REVIEW: Deadpool & Wolverine is exactly that, and it's awesome

I haven’t gone out of my way to see a movie in theaters (let alone on its premiere night) since the onset of the pandemic, but for some reason I just had to see Deadpool & Wolverine.

Some of the brilliance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is that it takes what could easily be considered an obscene amount of media and puzzle-pieces it together into an overarching story.

But Deadpool isn’t your typical marvel hero, and he’s definitely not the typical type to fit under a mouse-eared, pixie-dusted umbrella.

In a lot of ways, Deadpool (and Wolverine), is given a hefty task with his third installment, which comes at a time when superhero movies are arguably at their lowest point; years of oversaturation have unquestionably taken a toll on quality and hype.

So, how did Marvel Studios – and by extension, Disney - handle the foul-mouthed, excessively-violent, fourth-wall breaking superhero? And how did they resurrect Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine after his seemingly perfect sendoff in 2017’s Logan?

The answer is actually quite well.

First things first, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) has not been watered down; he is just as raunchy as ever. (For reference, a movie earns an R rating after two utterances of the F-word. Deadpool and Wolverine crosses that threshold in the first five minutes.)

In fact, the movie at times seemed excessively vulgar. Overdone a bit? Perhaps. But I have to admit, I enjoyed it, if only for the fact that it made me chuckle to think “This is technically a Disney movie” after every increasing F-bomb. I was happy to see that Disney and Marvel Studios did not shy away from the “Merc with a mouth” mantle.

Wolverine is still very much Wolverine, albeit with some added plot narrative attached to move the story along. It’s been over seven years since Jackman last played the cigar-smoking, liquor-drinking, adamantium-clawed mutant, but it’s clear he hasn’t missed a step.

Where the movie really shines is in its inherent self-awareness, which comes standard for Deadpool. Without spoiling too much, Deadpool & Wolverine felt almost like the glue that connects things all things Marvel movies (and I do mean ALL). Cameos (and there are quite a few of them) never felt forced.

It’s not a perfect 10/10. Though the story fits well enough into the current multiversal narrative that the MCU is trying to tell, at times the pacing seemed to drag. The film’s villains, while performed convincingly enough, are also not the most compelling, interesting, or - quite frankly – menacing that we’ve seen throughout the years.

Despite that, Deadpool & Wolverine is just plain fun; exceedingly-vulgar, sexually-charged, blood-splattering summer blockbuster fun. And truthfully, that’s what it needed to be.

Will it revitalize the super hero genre? That remains to be seen.

But Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it certainly doesn’t feel like just another pitstop along the way to a bigger movie.

It’s Deadpool. It’s Wolverine. It’s exactly how you’d expect them and want them to be.

Deadpool & Wolverine runs for 128 minutes and is rated R.