Movie Review: Deadpool & Wolverine is an Easter egg-filled jokefest with stabbing

Okay, I’m writing this review fresh from watching Deadpool & Wolverine. You can already see waves and waves of over-enthusiastic glowing praises about this being the best thing ever to the expected counterargument that this is terrible garbage.

With art—even commercial art—being subjective, it’s hard to see or feel any honest feelings regarding anything from the MCU. All the commercials and trailers show you things that would be best saved for seeing in the theater; it’s hard to go in there with an open mind.

I was honestly tired before even sitting down to see this, but one thing gave me some hope for Deadpool & Wolverine: Ryan Reynolds. The first two Deadpool films are some of my favorite superhero movies. They completely capture the character and tone of his comics. With all their jokes, the Deadpool movies are about a guy who really loves his person, cares about his friends, and will do anything to protect them.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE AHEAD

That character thread is what connects the previous film to this new film. The setup is that Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, is taken by the TVA—Time Variance Authority, the time and multiversal agency from the Loki Disney+ series—and is given an offer to come to the main timeline of MCU. He’s excited he can interact with all those heroes and possibly be an Avenger.

The rub is that Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), the TVA agent in charge of watching the FOX X-Men universe, plans on deleting it—destroying everything Wade has ever cared for—because this world’s Logan, aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), died, as we all saw in Logan. That loss is causing the FOX X-Men universe to die slowly. Now, Deadpool must find a Wolverine to replace him and save his universe, and the TVA is on a mission to stop him.

So, as I said, that’s the setup for the first 15 minutes or so of Deadpool & Wolverine. From there, a lot happens, including stuff you’ve probably seen in ads. Now, the core dynamic of this film is the violent buddy relationship between the wisecracking Deadpool and the straight-man Wolverine.

This Wolverine is from a different timeline, but he’s also one we know. Jackman doesn’t go to great lengths to make this one different. That’s not the point here; he’s just like he’s always been, just with more cursing. Jackman’s performance still has solid pathos, showing some emotional trauma in this Wolverine as he’s said to be a failure, unlike other Wolverines. While it works, it’s also not different from some of the journeys we’ve seen in other stories starring him.

Jackman and Reynolds have a great push and pull in all the scenes they are in. They clearly like being in this film together, and they have a ball of fun working off each other. Their characters deal with things so differently—one with constant talking to cover up his feelings and the other bottling them in and not sharing feelings or words one bit. Their dynamic reminded me of 48 Hours but with way more violence between them.

Emma Corrin, who plays Cassandra Nova, is the other and more talked about antagonist in the film. I don’t know if she comes off as that deep of a character or if there is any real reason why she’s bad other than she just is. Now, as a person who read tons of X-Men comics back in the day, I can inform what I’m seeing with what I know, but I don’t know if that will work with people who aren’t familiar or people who just watch these films. Corrin’s performance is quite good and very threatening on screen. She captures some of Nova’s essence on screen through her posh dialect and smug attitude.

With the cast, I’m going to stop here because I’m not going to spoil things for people. After all, there are some pretty amazing cameos that Marvel hasn’t shown.

Shawn Levy, the director and co-screenwriter, and George Richmond, the cinematographer, made this film decently bright and had the colors pop. A big deal is made about Wolverine wearing an actual costume in this film, which is helped by the bright yellow suit and the blues, which look nice, rich blues on the screen. Deadpool is a nice deep red, as we’ve always seen in his films. The film doesn’t look flat, and while you can tell there are CG effects, they fit the overall look.

Deadpool & Wolverine skews more toward looking like a Marvel comic with the color and some of the framing. Some setpieces felt like looking at nice double-page spreads with clear and easy-to-follow action. The fight choreography is some of the best in the MCU as well. The fights between the two heroes look good, even if they feel like bloody Tom & Jerry battles.

The film’s music score doesn’t really stand out since most of the music you’ll hear blasting is licensed music. While effective, I think at times they are a little too on the nose, just like some of the jokes—but overall, it works. There is one scene early on using a big pop song that will be done to death by cosplayers for the foreseeable future.

With all the Easter eggs, cameos, and meta jokes to the audience, Deadpool  & Wolverine might be a bit much, or maybe I should say not enough for some audiences. That should be expected at this point, especially in a film sold to get the MCU back on track. It never got annoying to me, and it stayed at the right amount to be a very entertaining and rousing MCU superhero adventure and celebrate the Marvel movies that led up to MCU. Deadpool & Wolverine is well worth seeing in the theater, given all the snacks and excitement you have.

Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters everywhere on July 26.