Review by Annie H.

Deadpool & Wolverine 2024

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is everything you’d expect from a Deadpool film, plus one bit superhero satire and one bit genuine love letter to all the Marvel comic book films that preceded the MCU and helped pave the way, even those projects that never actually came to be. The movie is basically a salad of nods to the original comic book material, tongue-in-cheek jokes, 4th wall breaks, and character cameos, that somehow mixes surprisingly well and delivers a perfectly enjoyable result.

It’s clear that both thought and effort went into securing those character cameos, and it’s impressive how they managed to keep them secret before the film’s release. As expected, for its biggest part, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, which allows the movie to get away with quite a few things. After all, you can’t complain that a plot device is a MacGuffin if the film calls it a MacGuffin first. All in all, the majority of the jokes land, the chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds undeniably works and carries the plot, and when things do get serious it still manages to deliver a solid story.

Despite the film never pulling any punches when it comes to calling out the shortcomings of some of the more recent MCU projects, it’s pretty clear that it holds only love for its source material, the characters, and the creators that brought them to life. Something that becomes evident by all the nods, references, and credits it features.

I don’t think that the question whether or not it will “save the MCU” is fair for any Marvel project, because no film or show can guarantee what comes next beyond telling its own story. And above all else, ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ is a Deadpool film. It’s violent, it pokes fun at itself, it’s often nonsensical and irreverent. It also has its serious and genuinely touching moments, but it can’t, it won’t, and it never set out to deliver the epicness and emotionally impactful story of ‘Avengers: Endgame', and if you go into the film expecting that, then that’s on you (though I would suggest that you may want to give the recent X-Men ’97 cartoon a chance, in order to satisfy that itch).

It may or may not be Marvel Jesus, but it definitely delivers some solid fun.

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