THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
There’s always a one in a million chance to get what you want. When it came to Deadpool & Wolverine, I knew the majority of my fantasies as a fan of Marvel Comics would come true.
PLOT
The 2024 film takes place 6 years after Wade Wilson from Earth-10005 used Cable’s time traveling bracelet to save his girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin) from death, as well as former X-Force teammates Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) and Peter Wisdom, from death. With the time traveller Cable returning to his timeline and Domino going her separate way, Wilson decided to apply joining the Avengers from Earth-616/199999, but is turned down by Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) due to seeing he was lacking the passion. Ever since, his despondency led to him breaking up with Vanessa. When retiring the work of a mercenary, he started working as a car salesman with Peter. He is still close to Vanessa since she attends his birthday with the many friends he’s made: Colossus (Stefan Kapičič), NTW (Brianna Hildebrand), Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna), Dopinder (Karan Soni), Buck (Randal Reeder), and his roommate Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). Things take an unlikely turn though when he is captured by the Time Variance Authority and meets an agent named Mister Paradox who offers him to join the sacred timeline of E-616/199999 due to the fact his own universe is beginning to deteriorate because the universe’s anchor being is about to die, the one person’s existence that can unknowingly stabilize the whole universe. In this case, James ‘Logan’ Howlett/Wolverine is the anchor being and is expected to die protecting his daughter Laura. Because Wade doesn’t want to lose his friends, he steals a TemPad and goes searching for a replacement variant to be the new anchor. He does go to Logan’s grave only to realize he can’t save him. So after a montage of searching, he comes across one but Paradox deems him to be the worst variant for letting down his entire world. Just when Wade deduces the agent is acting without the knowledge of his superiors, he and Wolverine get pruned/sent to the Void so that no one is in his way to accelerate the process of destroying E-10005 with his Time Ripper. Both protagonists bicker on what to do, but find common ground when Wade claims he can undo what happened to Logan’s timeline. They meet a variant of Johnny Storm/Human Torch, but get captured by Pyro (Aaron Stanford) and a group of supervillain variants led by Cassandra Nova, a powerful telepath who is the twin sister of Charles Xavier. She proves herself to be a menace when killing Johnny after Wade snitches on him of talking about her negatively (which is proven in a post credit scene). Since she made a deal with the TVA to oversee the Void, she intends to leave both protagonists to be devoured by Alioth, but both are able to escape by repelling themselves away with a Sentinel leg. As they make haste, Wade tries bonding with Logan by sharing how it’s his fault things didn’t work out with Vanessa. They then meet an overly polite version of Wade named Nicepool and his pet Dogpool, who tells them there are a resistance of superhero variants that have been fighting against Casandra for some time. They take a pruned Honda Odyssey to find their hideout but along the way, Wade accidentally spills he can’t fulfill his promise to Logan. Irritated, the Wolverine says aloud he’s so immature that if he couldn’t save his relationship with Vanessa, he’ll never save his world. This does lead the two to fight again until they pass out. And after that, they are taken in by the resistance. With Laura/X23 as the leader, the group consists of: Elektra Natchios, Eric Brooks/Blade & Remy LeBeau/Gambit. Each member of the resistance shared how they were pruned before they had a chance to fight for their worlds, which inspires Wade to convince them in joining him to avenge them by helping him save his via forcing Casandra to take him back. With a Juggernaut variant being the only variant on her side to have a helmet that'll block her powers, they plan to get it from him to use it on her. Before departing, Logan shares with Laura his regret in how he got the X-Men killed solely off of not being there when they were murdered by human protestors. What he doesn't tell her is that he struck revenge by killing those responsible but inadvertently killed innocent people in his way. Because of this, he doesn't deserve to be a hero but Laura tells him her dad felt the same until he proved himself. This alone motivates the Wolverine to fight alongside Wade and the resistance against Casandra's army. During the battle, Laura is able to get Juggernaut's helmet after killing him. Once Wade puts it on Nova, he demands to take him back home but Pyro shoots her for the sake of a deal by Paradox to get out of the Void. Because she needs her powers to heal, Logan insists on removing the helmet. She returns the sentiment once she heals by opening a portal to E-10005 with a sling ring carrying two infinity stones. The protagonists go for it and jump before Alioth passes through. She then kills Pyro for her betrayal once he reveals his intentions. She finds Paradox in E-10005 and plans to destroy everything but the Void with the Time Ripper. Wade & Wolverine plan to stop her from doing so, but get held up by a legion of Deadpool variants, the Deadpool Corps, who pledge fealty in helping her. They prove so when killing Nicepool who doesn't regenerate, but they stop when seeing Peter because every Deadpool has one of their own. Paradox then tells both protagonists they need to disrupt the power flow to kill Nova. When both debate on who should take the sacrifice, they end up sharing the burden which works. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) then arrests Paradox for his rogue methods, and congratulates the heroes in saving the multiverse and prevents E-10005 from being deteriorated. With Logan being the new anchor being, he's allowed to stay in Wade's world and B-15 intends on helping the other resistance variants in taking them back to their homes. She also clarifies that she can't change his past since it helped him be a hero. As Logan settles in with Laura who meets all of Wade's friends, the film ends with Wade adopting Dogpool and finding the encouragement to reconcile with Vanessa. THOUGHTS
