Deadpool & Wolverine Review: Hugh Jackman Is Great In An Otherwise Disappointing Cameo Fest

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is on the wane but remains inescapable. While not able to command the vice-like grip on pop culture it once did, the films and Disney+ shows that make up the modern Marvel world (not to mention whatever the hell Sony is doing with stuff like "Madame Web") continue to arrive, bringing comic book heroes to the screen with varying results. Since 2008, Marvel has been pumping out at least two movies a year (with the notable exceptions of 2010, when they just had the dud that is "Iron Man 2," and 2012, when they unleashed the mega-hit "The Avengers"). When streaming service Disney+ came along, the prospect for even more Marvel arrived, and audiences had to contend with both big screen blockbusters and smaller TV shows that filled in the gaps. The center could not hold, and what was once escapist popcorn entertainment began to feel like homework. In short, it wasn't fun anymore. It felt like the party was over. 

This year, thanks in part to the lengthy Hollywood strikes, Marvel Studios will release only one movie on the big screen, and you get the sense they're putting all their eggs in one CGI-enhanced basket. They need this movie to be big! Maybe not "Endgame" big, but big. They want lines around the block. They want cosplay. They want cheering, and clapping, and people pointing at the screen as they recognize a smorgasbord of familiar stuff. And I have a feeling they'll get exactly what they want.

But is the movie any good? And does it even matter if it is? At this point, it feels like this movie can't really fail, at least in terms of dollars and pop culture saturation. The movie is, of course, "Deadpool & Wolverine," and it not only resurrects Hugh Jackman's previously deceased Logan, but it also introduces the very R-rated Merc with a Mouth, Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, into the previously constantly PG-13 MCU. Are audiences ready for the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature bloody gore and jokes about pegging and cocaine? Probably! People love Deadpool. People love Wolverine. People will love seeing them together. But ... is the movie any good? 

As "Deadpool & Wolverine" begins, Wade "Deadpool" Wilson is at a crossroads. He doesn't seem to want to be Deadpool anymore — but he does want to matter. We know this because the script, credited to Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Shawn Levy, who also directs the movie, has him flat out say "I want to matter" multiple times. Sure, that's one way to do it. Anyway, Wade ends up getting mixed up with the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, a retro-futurist organization that polices all the numerous multiverses that have been introduced throughout the MCU in the last few years. He learns of some impending danger (I'm being vague here to avoid spoilers, folks), and also learns that the only person who can help him save the day is James "Logan" Howlett, aka Wolverine.

Unfortunately, as the excellent movie "Logan" showed us, Logan is dead. That film was meant to be Hugh Jackman's swan song as the character after playing him for 17 years. But Disney found a way to bring Jackman back (I'm guessing a hefty sum of money was involved — an idea that "Deadpool & Wolverine" isn't afraid to joke about), and thanks to the multiverse, Wade is able to team-up with a suitably grumpy and still-living version of Wolverine. The stage is set for a classic buddy comedy — mismatched characters who hate each other at first but then grow to like each other in the end. You know, like "Midnight Run"! Or "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"! Unfortunately, the lazy script doesn't really do much character building. It simply thrusts these two together, sends them on a needlessly convoluted mission, and hopes for the best. 

Along the way, they encounter plenty of other characters, which means lots and lots of exhausting cameos that will no doubt all be spoiled before the movie even hits theaters. They also have to deal with the villain Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Corrin seems to be having a lot of fun sinking their teeth into this antagonist role, but the character is rather bland, prone to little more than long monologues and arched eyebrows, and Nova's motivations make absolutely no sense. But no one is coming to this movie for the villain, right? They just want to see Deadpool and Wolverine mix it up! And they'll get plenty of that — the movie is wall-to-wall scenes of the characters bickering non-stop. The jokes come fast and furious ... but none of them are very funny. Reynolds can play this character in his sleep at his point (and he seems to play the character at all times, even in non-"Deadpool" movies), and by now, you're either on board with his motormouth vulgarities and fourth wall-breaking antics or you're not. Thankfully, Hugh Jackman is on hand to save the day. 

The brightest spot in "Deadpool & Wolverine" is, without question, Jackman. Jackman is so good here that it often feels like he's in a completely different movie. This Wolverine is a hard-drinking, miserable, haunted mutant. He has nothing but regrets, and he also has no interest in being a hero. He also can't stand Deadpool, and the few bits of comedy that actually land involve how Jackman's Wolverine just wants Reynolds' Deadpool to shut the f**k up. While the movie never does a good job of bringing Deadpool and Wolverine together as characters, Jackman and Reynolds play off each other well. Jackman also brings a dramatic weight that the movie badly needs. 

And yet, as good as Jackman, the movie feels like it's doing him a disservice. Wolverine's story is played as completely straight and tragic, and yet the movie can't stop reminding you that this is all supposed to be silly. Worse: it's pointless. The very nature of Deadpool requires him to break the fourth wall and remind us that he's in a movie, even if no one else around him realizes that. This is nothing new, and yet "Deadpool & Wolverine" feels like it's doing it constantly. Practically every scene has Deadpool shouting "HEY KIDS, THIS IS ALL A MOVIE SO NONE OF THIS MATTERS!" 

At the same time, "Deadpool & Wolverine" badly wants to have an emotional throughline, and so it pushes awkward, unconvincing sentimental moments that ring completely hollow. If none of this matters, if it's all one big joke, why should we care about any of it? The film sabotages itself at every turn — you get the sense that the filmmakers really wanted the emotional moments to sing, but they were too afraid of dropping the movie's mask of constant, winking irony. 

Shawn Levy, who directed Reynolds in "Free Guy" and the dreadful Netflix title "The Adam Project," helms this thing with all of the energy and style of a car commercial. Looks-wise, this is a hideous movie, full of drab, dull visuals and pre-viz'ed action scenes that lack weight or life but drench the screen in digital blood. Long stretches of the film have the characters in colorless, flat landscapes with no depth, no life, and no tangibility. The story plods along, moving at a pace that never feels as urgent as the narrative suggests it should be. What is the point of giving your film a ticking clock storyline if it's going to constantly grind to a halt? 

But hey ... I know none of this matters in the end! I know that ultimately, no one is going to watch "Deadpool & Wolverine" for the filmmaking. They want endless R-rated jokes and big, big cameos. They want to see Hugh Jackman wearing Wolverine's classic yellow costume. They want Deadpool to break the fourth wall. And they'll get all of that. And there's nothing wrong with wanting any of that — I don't besmirch anyone their entertainment. There's plenty of room for silly fluff to momentarily distract us from the nightmares of the real world. But is it really so much to ask for just a little bit more? Must we continually be served flavorless gruel and pretend it's nourishing? "Deadpool & Wolverine" will probably break box office records. The Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue onward, and "Deadpool & Wolverine" just might revitalize it in the eyes of fans. But it shouldn't be unreasonable to ask for something better.

/Film Rating: 5 out of 10

"Deadpool & Wolverine" opens in theaters on July 26, 2024.