Deadpool & Wolverine Official Reviews ( Not Spoiler-Free)

[jo]

The first reviews have come out, mostly without SPOILERS. Not sure what some may consider as SPOILERS OR NOT - but you may want to avoid reading them before seeing the movie?

From Deadline.Com --

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‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Review: Ryan Reynolds And Hugh Jackman Deliver – And Then Some – In Dream Blockbuster Pairing For The MCU

By Pete Hammond

Pete Hammond
Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic


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July 23, 2024 2:59pm
'Deadpool & Wolverine' review
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in 'Deadpool & Wolverine'
Disney

When Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2018, Fox’s big R-rated, foul-mouthed, quippy hit Deadpool was riding high on its first sequel, which came quickly after the 2016 Ryan Reynolds-led movie broke out. Even though the character came from the Marvel label, it was hard to imagine him fitting comfortably into the less edgy PG-13 Marvel Cinematic Universe owned by Disney, at least short of censoring what made the character, as invented by Reynolds, so much fun.

Now six years later, adding another infamous Marvel character, Wolverine from the X-Men Fox franchise, comes a dream teaming for fans with the first R-rated MCU movie and only MCU theatrical release of 2024. The results for Deadpool & Wolverine are, in so many ways, out of this world.


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Teaming Reynolds with his personal good friend Hugh Jackman, as well as setting up Deadpool and Wolverine in a forced odd coupling, this all comes off like an inspired cross between Godzilla vs .Kong and Midnight Run, a scenario in which two opposites are drawn together against any single natural instinct either one of them has. And guess what? It works beyond your wildest screen-team dreams. We can thank the stars but also director Shawn Levy, who clearly knew how to get the best out of them, having worked with Jackman in 2011’s Real Steel and with Reynolds on 2021’s heartwarming and terrific Free Guy as well as 2022’s The Adam Project. The chemistry is evident.



Says Reynolds, for whom no quip is too over the top, it is like Fox dumped Wolverine, Disney picked him up, and now Jackman “has to play him until he is 90!” That would not be such a bad idea, and might not be since Deadpool & Wolverine comes in as the most anticipated movie of the summer, fires on all cylinders and certainly portends a brand-new future for both in the reinvigorated MCU — which, as Deadpool himself says, has hit a rough patch lately.



In fact, so much of the fun — and if nothing else, this character is fun — there is absolutely nothing off limits coming out of his mouth, a crackerjack quipster who constantly breaks the fourth wall, letting nothing and no one off the hook including the studio paying for all this, even using a certain verboten sexual term to state, “I know what it means, but it certainly is new for Disney!” The jokes come at you so rapid-fire this time, even more than in the first two Deadpools, that one viewing is way not enough.



Levy, who also co-produced and co-wrote the film (with Reynolds & Rhett Reiss & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells), abandons his well-known family-friendly filmography and fits comfortably into this particular universe, not only letting the blue comedy rip and the action soar but also managing to ingest heart and ultimately friendship into a winning mix that tonally never seems off for a minute in the (thankfully) tight 127-minute running time. And though there are plenty of spoilers and beloved uncredited characters turning up, many in more than mere cameos, this review will remain spoiler-free. You are going to have to find out for yourself. Stay away from the internet.




Plot-wise, after a brief opening in current day, Deadpool & Wolverine flashes back six years (the same gap between Deadpool 2 and this one) to discover Wade Wilson (Reynolds) — no longer in his Deadpool guise — is interviewing for a job with Tony Stark’s company. Jon Favreau reprises his MCU role as Happy Hogan in basically brushing off this particular applicant whose dream is to be an Avenger. Instead he ends up as a used car salesman thanks to good friend Peter Poole (Rob Delaney), but it doesn’t take long before he finds himself back in the familiar red suit and dealing with a shady guy called Mr. Paradox (Matthew MacFayden), who needs his particular talents to help in completely wiping out one of the MCU’s many multiverses, this one eligible since its “anchor being” has died and is no longer of value. And not just him but the entire place as part of the multiverse.