We knew the Multiverse Saga was all about letting loose with all the possibilities we know of. Sony made things work with the majority of Spider-Man content, so it was a matter of time for 20th Century’s catalog to become canon. Director Shawn Levy was able to pull off an epic feat in making a comedic joyride that was indeed an appropriate sendoff for such a generation of filmmaking. The studio’s original logo is in the Void for a reason. You already know the visual effects and production design pay off exponentially with the new locations we get to see for the TVA and the Void, which in turn leads to sharp editing for hellacious fight scenes, it’s a fair point in saying a big strength goes to the Easter eggs to express said possibilities. So you know Ryan Reynolds is gonna have us laugh our asses off with every fourth wall break he brings to the table. From point out confusion in what will lead to Thor crying for him, getting Human Torch killed for the sake of protecting the movie’s budget, using Logan’s corpse as a weapon while dancing to NSYNC, getting Nicepool killed just to use his gold plated 50 caliber Desert Eagles, call himself Marvel Jesus for the sake of mocking the need of a god in times of crisis, paraphrasing Mad Max while raising the decapitated head of Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) or be in awe of Wolverine’s abs. What becomes the ultimate surprise though is expressing the imagination of the Deadpool Corps. We were accurately irritated with the presence Nicepool due to how Reynolds makes him too warm hearted for his own good that he can’t do an appropriate fourth wall break. We also easily see Dogpool as adorable, but the actual Corps members we see in the climax are what blow us away with variants such as: Ladypool (Blake Lively), Kidpool (Inez Reynolds), Babypool (Olin Reynolds), Headpool (Nathan Fillion), Cowboy-pool (Matthew McConaighey), Welshpool (Paul Mullin), Deadpool 2099, Golden Age Deadpool, Zenpool, and Canadapool to name a few. You already know you’re in for a treat with Hugh Jackman making a return to play the grizzled superhero that’s made him an icon, but we didn’t expect him to play more than one Wolverine here. Besides getting to wear the iconic yellow/blue suit, the other variants we saw was an epic delight: Patch, Age of Apocalypse, Old Man Logan, Crucified Wolverine from Uncanny X-Men #251, Classic John Byrne Brown/Tan attire who was in the middle of fighting the Hulk, a comic accurate 5’3 variant with Luke Bennett as the stand-in, and Henry Cavill as his own bulked up version of the character ‘Cavillrine’ who I believe would do great if given the opportunity compared to what was given to him as the DCEU’s Superman. You definitely would expect Dafne Keen to return as X23 because she is a part of Wolverine’s legacy, who showed her own growth by embracing her fearless to be a worthy leader, but the following cameos proved the point in how important it was to pay respect to the era that influenced the MCU to what it is today. We always wanted Chris Evans to make a return to the franchise, but we couldn’t have expected him to play Human Torch from Fantastic Four, which was his first comic book role. He really made the best of his given time for being way more hotheaded than he should be in his predicament and besides Wade being a snitch, it was his own words that led to a cruel fate. I never considered Daredevil and Elektra as amazing films, but I genuinely believed Jennifer Garner was a strength in both films for maintaining her confidence despite vulnerability which continues to flow here. It works here too because like the others, she’s got nothing to lose and ain’t gonna stop fighting lose until she finds her own resolution. What many could forget is that Channing Tatum was attached to play Gambit for years before Disney’s purchase of Fox cancelled those plans. The fact he finally got to shine was a beautiful resolution as well. Tatum doesn’t just nail the Cajun accent that is intentionally difficult to understand, but also does a great job in making him come off daring which he proves when taking action. With the post credits also confirming he went back to his world if you look closely at one of the TVA screens behind Deadpool, the door should stay open for us to see him again because there is so much potential to explore. However, we still don’t make it this far for the genre as a whole had New Line Cinema not made their own gamble with Blade. Wesley Snipes was always the embodiment of the character thanks to the connection we got with the trilogy he appeared in throughout. Since Blade Trinity wasn’t really satisfying, it made sense for him to have his sendoff here as well and neither does he disappoint in being as cynical & stoic as we remember him for. With so much entertaining insanity, you have to wonder what is the whole point of this. Until Mahershala Ali finally gets to shine or gets replaced by Janelle James, Snipes is the one and only Blade. When it comes down to it, I think this movie pays off in the long