Marvel Studio’s new Deadpool & Wolverine movie is chock full of cameos and juicy details. It’s hardly unexpected, but as someone who went in only knowing about one cameo, I want you to have the same experience I did. I’m going to keep the spoilers to an absolute minimum outside of what you’ve likely seen in the trailers so you can enjoy it fresh. Do yourself a favor and stay off social media because I guarantee cameo names are going to be trending topics as soon as this film is released, and they are just too good to be spoiled.
Ryan Reynolds returns as the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool. He is, if possible, more delightfully foul-mouthed than ever. Putting this joyful cynic alongside a grumpy cynic in Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine, and you have a recipe for either a disaster or a laugh riot, and I’m happy to report that it’s the latter.
Deadpool has made a pitch for something bigger in his life after a rough time with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). He misses his big swing and has to start selling cars for a living. That is until a group from the Time Variance Authority (TVA) shows up at his birthday party to give him a chance to save his timeline from destruction.
Quick tangent: I’ll be perfectly honest here about my thoughts on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and say that I’ve grown really tired of some of it. I still retain my love for the characters and the comics I’ve been reading since I was a little girl, but it’s been exhausting to keep up. I wish it wasn’t true, but I know I’m not alone.
I feel like the MCU has written itself into a corner with the multiverse. While I really did love Loki, there was a moment when I saw the TVA uniforms in this film that made me cringe a little. I admit I was afraid that Deadpool wasn’t going to reset the universe so much as pull it into the morass. I was wrong.
The TVA, and Matthew Macfadyen‘s Mr. Paradox specifically, have a task for Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, and he’s got to go get Wolverine to help save his world. However, the version of Wolverine that Wade picks up isn’t the one from Logan. That version shows up in the very best, most violent, and funny way possible. We’re talking about The Raid levels of violence here, so be prepared. (I loved every bloody second of it.)
The version of Wolverine that Wade picks up is one who hasn’t exactly led the life he wishes he had. Their team-up is full of rivalry, slicing and dicing (which you cannot avoid doing — nor should you — when you have two characters who have healing factors like that), and some of the funniest banter I’ve heard in a film in a long time, mostly because it has no filter. Seriously, none.
In fact, as you’ve likely seen in trailers, the big joke is that Marvel Studios is fine with the R-rating as long as no one does cocaine on screen. However, during the recent press conference with the cast, Marvel President Kevin Feige said this film had a lot of heart despite the rating, which is something my last few paragraphs might seem to put a lie to. The thing is, it really is full of heart (and possibly a few actual hearts). There are some Wolverine and Deadpool monologues that actually made me tear up.
I know we’re supposed to be separating the lives of the actors from the characters they play, but in this case, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the friendship and long relationship between Reynolds and Jackman is visible here or that everyone (including Feige, going by the insane amount of digs at Marvel… there are some truly epic burns) is game to just have real fun with the chaos. The fourth wall and the reality of the film are broken constantly (it is Deadpool, after all), and the audience I saw the film with was clearly on board with that.
The movie is honestly almost one long spoiler, but I at least want to say this. First, we don’t see a lot of Vanessa, so know that going in. This is a buddy comedy and one of the most fun I’ve seen. I don’t want to reveal anything about Emma Corrin‘s Cassandra Nova for those who don’t know, but they’re really charming and twisted. It takes some serious charisma to hold up in scenes with Reynolds and Jackman, and they absolutely do so.
Matthew Macfadyen … it was hard to reconcile the dreamy Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice with the goofball on the screen here, but I was transfixed by his facial expressions alone. I mean that in the best way. In a film of MVPs, he’s a standout.
Friends, there are some good … I mean good cameos in this film. I’m talking, gasps and screams from the audience, good. I implore you once again not to read anything with spoilers. You do not want to see any of this coming. I should also warn you that you are about to be in love with a little dog named Peggy who plays Dogpool. Give this pupper the Oscar, you cowards!
On a more serious note, the Deadpool & Wolverine movie does something I thought was impossible. It gives the MCU a soft reset, and a chance to untangle themselves from the spaghettified mess that is the multiverse saga. One drawback of the film is that the facts and details of the plot get a little squishy. (I won’t reveal it but there is a certain location we’ve seen before that seems much less ominous than it once did, and now I kind of wonder what the big deal was. You’ll know it when you see it.)
That’s not a bad thing in the long run. It sort of softens the homework we’ve all had to do as the MCU ramped up to impossible-to-sustain heights of content distribution.
In a way, the film is a love letter to an earlier part of the Marvel Comics-turned-movies universe, the X-Men. We’ve been waiting so long for them to be a part of the MCU, and whatever happens going forward, it reminded me of why I fell in love with Marvel comics as a seven-year-old who loved Storm because I thought she could get me snow days from school.
Do yourself a favor and watch the credits all the way through. Truly. All I will say is that the first part, post-film proper, will make your heart happy. The second part is a delightful little present from the MCU that is funny both in the context of the film and the world at large.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE MOVIE RATING: 8.5 OUT OF 10
Jenna Busch has written and spoken about movies, TV, video games, and comics all over the Internet for over 15 years, co-hosted a series with Stan Lee, appeared on multiple episodes of “Tabletop,” written comic books, and is a contributing author for the 13 books in the “PsychGeeks” series including “Star Wars Psychology.” She founded Legion of Leia and hosted the “Legion” podcast.