That “anchor being” is none other than Logan aka Wolverine (Jackman), and we revisit his death scene. Cut to six years later, and Deadpool is in the middle of a burned-out nowhere digging up Wolverine, who is now a mere skeleton. He also becomes the target of Paradox’s army and realizes that he must fight to save the world from this evil guy’s plans.



Cue the first of many socko action scenes and a very funny search to revive Wolverine, finally settling on a loner he encounters in a bar. An uber-reluctant Wolverine is back and called into action but wants nothing to do with this Deadpool guy. Think Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier chained to each other in The Defiant Ones. Nevertheless, it is game on as Wolverine emerges in the yellow-and-blue suit the character wore in the comic books but Jackman never once put on in any previous movie. “He thought he was too good to look like a superhero,” snarks Deadpool.



These Marvel Sunshine Boys don’t get along, leading to a great knock-down, drag-out fight in what looks like a bombed-out barren place that reminds of the Planet of the Apes ending. But instead of a destroyed Statue of Liberty, there is a collapsed stone cutout of the 20th Century Fox logo prominent among ruins in the background. The film’s fantastic production design is from the late Raymond Chan, to whom the movie is dedicated. It is one of a couple of dynamic fights between the two, another coming after Wolverine tears into Deadpool, ripping him apart verbally and, for once, leaving Deadpool quiet, speechless and hurt before the two get into another rip-roaring battle. That we don’t just hate Wolverine at that moment is a tribute to what Jackman does in showing off his utter frustration. In pure good old movie fashion though you can bet the two will find some mutual reason to work together, just like Godzilla and Kong did earlier this year. Along the way, they are joined by some familiar faces, but again no spoilers.




Reynolds simply owns this role like no other, and as a writer and producer, he clearly knows what makes it work. The very amusing dialogue is full of salty, stream-of-consciousness pop culture references in the extreme, but most of it lands. As good as he is, Jackman’s return, and wearing that impressive yellow-with blue suit (Reynolds suggests he just came from L.A. Rams practice), is perfection, and I would say his strongest turn ever as Wolverine, at least one that gives what he did in Logan a run for its money. He really commands the screen in this one.

Beloved Deadpool regulars are not forgotten and welcome, including romantic interest Monica Baccarin’s Vanessa, Delaney’s Peter and the wonderful Leslie Uggams making the most as usual with her brief screen time as Blind Al. MacFayden clearly is setting up a cinematic future as a villain. He makes a great one, and another fellow Brit, Emma Corrin, pulls off the real bad-guy role of Cassandra Nova in bald-headed style. Shout-out to Aaron Stanford’s Pyro, as well as lovable pup Peggy as the irresistible Dogpool.



Others, some very familiar to Marvel fans, show up including a hilarious turn here by a certain would-be Marvel hero. You figure it out. The intrigue is on to identify the star showing up as Lady Deadpool. Look even for an interloper from the DC universe, but don’t blink.

Levy’s longtime collaborators Dean Zimmerman and Shane Reid supply the sensational film editing, with fine cinematography from George Richmond and an appropriate score by Rob Simonsen. Musically, though, it is the needle drops that really rock, particularly Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” that ought to return to the top of the charts after this.

RELATED: Ryan Reynolds Reveals Madonna Had “Great Note” That Made ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Scene “Better”

Producers are Reynolds, Levy, Kevin iFeige and Lauren Shuler Donner.

Title: Deadpool & Wolverine
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date: July 26, 2024
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriters: Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew MacFayden, Jon Favreau, Monica Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, Karan Soni
Rating: R
Running time: 2 hr 7 mins

[jo]

From USA TODAY --

Hugh Jackman claws his way back to superhero glory in 'Deadpool & Wolverine': Review
Portrait of Brian TruittBrian Truitt
USA TODAY


Marvel superhero movies have only recently become acclaimed, Oscar-nominated, money-printing pop-culture bonanzas. We’ve been spoiled by the likes of “Black Panther” and “Guardians of the Galaxy" ― back in the 2000s, and even before then, comic-book fans lived for “Blade,” the “X-Men” movies and even “Daredevil,” where angsty do-gooders in leather enjoyed a few influential highs but also some serious lows.

