Deadpool and Wolverine: More Than Just A Cameo

Deadpool and Wolverine serves as a pseudo sequel to the Fox era Marvel films while also recontextualizing the entire Deadpool and Fox franchises for the modern day Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film also is coming out at a bit of an odd period for Marvel, with many of the MCU films and TV shows in recent years not succeeding critically or financially like that had prior to the release of Avengers: Endgame. Additionally, this film has gone through a lot of drama with the press, with several theories and speculations taking hold while the film was still in production, seeing potentially surprising cameos ruined. There was also a lot of concern about the film after the strikes within Hollywood last year shut down a lot of the production. Needless to say, this film is trying to do a lot and has had to navigate through many obstacles to get to the release date fans everywhere have been waiting for.

To get the elephant in the room out of the way, does  Deadpool and Wolverine save the MCU? Well, kind of/not really. Deadpool and Wolverine feels more like a third chapter in the Deadpool franchise than anything else, with the MCU aspects feeling like an added bonus. Deadpool and Wolverine does reference several MCU properties both outright and in the background and it is clearly aimed at fans of the franchise; however, it often skirts the line between feeling too overindulgent and feeling self contained. That’s right, at the end of the day, despite the plethora of cameos and abundance of references, Deadpool and Wolverine ends up being a self contained movie. Audiences not familiar with the franchise will not really get all of the nuances, but there is no doubt that this film starts and ends here with no real requirement to watch everything else.

That being said, fans who are familiar with the MCU and other Marvel properties will definitely get an extremely added level of enjoyment out of this. One of the biggest concerns going into this film was that the hype surrounding the cameos would overshadow a genuinely good plot and story. Thankfully, Deadpool and Wolverine rides that fine line quite well. When the cameos do come up they do not feel like just fan service moments like in Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness, they actually feel well earned. These cameo characters appear and actually participate in the film rather than sitting on the side or dying immediately. So, for audiences not familiar with the characters or the references they are making, at least the character is an actual participant of the film.

When it comes to the overall plot, Deadpool and Wolverine does a fine job with the emotional beats. Both of the titular characters have a strong emotional foundation and work well in this self contained context. Fans may not be happy about the direction some of the characters go in relation to what they have done before, but in this film’s singular context, it works well. This is also where the villain, Cassandra Nova comes in, as her primary role in the film is revealing the character’s dirty laundry. In most films, she would be seen as a one note, purely evil villain; however, in Deadpool and Wolverine, she feels like the perfect adversary for the two heroes who are very emotionally damaged. She may not be the most memorable villain, like Thanos or Loki; but she does the job well in the context of this film.

The performances in this film are also fine, with Ryan Reynolds standing out amongst the rest for the most obvious reasons. Some people are not a fan of his quick banter style of humor, but for those who are, it really works in this movie. Some jokes may be too specific for average audiences to understand, but there are several times that even the most casual of viewers would need to laugh out loud. Hugh Jackman is great as always as Wolverine, despite this film being a new interpretation of the character. Jackman really embraces the R rating with his line delivery and roughness, feeling like the same energy he brought to Logan but in a more comedic setting. Jackman has been in the superhero game for longer than almost anyone, and he still has every ounce of charisma as he did in the first X-Men film.

Speaking of the R rating, this is the first MCU film to go down the R rated path. There is definitely a lot more blood and gore here than the average MCU film, but the real noticeable area is within the humor, with Reynolds shooting off several jokes that would never fly in a PG-13 movie. It would be hard to imagine Deadpool in any other MCU project moving forward without that R rated humor in his pocket, so it will be interesting to see how Marvel proceeds with his character in future installments.

This film is definitely a lot of fun, but not everything is perfect. One of the opening scenes raised some concern for the self referential aspects of the movie that thankfully do not extend into any other parts of the film. This scene features one cameo that just feels unnecessary, a little confusing, and ultimately drags on too far. Additionally, some of the CGI is rough to say the least. Both memorable instances in particular feature fight scenes where Wolverine has to move in a manner that requires him to be full CG. It looks really bad and obvious when this happens, but thankfully, it is not too often. The only other negative for this film is the pacing. Deadpool and Wolverine wastes no time in getting the plot going and when it goes, it goes fast. Sometimes situations feel like they could have had more time to breathe, and unfortunately there is not a lot of that here.