Well, I sure got hyped for 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. I enjoyed the first two Deadpool films but all the teasing around this new one made it feel like Deadpool might indeed be the Marvel Jesus he claims to be. I realised how well the hype had played me while I watched the fairly average, decently entertaining movie. I wasn't angry, I was just kind of amused. Kudos to the marketing team or whoever was responsible for stirring up the internet storm--Ryan Reynolds deserves a lot of credit.
Hugh Jackman does, too, though more passively. He allowed his Wolverine portrayal to be played up as legendary. And they made use of the fact that he said he wasn't going to play the role anymore after Logan. It almost immediately becomes a gratuitous but effective gag in the movie itself.
How about the movie itself? It premiered a few days earlier in Japan so I got to see it. It's fine. It's better than the first one, not as good as the second. The absence of Domino was particularly disappointing but the cast was already crowded. Domino's an interesting enough character alone, she could carry a movie.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a buddy comedy, in the mould of 48HRS or Lethal Weapon. It's not as good as either of those but it's not bad. I got tired of Deadpool's endless jokes and his emotional plot about how he wants to matter and get back with his girlfriend is fairly bland, especially since Morena Baccarin's character amounts to basically just another cameo. It's never really clear why she broke up with Deadpool or even if she really did.
Some of the fourth wall breaking jokes were funny though most of the jokes I actually thought were funny were entirely within the confines of those imaginary walls. I found the term "educated wish" very funny.
Hugh Jackman sells Wolverine's damage a lot better though he, too, suffers from vague writing. We know he blames himself for the deaths of the other X-Men in his universe but it's left entirely up to the audience's imagination just how much blame he actually deserves.
Audiences in Japanese movie theatres rarely laugh even if they're enjoying a comedy but I think nearly all the jokes about 20th Century Fox and Disney went right over everyone's heads. I remember once talking about the Sony and Disney rights issues with Spider-Man in a junior high school class I was teaching. No-one knew what I was talking about and it was very difficult to explain. A lot of people here have never even thought about IP rights and so on so I wonder if this will affect the film's global box office. On the other hand, it's not rated R in Japan, it's rated 15, which means third year junior high school students can see it. Mainly it's because the Japanese don't care about cursewords and ultra-violence isn't such a big deal, especially animated violence, which this basically is.
Deadpool does have a fanbase in Japan. I saw a girl at the movie theatre, dressed as a maid, taking pictures of all the Deadpool & Wolverine posters, even posing in front of one, holding up a Deadpool keychain.
My favourite thing about the movie, surprisingly, is the villain. Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova actually steals the scene from Ryan Reynolds. She's funny and threatening and really very cool. I truly hope we haven't seen the last of her.
I was surprised the movie didn't tie in to the MCU more than it does though it really rewards the viewer for having watched the Loki series on Disney+.
As for the cameos from other Marvel film universes, mostly they were amusing. Occasionally they were cool and one of them added a little emotional weight to Wolverine's story. One cameo of a famous actor who'd never before had a chance to play a character he'd been rumoured to have been cast for proved he's totally unsuited for the role. One very surprising character who'd starred in a series of films blew all the other cameos away. The actor has been basically retired for a while and he more than proved he still has the stuff.
The climax of the film amounted to the usual light show with a few more jokes. Deadpool made a joke about being "in the homestretch", alluding to the long run times of these films and I was inclined to take it less as a joke and more as a helpful notification that I would soon be able to go out and get a snack. It wasn't that I was hating the movie but it was actually nice to know it wasn't going to run out its welcome.
I don't think this is going to save the MCU. But if you can take it for what it is, which is about a third of what it's hyped to be, it's not bad. If you enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok, you'll probably get about 60% of that pleasure from it.
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