run because it oddly teaches us the importance of resilience; Every one goes through a setback and it is those moments that prepare us for the next challenge and if you're not going through that progress, life must be too easy for you. The journey of being able to bounce back is fantastically told through the perspective of the titular pair who hit it off the bat more than you'd think aloud. For the first time since X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds & Jackman maintain great chemistry as a dynamic duo. The former accurately embraces Wilson as a guy who now uses his sense of humor to cover up the sadness because he couldn't keep the love of his life the way he hoped. Despite that heartbreak, he's still got a heart identifying her as part of his world and wanting to save his world just so she can live on. He's all about wanting to matter, which is why he tried to join the Avengers. But the whole point of being a hero is that you shouldn't participate action, but let it come to you because that is where your morals are tested. He was able to understand that with the team up he'd been waiting for which was also not what he expected. The latter showed this Wolverine to be the most grizzled due to how he's got the most regret. He hates himself that he acted when it was too late and rejected those that genuinely accepted when many wouldn't. Picking up on his own selfishness, he felt that he didn't deserve a second chance until he met Wade and through Laura, he saw what future he could have if he tried hard enough. So when he tried to be merciful towards Nova until he had to put his mask on and accept she won't budge in return, it showed his efforts in forgiving himself. By the time he took part in his sacrifice alongside Deadpool, he was fully content by then and after a monumental success, they both regain their mojo. Since they both survived, they'll definitely be a helping hand by the time we get to Secret Wars. Another character that broadened my day was Peter because the optimism Rob Delaney expresses is satisfying to watch. Rather than mope about having diabetes, he shakes his life up by getting nipple piercings which is a drastic move yet you respect him for making himself happy. The big irony about him is that he does minimum effort compared to Wade and he finds instant success, thus being quickly adored by the DP Corps and being deemed attractive towards B-15. This guy was living life to the fullest and I wouldn't rule out Wade is inspired by him to do the same. Going into villains, you definitely want to top the impact when the stakes are high and boy did we get double trouble. Matthew Macfayden was indeed an asshole as Mr Paradox due to how he wants to be a higher power by doing the absolute. The TVA are only an authority, yet he wanted to play god by committing mercy kills without a second guess and not having the empathy B-15 gained thanks to Loki. So it goes without saying he got his own comeuppance. On the other hand, Emma Corrin was fucking terrifying as Casandra Nova, a character I wasn't sure we'd see in the big screen until now due to Disney purchasing Fox. She was born neglected because no one even bothered trying to teach her the benefit in doing any good, so she retaliates at every given opportunity with all the power she has to inflict ten times the physical pain she's been feeling emotionally. All it takes is a thought and she'll put her hand through a face or peel skin off with ease. She wanted to destroy the multiverse because at that point, she felt superior enough to be left alone for good. Little did she think she'd get that just not the way she thinks. Although she is not the last multiversal threat, it is still a relief there is one less of her and whatever comes after her, all we can do now is prepare for impact. I will never be in a position where I don't love this movie, but even great stuff like this have moments I didn't think twice about until re-watching. From the top, I don't get why the TVA takes so long in trying to arrest Wade because they could've grabbed him from behind and avoided fighting him. If they were able to do that method the first time, there is no reason to not do it again. And there is no reason for Paradox to tell Wade about the Time Ripper if he didn't want him to know his true intentions. If this guy wanted an advantage, he should've lied. It even becomes a bad plan to make a Time Ripper if a leader like B-15 is gonna pick up on it. He should've made some sort of disruption to avoid it being tracked down. Also, why does the bartender keep serving Logan if he fucked up so bad? It doesn't even seem like he'll fight about it either, so he should've had a bouncer to throw him out way before Wade found him. Admittedly, the only time Wade's fourth wall breaking doesn't work is the fact he didn't know about the TVA and the Void, yet knew about Alioth. Either you do or you don't know what's going on. Things then feel dumb when the villain variants don't get the dumb on the resistance by shooting them down before they get out of the car. It's like they're asking to get their asses whooped. Even Azazel messes up when not using his powers to take Blade up in the air to drop him just like he did to the CIA agent in First Class. And if the Deadpool Corps are loyal to Nova, where were they when the resistance pulled up? I mean it's odd for them to not pull up in that case. Other than that, this movie is as great as past comic book films we've seen. In conclusion, Deadpool & Wolverine is up there as one of the best of the genre for finding all the possible ways in satisfying each kind of Marvel fan out there. Whichever kind of fan you are, I promise you'll like this too.
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