It’s that era that Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, decked out in colorful costumes and wielding sharp objects for endless stabbings, lovingly pay tribute to as the title frenemies of “Deadpool & Wolverine” (★★★½; rated R; in theaters Friday). Thanks to offscreen business dealings ― satirized within the gut-busting narrative ― Reynolds’ Deadpool and Jackman’s Wolverine (a 2000s staple making his grand return after a sacrificial swan song in 2017’s “Logan”) finally are tossed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


“Can you imagine the fun? The chaos? The residuals?” Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth says about the delightfully meta, proudly gonzo buddy-comedy teamup that’s extremely violent, often hilarious, occasionally touching and always a good time.



Hugh Jackman (left) is back in the claws and superhero suit as Wolverine alongside Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in "Deadpool & Wolverine."

The best of the MCU outings since “Avengers: Endgame,” the newest movie is a similarly themed spectacle about life and legacy that's more interested in the past than the future, nodding to the 20th Century Fox Marvel films and others that kept the superhero fires burning until Iron Man and the Avengers came along.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.


Still, he yearns to be more than “a one-trick pony” of curse words, fourth-wall-breaking and wanton mayhem, though Deadpool does that really well. One night while celebrating his birthday with his ex (Morena Baccarin) and their friends, agents from the Time Variance Authority capture him for a meeting with Mr. Paradox ("Succession" alum Matthew Macfadyen). Rocking a god complex with a whiff of smarmy middle management, Paradox offers Wade the chance to be a hero in the “sacred timeline” of the MCU. (Or, as Wade proclaims, “Marvel Jesus.”) The only caveat: His current universe, and his loved ones, are soon to be wiped out of existence.

Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen, right) offers Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) a way to be a proper MCU hero in "Deadpool & Wolverine."
To save his world, he needs to find a Wolverine, and ends up with the Logan whom Paradox deems “the worst,” because this version of the clawed X-Men failed his world most miserably. Deadpool and Wolverine get chippy, and Paradox sends them to the Void, a “Mad Max”-like purgatorial “trash heap” with characters that fanboys and fangirls have seen before and probably thought they’d never see again. (And perhaps a couple they couldn't even imagine.)


Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the icy and powerful twin sister of the X-Men’s Professor X, is the head honcho of the Void who can root around in someone’s mind with her fingers. She and her minions are a dangerous bunch, and to get home and fix both their worlds, Deadpool and Wolverine face them, hop in a Honda Odyssey (that Deadpool hates) and embark on a road trip full of attitude and catharsis.

Emma Corrin stars as the powerful and villainous telepath Cassandra Nova in "Deadpool & Wolverine."
Since both heroes have the ability to bounce back from any nasty wound, there’s a "Looney Tunes" level of cartoonish carnage they can perpetrate on foes, as well as each other. Acting-wise, the leads get past their characters’ superficial qualities ― Deadpool’s politically incorrect snark, Wolverine’s grumpy broodiness ― to dig into their vulnerabilities. Jackman especially runs a gamut of emotions as a Logan lashing out because of the trauma he’s faced; whatever they’re paying him in cash and themed popcorn buckets is not enough.

Miraculously, the heartfelt stuff isn’t buried by the film’s commitment to nonstop shenanigans and giddy self-awareness. Director Shawn Levy is used to juggling characters and cultural references from his work on “Night at the Museum,” “Free Guy” and “Stranger Things,” but this is next level.


Like Mel Brooks doing a Marvel event movie, “Deadpool & Wolverine” doesn't let up with its barrage of meta jokes blurring the line between fiction and reality. It cleverly goofs on everything from the Los Angeles Rams and "Gossip Girl" to other Jackman and Reynolds roles and the MCU itself. Not to mention Deadpool doing the ’N Sync “Bye Bye Bye” dance, a multiverse-hopping montage set to Huey Lewis’ “The Power of Love” and Easter eggs that only comic-book fans will appreciate.

