Deadpool & Wolverine movie review: Swears, Slashing, Spilling of Blood and Slog – The latest Marvel offering has all of them in abundance!

Deadpool & Wolverine Review

The latest offering from the MCU - Deadpool and Wolverine, brings the two superheroes Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) who unite under extraordinary circumstances despite the solid love-hate relationship to save the former’s home world under an overwhelming existential threat. The listless Deadpool who is shown toiling way in a wretched civil life with his days as the morally flexible mercenary behind him must suit up again and bring the reluctant Wolverine to fight together!

2018. Deadpool time travels, switches from the Earth-10005 to Earth-616 with a hope of getting inducted into the Avengers squad but is rejected in the interview only to be captured and brought to the TVA(Time Variance Authority) where Mr. Paradox offers him a position at the E-616 who also warns him about the deteriorating timeline due to Logan’s death and only he can stabilize it.Thus, begins Wade’s journey traversing multiverses to find a suitable variant of Logan in order to save his own timeline. But the results are far more devastating than he could imagine!

Deadpool and Wolverine, is directed by Shawn Levy who co-wrote the screenplay with Ryan Reynolds (they worked together in 2021’s The Free Guy and 2022’s Netflix film The Adam Project), hence the larger mileage of Deadpool is evident with irreverent references of Fox Pictures sprinkled here and there – “Fox Killed him, Disney brought him back!”, Deadpool cites this for Logan. With pop-culture juxtaposition, the film is funny and funky with an abundance of swears and wisecracks from the loudmouth Deadpool who lives up to the expectations for the MCU Fans. I was amazed by the action replete with bloodshed, slashing where the heroes’ claws and swords pierce through the body and rip the flesh. An action between our two lead men that ensues within the confines of their Honda car soon after the first half is truly mind blowing, assuring their co-existence to take down their enemies.

But the writing isn’t consistently smart. With a plethora of unintelligently articulated cameos of the neglected MCU universe heroes (I ain’t giving any spoilers here), the film becomes a slog while reaching its climax and I wanted it to end sooner with a good post-credit scene which ultimately underwhelmed me. Marvel and Disney Pictures need to reinvent themselves and I can clearly see a declining trend of fresh and innovative ideas amidst big budget, staggering production values and VFX wizardry. Couple of montages from the past do serve a pleasing palette of nostalgia.

Deadpool and Wolverine - Final Words 

What redeems the sloppy writing are the surefooted performances of Reynolds and Jackmen. They own their respective spaces as veterans –conveying the wild antics of the motor-mouthed Deadpool and the taciturn Logan making his signature clawed-pose when enraged, respectively. They are indeed the Karan-Arjun jodi of Hollywood which entice the MCU fans. Performances from the ensemble is quite routine – from Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Rob Delaney (Peter Wisdom), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Emma Corrin (Nova) and Matthew Macfayden as Mr.Paradox.

'Deadpool and Wolverine' - the r - rated and outrageously funny love letter is produced by Marvel Studios, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and running in theatres from 26th July 2024.