Admittedly, I’ve been feeling pretty nervous about Deadpool and Wolverine leading up to its release. The pairing of a franchise pioneered by Disney, who’s notoriously kid friendly, with the incredibly vulgar superhero dubbed “Merc with a Mouth” seems like a match made in a dumpster fire. But credit where credits due, those fears are easily assuaged within the opening minutes of this film.
I was incredibly surprised at how far Disney was willing to go with the foul language for a franchise that just last year made a monumental moment out of the MCU’s first F-Bomb in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Deadpool and Wolverine follows the titular heroes as Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) enlists the help of a Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from another universe to help him save his. The TVA, from the series Loki, has informed Deadpool that since the death of his universe’s prime being (the Wolverine who dies in Logan), his universe is headed for ultimate destruction. But a rogue TVA agent wants to ensure that his universe is destroyed post haste, and Deadpool must stop him.
This is not the first time we’ve seen Deadpool or Wolverine on the big screen and now we get to see them together for the first time under the MCU umbrella. In that respect I felt the film was incredibly successful. Jackman and Reynolds have a ton of great chemistry and very clearly enjoyed making this film together and delivered highly entertaining performances individually.
Deadpool and Wolverine is also incredibly funny, even surprisingly so. There were great one liners and fun comedic bits throughout the 2-hour-plus runtime.
But unfortunately, the story felt all over the place at times. While it was cohesive enough to follow, the fact that the movie has 5 separate credited writers really shows. It felt as if the movie was being pulled in several different directions and they had a hard time resolving the numerous moving parts that a film in such a late stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe requires.
That said, they payoff is solid still and it’s not so confusing as to detract from the film entirely, just enough to make it clear at points that they were flying by the seat of their pants.
The worst part of Deadpool and Wolverine is in its cinematography. Unfortunately, many of the rumors and issues people had with the trailers are true. The movie looks incredibly flat, with hardly a unique bone in its body visually. The lighting is just so plain and there are no visually interesting shots. Some sequences are certainly fun, like the big Deadpool fight, but these are few and far between and riddled with subpar CGI.
The problem, I think, is indicative of a larger issue with filmmaking in today’s era. Instead of going out to shoot on location with interesting lighting, everything is now shot on blue screen sets with backdrops added in post-production. As a result, scenes must be shot in the blandest way possible and lighted as evenly as possible so that it’s easy for digital effects artists to seamlessly add in backgrounds that match the characters visually. There’s nothing wrong with doing this, but now the trend seems to be that everything is shot this way, and we lose so much uniqueness as a result. Take the opening sequence of the film, which is intercut with Deadpool dancing to the iconic “Bye Bye Bye” by *NSYNC. They could have easily just gone out and shot it in the woods, but instead it’s done on a set with a digital background. It feels fake and sets the tone for the rest of the film.
That said, I did absolutely have a great time watching Deadpool and Wolverine, and it was refreshing to see so many people out at the theaters watching movies. I can certainly admire a film that draws such an audience.
Final Thoughts
Deadpool and Wolverine is such an interesting film for the current state of the MCU. It feels refreshing and is certainly entertaining. Although its certainly not a film intended for very young audiences, there’s some great comedy and great action spearheaded by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. I expect many will enjoy it as I did, despite its shortcomings.