Most of the silliness lands, and the stuff that doesn’t is enveloped by the total chaos, anyway. That’s all to be expected with Deadpool around. The meat of the matter, surprisingly, is the loving closure given to the Fox movie run, plus a reminder how much an unleashed Jackman rules now, and always did.

[jo]

From The Hollywood Reporter --

MOVIE REVIEWS
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Review: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Rely on Smirks and Sentiment in Overstuffed Team-Up
Emma Corrin plays a powerful adversary and Matthew Macfadyen a shady tech agent in Shawn Levy's adrenaline-charged superhero threequel.


BY DAVID ROONEY

Plus Icon

JULY 23, 2024 3:00PM
Ryan Reynolds (left) and Hugh Jackman in 'Deadpool & Wolverine.'

In their third collaboration, director Shawn Levy was never going to be the one to rein in Ryan Reynolds’ taste for quippy zingers and winking meta gags that regularly demolish the fourth wall, especially when the star gets the lead screenplay credit. If you thought Deadpool or Deadpool 2 were heavy on in-jokes, then buckle up, because that shtick is dialed up to radioactive levels in Deadpool & Wolverine. That of course will be welcome news for the franchise’s most ardent admirers, particularly those who look back fondly on Marvel’s Fox era.


Reynolds’ wisecracking mercenary Wade Wilson is at a low point on his timeline, no longer considered relationship material by the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, barely present), and only somewhat buoyed by the affection of his loyal group of friends, a ragtag assortment returning from the first and second films. All he really wants is to matter.

s
MOVIES

Deadpool & Wolverine
THE BOTTOM LINE
Slavish fan service dusted with nostalgia.
Release date: Friday, July 26
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Matthew Macfadyen
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenwriters: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy
Rated R, 2 hours 7 minutes


A similar existential anxiety might run through the head of any movie critic attempting to approach this installment with something more nuanced than gushing hyperbole. Will reviews, either good or bad, matter at all to a release that promises to be a crowd-pleasing box office juggernaut? Not in the least when each MCU cameo and callback and ironically deployed pop song elicits squeals of joy from the audience. Does that mean it’s good? No, but that’s a way more complicated question, and the answer will depend entirely on what you want out of it.

The connection between Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s brooding steel-clawed mutant started with a hostile face-off in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But since the emergence of a kinder, gentler Deadpool in the wiseass character’s first stand-alone movie, Wade has carried on a long-distance flirtation with Wolverine.



Given Reynolds’ tireless propensity for sassy gay humor, that was bound to get a little moist now that they finally share star billing in a bickering buddy movie, blurring the line between lovers and fighters, even if their blood-drenched fights are plenty vicious. As a preamble to the most violent of them, Wade turns direct to camera and advises: “Get your special sock out, nerds. It’s gonna get good.”

As bountiful as the action scenes are here, the jokes are the sturdiest part of Deadpool & Wolverine (and if it seems like I’m giving too many of them away, don’t worry, there are loads more to go around). That’s because the plot is a lumpy stew of familiar elements, given minimal narrative clarity despite the reams of expository technobabble spouted by Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox. That smarmy supervisor at the Time Variance Authority ropes in Deadpool to fix a wonky timeline, giving him a chance to matter, but at the cost of everyone he loves. Or something like that. If you watched Disney+’s Loki, all this possibly hangs together a little better.


Spoiler etiquette prevents me from going much deeper, but I will say it’s around this time that a sick feeling planted itself in my stomach and a dreaded thought began to form in my brain: “Oh no, the fucking multiverse again!” I did laugh at Wade’s side note that The Wizard of Oz did the multiverse first and it should have stopped there. “The gays knew it and we didn’t listen.” But the jokesmiths, sorry, screenwriters — alongside Reynolds, that includes Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells and Levy — are still not listening, so we get a whole lot of trouble caused by Paradox’s unsanctioned “time ripper.”

