‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is how a universe dies

Author’s note: This review mentions characters and story developments revealed in trailers, pre-release material, and the opening minutes of the film.  If you’re one of the whiny types who expects everyone else to play dumb enough to make you comfortable then you should go see the movie first before coming back to join the big kids, okay, peanut?

At the same time, if you’re here expecting full spoilers about ******’s appearance and ******’s return then you can sit in time-out with the other oh-so-edgy rebels until you learn to not spoil the fun of people who have better things to do than devote their time to bickering about fictional characters.

Or better yet, we could all learn not to invest so much self-worth in being salty little ******* over things that bring joy into people’s lives. Maybe we could take up a new hobby. I have some friends who do crochet and it seems to make them happy. Plus we can call yourselves ‘hookers’ without it meaning anything dirty. Unless we want it to.  

Now then, where were we? Oh, right…

Wolverine is dead.

The X-Men, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four are all dead. Even the version of the Fantastic Four which no one was meant to see and was made solely to retain the rights (rest in peace Roger Corman, sure he gave us a literally unwatchable FF but he also produced one of Martin Scorsese’s very first films so… karmically speaking… movies don’t matter) is still dead. Or never technically existed. Either way everything we knew of the 21^st Century Fox end the Marvel Universe is dead or dying but mostly dead.

This is literally where Deadpool & Wolverine begins, with Deadpool, as the unkillable last person standing, definitively proving that the Wolverine we’ve known for so many years is well and truly dead and not coming back. Yet, in true Deadpool fashion, that doesn’t stop Logan from having one last fight.

The meta nature of Deadpool as a character has always made outside knowledge – both within the comics and behind the scenes of the films – a beneficial but nonessential part of the Deadpool movies. Sure, knowing about Rob Liefeld’s history of not drawing feet or that Deadpool was second only to The Passion of the Christ as the highest grossing R-rated film of all time makes the films more enjoyable, but neither are required in order to understand the bulk of these over-the-top superhero comedies. However this time, with Deadpool serving as the final remnant of a dead universe, knowledge of the behind-the-scenes goings on between Fox and Disney is required to make it through even the first five minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine without being utterly baffled, and that’s before the gleefully bewildering opening credits. Never before has familiarity with corporate acquisitions been more important than remembering what happened in a previous film, but such matters have never before affected a character such as Deadpool, who is uniquely positioned, and even obligated, to address them. And it’s because of this situation that Deadpool & Wolverine is not the reboot of the MCU that so many people expected but rather the farewell to Fox (and others) that we were never given. In this sense, Deadpool & Wolverine is to Disney-Marvel what Warner Bros wanted The Flash to be for DC. It isn’t the start of a new universe but the death of the previous one.

With 2017’s Logan, Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine was given the profound sendoff that his on-screen legacy didn’t deserve. Sure, Jackman himself grew into the part, becoming so identified with the role that the comics have changed the character to better reflect the actor than the original creation (a fact that D&W uses for a brilliant gag) but the movies themselves – X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine and perhaps even X-Men: The Last Stand – didn’t warrant such a fulfilling ending as Logan. Yet allowing the character to die (spoiler for a seven-year-old film that is referenced in the trailer for this one) elevated the character, the performance, and the film itself to such a point that the previous movies were all but forgotten.

When considering modern franchise filmmaking, it’s clear that endings are among the rarest of luxuries. The inevitable diminishment of a franchise leads to either a reboot, as with the X-Men films, or to its premature cancellation, as with both the DCEU and Universal Pictures’s Dark Universe. Even stories which are allowed to reach the conclusion of their source material, such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, are inevitably restarted once studios decide there’s still money in them. This sad trend is part of what made both Logan and Avengers: Endgame such standouts within the genre. These films gave endings to characters who have since become even more iconic through their absence. Hugh Jackman returning as Logan, or Daphne Keen as Laura Kinney, wouldn’t have the same impact if not for the long gap which followed their previous film. What’s more, Deadpool & Wolverine understands this fact so well that it generously grants several such outcast characters their own chances at finally having an ending.

The way it does this is, of course, in the most callous way possible: sex jokes, meta-humor, and graphic violence. This is, after all, a Deadpool movie.

It’s mind-boggling, and a little depressing, to remember that Jackman debuted as Wolverine twenty-four years ago while Reynolds has played some version of Wade Wilson since 2009. Although no one currently young enough to remember a time before Reynold’s Deadpool should watch this movie, an entire generation of filmgoers don’t even remember movies before Jackman’s Wolverine. At this point, the two actors are so familiar with their roles that audiences wouldn’t be able to tell if they had improvised the entire film. Many of the film’s best moments, in terms of both banter and battle, come from simply watching the contrast between the two characters. Yet, instead of simply coasting on the joy of finally seeing one of Marvel Comics’s most beloved odd couples (although, that could include Deadpool and almost anyone), Wade & Logan’s Excellent Adventure demonstrates an outstanding command of character development and technical skill, highlighted by three fight scenes just between the two leads, or some variation thereof.

