pairing is an overdue welcome to the big screen. Why Honda? See the movie and you’ll know what I mean, but I am eternally grateful for the automaker’s contribution to this picture.
As expected, the violence is excessive. I think I’ve had my fill of knives and claws being thrust into men’s crotches. Seems to happen literally every five minutes. Beheadings abound too. Slow mo flips and bullets and bullet casings flying and dropping out of guns is never enough for these filmmakers either.
Some will try to convince me of how tender hearted the picture is too. Bah!!!! I know what you’re talking about, but go watch Terms Of Endearment or even Avengers: Endgame to get your tear ducts exercising. The Hallmark moments here never carried much weight for me.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a grand time at the movies, worth seeing with an enthusiastic crowd over settling for a lonely night at home with Disney Plus. The movie is a little too long, though. None of the material belongs on the cutting room floor, but a good chunk of it could have been preserved for the next Deadpool blood spattered, slapsticky flick. I just didn’t need to consume all of the eggs in the basket.
My Personal Edit for the MCU: While I toss out my bravo on Marvel’s willingness for self-depreciation on a celebrity roast level with Reynolds and Jackman at the helm, it’s time to get serious again.
Please get off this multi verse kick. Director James Mangold (Logan, …Dial Of Destiny, 3:10 To Yuma) said it best that multi verse approaches produce lazy writing. There’s no stakes anymore. Hard to believe a character is dead when we watch him/her/they die. They’ll just come back in the multi verse!!! Enough already.
Bring back the villains who work based on sound logic like Thanos, Eric Killmonger and Obadiah Stane. When these guys commit their worst misdeeds, know they did it for a greater purpose than just a mustache twirl and an evil laugh. I could get behind their arguments.
More importantly, when the job is done, let it stay done. Treat the audience fairly.
As Annie Wilkes passionately declared: “Are you blind? They just cheated us. HE DIDN’T GET OUT OF THE COCKADOODIE CAR!!!!” I know exactly what you’re talking about Annie. Where’s that sledgehammer?
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 