An early scene has Wade applying to join the Avengers and getting a firm no from a character who’s the first of too many cameos to count. A challenging few years later, Wade is still licking his wounds and selling used cars. But all that changes when the TVA goon squad brings him in, though not before he can eye their truncheons and say, “Pegging is not new for me. But it is for Disney.” If you’ve been waiting for a character in a Disney release to say, “I’m not naturally a bottom,” your wait is over.

Going rogue while ostensibly following leads given to him by Paradox about the universe in jeopardy, Deadpool tracks down Wolverine, in fact numerous versions of him, all of them pickled in alcohol and self-hatred. Many of us might wish Jackman had retired the character on a high with James Mangold’s gritty neo-Western Logan. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to see those mutton-chop sideburns again, and Jackman’s glowering gravitas makes an amusing foil for Reynolds’ irrepressible playfulness. “I am Marvel Jesus!” exults Wade when he mistakenly assumes he’s been handed some messianic task. “Suck it, Fox!” Wade makes a joke of everything, but he cares.


That applies as much to the filmmakers as to Deadpool. Even before the snippets of Fox’s Marvel movies and old EPK interviews with Reynolds and Jackman over the end credits — poking the lump in fans’ throats with Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” — it’s obvious there’s a ton of love for the cosmology and its characters. Levy, who directed Reynolds in Free Guy and The Adam Project and Jackman in Real Steel, is never in doubt that fan service is the principal job requirement. That and a foot clamped on the accelerator, although speed doesn’t necessarily equal momentum.

For the core audience, the gags will be reward enough, even if the rest of us might squirm as the sloppily staged action grows repetitive, the plotting haphazard and the humor so self-aware the movie threatens to disappear up its own ass. And is it too much to ask for a blockbuster that looks at least halfway decent?

A colorless entry in the long line of British villains designed to show that good diction is inherently evil, Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova doesn’t bring much spark even if she makes life hell for Deadpool, Wolverine and other exiled MCU figures once Paradox jettisons them into a dumping ground called The Void. Reynolds’ quips make it clear that the resemblance to George Miller’s Mad Max terrain is entirely intentional. There’s a lot of business with Cassandra attempting to gain control of the Time Ripper and play havoc with reality, but as climaxes go, it’s a dry hump.


I’ll be honest, I found this movie messy and overstuffed, but I laughed almost as often as I cringed from its obnoxiousness and can’t dispute that a vast audience will delight in every moment. Even if they spend much of the running time sticking blades through each other’s handily regenerating flesh, Reynolds and Jackman make sweet love and appear to be having a great time doing it. They bring a semblance of heart. Both characters have their share of regrets, but both are offered redemption here; both get to matter.

As Deadpool says of Wolverine with a smirk: “Fox killed him. Disney brought him back. They’re gonna make him do this till he’s 90!” Not for the first time we’re reminded that comic-book IP is a place where no one ever truly dies.

[jo]

Summary of Reviews:

At the moment --


ROTTEN TOMATOES

81% based on 85 Reviews.

Fresh : 69
Rotten: 15

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadpool_and_wolverine/reviews



METACRITIC

54
METASCORE
Mixed or Average

Positive
21 (48%)

Mixed
18 (41%)

Negative
5 (11%)

[jo]

From Roger Ebert --

Reviews
Deadpool & Wolverine
Matt Zoller Seitz July 23, 2024


May contain spoilers


“Deadpool & Wolverine” exists because Hugh Jackman, who has played Wolverine nine times and had supposedly retired the character after 2017’s “Logan,” loved the Deadpool series and was friends with star Ryan Reynolds. He wanted the mutant with the adamantium claws to team up with the Merc with the Mouth, preferably in a buddy movie modeled partly on R-rated 1980s action flicks like “48 Hrs.” The end product is true to the spirit of the franchise while pushing its self-aware humor and fourth wall-breaks until it all seems like the result of a dare: how big can we make the air quotes around “sincerity” while still tugging on heartstrings?



