IR Film Review: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE [Marvel/Disney]
The new R-rated Marvel offering within “Deadpool & Wolverine” isboth interesting, surprising, funny, intense but also very scattered. There is still a scrappy nature to Deadpool but oddly enough what starts out as more subversive becomes less so as it goes along. While there is a kind of dance to this especially with the two leads, it becomes more about Jackman/Reynolds than about Deadpool/Wolverine. By the second half, the play on what is exposition and fights versus anything cinematic is sort of lost. With the exception of a couple fight sequences, it could be another Marvel TV show but that is simplifying. Maybe because the TVA is involved the movie feels compacted in certain ways into a specific box. That said however there are moments of brilliance and it mostly resides in the acting of Hugh Jackman.
At two very specific points, he brings a gravity to the situation that almost breaks your heart. Reynolds’s is the opposite. He tries it at one point but it almost retreats into melodrama because to play the Merc with a Mouth is a weird ironic state. The fact that he can do it as much as he can is admirable. However the film doesn’t quite feel like what the original did. This is mostly because once the exposition kicks in it almost takes over but the story itself in the void is not all that strong. The cameos are good but it was so built up that one was obviously expecting more.
The best bit in the whole film is a car fight that comes after a really good Jackman monologue. And then the music they pick is just perfect in a weird mash-up. However that “skit” in a way is better than the whole movie. There is one other fight sequence that does the same thing but because it is not grounded by necessity, it lacks stakes especially with how it is revolved. You can see how much these two like working together but it is interesting that there is no reference point at all to “Origins” reallu. Context is key. “Deadpool & Wolverine” is ambitious but doesn’t deal as much with stakes as it should. It is entertaining. It is funny. But it is not quite all there. B-
By Tim Wassberg