Under the direction of Shawn Levy, likely most known for the Night at the Museum movies, the numerous action sequences look absolutely phenomenal, with both Wade and Logan’s personalities coming through in how they dispatch of enemies. Different in style. Equal in brutality. And while perhaps not at the same level of previous great villains, Emma Corrin is perfect in her portrayal of Cassandra Nova, from the sinewy almost gaunt appearance, to the haughty dialog, to the truly disturbing portrayal of her powers. In a film stuffed with things that look painful, Nova’s abilities are among the most unappealing.

Sadly, as with previous films in the franchise, much of the early, eager energy lessens about an hour into Deadpool Prime & The Worst Logan, resulting in the same interesting and yet slow second act that has become standard for so many recent superhero films. Similarly, the story itself never feels quite as well explored as it seems to want. The Void, the place where superhero franchises go to die, is littered with Easter Eggs and yet none of them are as effectively used as a Honda Odyssey (great product placement by the way, fits the narrative and makes the car look very durable). The nature of a wasteland is to be, well, a land of waste, but given the sheer amount of material to work with a broken Fox logo, a distant helicarrier, and a massive Ant Man skeleton (which is there just to set up one Paul Rudd joke) don’t feel like enough to fill an otherwise uninteresting backdrop. And this is emblematic of the entire film. There is once again a sense of smallness to everything about Wade & Logan Go to the Void, especially considering it has an entire film universe to play with.

A recent trend in superhero films has been to attract audience attention and goodwill through cameos. The Flash, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home have all been lauded (or in the case of The Flash, rightly criticized) for their guest stars even as their stories often suffered for them. Wilson and Logan: Up in Smoke may be the point where I finally succumb to the curse of my own expectations leading to disappointment, not because the characters I’d hoped to see weren’t included, but because Deadpool himself has spent portions of the last two films begging for more characters to appear. Wade + Logan feels like a missed opportunity to destroy this trend once and for all with Wolvie snarling and DP critiquing the cinematic history of a treadmill of abandoned characters. Sadly, this never happens, and many of the lesser characters who do reappear aren’t even played by the original performers, making them seem more like cosplayers than cameos. To be fair, there are a handful of returns (and debuts) which will leave audiences cheering, however, again, it’s not entirely certain that these characters are handled quite as well as they could have been.

At their worst, these unofficial sequels can feel like executions. Often they revive characters that we had invested in years before only to show us how much they’ve suffered since we last saw them. Sadly, there are times when Jack & James does the exact same thing, bringing unnecessary characters in only to have them seem miserable. Yet, sad as the characters or variants of those characters may be, the film at least grants some level of meaning to the existence of these rejected ideas. At least these characters are given another chance to live, even if only for a few minutes, and even if it ends in one of the most horrific deaths ever filmed. While Merc with a Mouth & The Best at What He Does (and what he does isn’t very nice) has its own story to tell, at least it can offer some level of closure to characters who otherwise had none. These are heroes, they are destined to go down fighting.

The heart of Marvel Jesus & The X-Man is found in Deadpool’s desire to do something that matters. Even after so many years, Wade still looks at the accomplishments of other people and feels as though he’s done nothing with his life. It’s a feeling that I’m sure every single person living either has, or in the case of those too young to see the film, eventually will feel. He is eager to join the MCU for the same reason he wanted more X-Men characters in his previous films, because then he (both the character and the actor who plays him) would feel as though his efforts have meaning. In watching his universe die, Deadpool sees that nothing he’s done has ever mattered. Yet in describing a picture of his friends as his “entire world,” Wade inadvertently touches on what so many of us don’t understand: that what we do doesn’t need to affect the entire world to matter.

The direction of the MCU is no clearer after watching Deadpool & Wolverine. Other than a quick reference to a “distant future” there isn’t even any indication that the character will return. Part of why recent superhero films have felt disposable is because we, the audience, know that there will be another one in a few months. Rather than jumping into a new beginning, Deadpool & Wolverine is a reminder of the importance of allowing stories to end. Logan knew this. Endgame knew this. That’s why they’re landmarks in the genre. If there is a lesson to be found in a film as gross and silly and pointless as God’s Favorite Idiot & Not Comic Accurate Wolverine it’s that stories need to end. Meaning is found in absence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For at least like five years and then they can be rebooted. Okay? Toodles.

Rating: 3.5 / 5