Deadpool & Wolverine: LFG (Spot)
About half an hour into the movie, Wade gets sent on a multiverse-spanning mission that ends up teaming him with Wolverine (never mind the reasons; you’ll learn them anyway when you see the movie, which will make a billion dollars no matter what somebody like me has to say about it) and the duo ends up traversing a prison-like “Void” ruled by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corwin), a bald, skeletally slender twin sister of Charles Xavier. The place is filled with debris and monuments, all seemingly drawn from films released by Disney and 20th Century Fox (which was swallowed by Disney in 2019).


I’m sure there’ll be a comprehensive bullet-pointed list of cameos on the film’s Wikipedia page by the time you read this, but among other things I believe I spotted a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, the spires of the Williamsburg bridge (site of an important Spider-Man battle) and the top of the Statue of Liberty’s torch (the original 1968 “Planet of the Apes” was a Fox production), all buried in the ground like the “two vast and legless trunks of stone” in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias.” This zone is referred to as a “metaphorical junkyard.” The phrase can be read two ways. I suspect Deadpool’s arched-eyebrow playfulness inclines it toward the second reading: a dumping ground for pop culture metaphors, especially the kind you encounter in comic books and movies based on them. The metaphors in this junkyard include comic book characters who, in addition to being themselves, are walking representations of aspects of society, psychology, or a political or social condition.

They are also products. Not for nothing does the first Deadpool-Wolverine fight happen around a giant stone-carved version of the 20th Century Fox logo that used to appear in front of Fox movies: a studio had to be sacrificed for this film to exist. Cinema history obsessives who can tolerate Ryan Reynolds’ mugging and pratfalling and verbal footnoting will appreciate that, among other things, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is a superhero version of a memorial service for a studio and the various franchises and undeveloped projects that were discarded or decommissioned when it was bought. Lazarus-styled IP tributes are handled with more wit and humor (not to mention basic decency) here than the AI whirlwind of rubber-faced DC characters trotted out in Warner Bros. “The Flash.” The movie’s wry awareness of the profit motive takes a bit of the sting out as well. “Fox killed him,” Wade says of Logan, “Disney brought him back. They’re gonna make him do this till he’s ninety.”



Also, not for nothing: the movie’s main story is about literal as well as figurative resurrections. When we meet Wade for the first time in six years, he’s been kicked to the curb by his girlfriend Vanessa (Lorena Baccarin) and rejected by the Avengers and has resigned himself to being a “loser” and is now selling used cars and wearing a bad hairpiece. He gets roped into service by Mr. Paradox (Matthew MacFayden), an agent for the Time Variance Authority (TVA) who has developed a “Time Ripper” that can mercy-kill timelines that have lost their “anchor being.” Again, there’s no point getting deep in the plot weeds in a review of a film like this, so let’s say that to head off apocalyptic problems in Wade’s own timeline, he has to capture a Wolverine from one of the other timelines and replace him in the one where he was a tragically deceased “anchor being” holding that strand together.

In service of all the tomfoolery and shenanigans that ensue, the movie turns subtext into text and bold-faces it. Wade revels in declaring himself a timeline Jesus. In one timeline-jumping mission we see Logan crucified on a giant X. The movie incrementally and relentlessly turns into the nine-figure-budgeted superhero action movie equivalent of a Chuck Jones-directed Looney Tunes touchstone like “Duck Amuck,” the punchline of which was that the unseen animator terrorizing Daffy Duck was Bugs Bunny. “Keep going,” Wade says when a character starts monologuing, “audiences are accustomed to long run times.” Wade narrates the entire thing, as he always does, and at one point seizes the camera and drags it into another part of the set to tell us something confidential.



The script is upfront about what Disney wouldn’t allow Reynolds and company to show. Cocaine is prominently mentioned but nobody does any; butt stuff is described but not depicted; there’s homoerotic horseplay and wordplay, but no actual sexual person-play. That being said, the writers get more latitude than I assumed they’d get when it comes to criticisms of Disney running the MCU into the ground and off in multiple, incompatible directions post “Endgame.” “Welcome to the MCU, by the way,” Wade tells Logan. “You’re joining at a low point.”

