Review: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will bust a gut to make you laugh in 'Deadpool & Wolverine'
Lock up the kids and blindfold granny. "Deadpool & Wolverine," now cussin' and fightin' its way through damn near every available multiplex, is an R-rated action raunchfest that's ready to rock. Is it a great movie? Nah. It's too slick a Marvel package for that, with surprisingly meh special effects. But stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are willing to bust a gut to make you laugh. So why resist?
Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, is the best role Reynolds has ever had and he knows how to run with it without running it into the ground. He's a terminally ill trash-taking superhero with a face disfigured with burn scars and a grudge against not being taken seriously (hell, the Avengers rejected him). But you cannot shut this dude up or make him respectable.
Wolverine, aka Logan Howlett, is the X-Man supreme with retractable claws and a sentimental streak under the macho. Over 10 movies, Jackman has made him a screen icon, sparking Reynolds to break the fourth wall to mock Jackman's career in Broadway musicals. Watch out, he tells the audience, or "he'll sing the second act of 'The Music Man' without a warmup."
As for those who point out that Wolfie died in 2017's "Logan," get a grip. Don't you know that multiverse timelines can be adjusted to bring supermutants back from death, irrelevance or both if there's a demand and the promise of box-office gold at the resurrection?
So right, it's all ridiculous. The script by Reynolds and a committee is utilitarian at best and the direction by Shawn Levy is no match for the John Wick action chops David Leitch brought to "Deadpool 2." What works here is all up to Reynolds and Jackman. Luckily, they deliver, mocking everything from studio greed to their own egos. The meta in-jokes in this epic are off the charts.
Then we're on to Deadpool resurrecting Wolverine with the help of corporate suit Mr. Paradox, played by "Succession" Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen with another angry Logan on his hands. It's curtains for Mr. P's time zone if Wolfie -- now a raging, self-loathing alcoholic -- doesn't show up. Deadpool insists that time zones date back to "The Wizard of Oz," quipping that "the gays told us and we didn't listen."
These are the jokes, folks, and they come relentlessly, which will leave you either dazzled or bolting for the exits. My tolerance for one-liners is high, especially when Wolfie shows up in the yellow suit and black mask from the comic books -- one of his many identities that Deadpool snarks is "the worst Wolverine ever."
The violence is equally relentless, but no sweat, since neither of our heroes can die. Jackman is grumpy perfection railing against his exile, along with Deadpool, to The Void, ruled by villainous Cassandra Nova (a vampy Emma Corrin) and other Marvel misfits with a grudge.
Fear of spoiler jail prevents me from spilling the tea. But it hardly matters since the chaotic plot feels like the writers shot ideas out of a cannon and let the chips of illogic fall where they may.
"They're gonna make him do this till he's 90," says Deadpool of Wolfie. Or more likely until the box office runs dry, which may be never if this epic rules the charts as predicted. Oh, it will. Newbies to the Marvel multiverse will be head-scratching for days (Helpful hint: Catching up on "Loki" on Disney+ is the best roadmap you can find right now).
It's hard to hate a movie that laughs at its own crass marketing. And it helps that the banter between Reynolds and Jackman turns ignorance into comic bliss. In the end, believe it or not, you might be brushing away a tear, though "Logan" already did that with grace and gravitas.
None of that arty stuff here. Just jokes on repeat with gore as a chaser. And that's exactly the way Reynolds and Jackman want it. "Deadpool & Wolverine" is superficial and proud of it. In a world of divisive unrest, hardcore haha may be just what we need right now.