At the same time, the film maintains the loose-verging-on-chaotic, sketch comedy-derived sensibility that links it to slapstick from the early sound era of motion pictures. Wolverine and Logan are nigh-invulnerable cousins of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby riffing their way through the long-running “Road” series, which regularly paused to bond with the audience over watching a movie. They’re also Moe and Curly in super-suits. Their eye-pokes go through the sockets and into the brain.

Somehow, despite the silly mayhem and hyper-meta goofing, I kinda did care about the characters, especially in the finale, which unspools a pathos firehose and blasts us with it. Jackman is moving as Wolverine – and always has been; arguably more so the older he gets. Here he plays, not the straight man, but the exasperated, cranky man. He yells not just because he’s had enough of this red-suited clown but also because he’s furious at himself for failing and now has a target at which to direct his accumulated negative energy. Reynolds, for all his blabber-mouthed, abrasive relentlessness, is touching as well, probably because in this version of the characters’ stories, they’re both broken, abandoned men: “losers,” Wade calls them. Their loser-ness connects to the idea of the Fox-Marvel characters ending up collateral damage in a long running corporate rivalry that concluded with one combatant annexing and pillaging the other.



I wish the movie were more coherent and consistent. The visual effects are of variable quality. Some of the closeups are luminous and the colors radiant, particularly in night scenes, while other shots (particularly daylight panoramas in the limbo sequence) are so flat-looking and washed out and devoid of detail that they wouldn’t pass as a screensaver. Director Shawn Levy– a regular Reynolds collaborator who’s comfortable with CGI-driven, big-budget projects – handles the action competently but without jaw-on-the-floor inventiveness (though he does have a comedy storyteller’s knack for timing the verbal and visual gags, and there’s a nifty “Oldboy” tribute). This is the second "Deadpool" in a row where Wade is driven mainly by a desire to do right by Vanessa even though she's barely in it. (His narration does, however, confess to getting a stiffie while watching "Gossip Girl," which starred Reynolds' wife Blake Lively.) The movie is tight by superhero standards (127 minutes) but still runs out of gas. Wade admits it, though, promising to wrap things up when you start to fidget.


There are compensations, particularly in the casting. MacFayden serves tasty ham in the Shakespeare-trained Brit tradition. Corrin, who played Princess Diana in Netflix’s “The Crown,” makes a frightening villain, with her predatory stare, bird-boned arms and legs, and long, elegant fingers. The movie pushes some of Cassandra’s torturous or murderous acts to the point where they seem like spiritual as well as physical violations. When this woman gets in your head, it’s not a metaphor. (Between the profanity, the gore, and the sadomasochistic bent, this entry is as not-for-kids as the others.)


In its sketch comedy-adjacent way (there are five credited writers) “Deadpool & Wolverine” articulates something honest and true about the essence of comic book movies, more so than most “grimdark” adaptations: it’s all a riff anyway. Multiverse storytelling — like the comic books soap opera, and pro-wrestling tropes it evolved from — is infinitely malleable. No important character is irrevocably dead, nor are they locked into being exclusively a good or bad guy. That’s why big-name characters can be introduced with fanfare, then killed suddenly for a laugh or flipped from irredeemably evil to evil but redeemable. We go in knowing our suspension of disbelief will be flicked off and on like a light switch. This is part of the pact. And the dare.

[jo]

Summary of Reviews:

At the moment --


ROTTEN TOMATOES

79% based on 120 Reviews. ALREADY CERTIFIED AS FRESH

Fresh :
Rotten:

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadpool_and_wolverine/reviews



METACRITIC

54
METASCORE
Mixed or Average

Positive
21 (48%)

Mixed
18 (41%)

Negative
5 (11%)

[jo]

[jo]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If there is one NON-SPOILER REVIEW that has to be plastered everywhere --

it has got to be GRACE RANDOLPH's first review ( she will release a later review with spoilers once the embargo is lifted) .

A true comic book nerd review -- she is jumping with joy for the movie!!






HALLELUIAH!!






Jo

[jo]

Jul 23, 2024 20:06:33 GMT -5 jo said:

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If there is one NON-SPOILER REVIEW that has to be plastered everywhere --

it has got to be GRACE RANDOLPH's first review ( she will release a later review with spoilers once the embargo is lifted) .

A true comic book nerd review -- she is jumping with joy for the movie!!






HALLELUIAH!!






Jo

[jo]

Jul 23, 2024 19:06:57 GMT -5 jo said:

Summary of Reviews:

At the moment --


ROTTEN TOMATOES

79% based on 130 Reviews. ALREADY CERTIFIED AS FRESH

Fresh :
Rotten:

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadpool_and_wolverine/reviews



METACRITIC

54
METASCORE
Mixed or Average

Positive
21 (48%)

Mixed
18 (41%)

Negative
5 (11%)

[jo]

Jul 23, 2024 22:27:19 GMT -5 jo said:

Jul 23, 2024 19:06:57 GMT -5 jo said:

Summary of Reviews:

At the moment --


ROTTEN TOMATOES

80% based on 140 Reviews. ALREADY CERTIFIED AS FRESH

Fresh :
Rotten:


www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadpool_and_wolverine/reviews


METACRITIC

54
METASCORE
Mixed or Average

Positive
21 (47%)

Mixed
18 (42%)

Negative
5 (11%)

[jo]

A well-written review by Variety (Peter Debruge)

Reviews
Jul 23, 2024 3:00pm PT
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Review: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s R-Rated Bromance Is an Irreverent Send-Off to Fox’s X-Men Movies

The raunchy reunion of two Marvel misfits tests Disney standards while giving superhero fans closure on nearly a quarter-century of variable-quality Marvel fare produced across town.


By Peter Debruge


DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, (aka DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE, aka DEADPOOL 3), from left: Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, 2024. ph: Jay Maidment /© Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
Deadpool can’t die. If he were a character in Greek mythology, that might be a source of tragedy, but in Wade Wilson’s scuzzy corner of the Marvel universe, it functions as a catalyst for off-color comedy instead. Last time the trash-mouthed mercenary headlined a movie, Deadpool could be seen chugging drain cleaner and trying to nuke himself into oblivion — a stunt that sent his extended middle finger flying in Wolverine’s direction. The two heroes have had a long-running rivalry, since both were given regenerative healing powers via the Weapons-X program, but only Wolverine could make grown men cry. Until now.

The laughs are a given, but not the misty-eyed reaction to the final minutes of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which is by far the most fan-service sequel released under the Marvel banner — and that’s saying something, since the comic book empire panders even harder to its flock than the faith-based industry does. In the past, such shameless give-folks-what-they-want-ism might have been a bad thing, but here, it serves as a welcome corrective to the superhero overload of the past 15 years. Now that the Disney-backed Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be running on fumes, the entire genre could use a shake-up, and this jester-like character is just the guy to do it.


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What makes Deadpool special, apart from lead actor (and co-writer) Ryan Reynolds’ sarcastic R-rated sensibility, is the way he breaks the fourth wall, offering unfiltered commentary on just about everything, including the filmmakers’ most craven creative decisions. Turn that attitude on his various parent companies, and audiences get a subversive laugh, while the bean counters earn cred by showing they’re in on the joke (as when Deadpool quips that “cocaine is the one thing Feige said is off-limits”). Mattel did it with last year’s “Barbie” movie, and now Marvel comes off looking like a good sport.





It’s no risk at all, considering that Deadpool’s two previous outings rank as Fox’s top-grossing superhero movies, ahead of “Logan” and the entire “X-Men” series. That’s presumably because they don’t take themselves seriously. Now “Deadpool & Wolverine” looks poised to surpass all of them, considering that it brings Hugh Jackman’s adamantium-clawed character back from the grave. Technically, this version of Wolverine comes from a separate timeline — one of those multiverse tricks that even Deadpool’s narration seems to recognize as a cheat, right up there with such Marvel staples as time travel and magic.


Meanwhile, this movie tries to have it every which way. Early on, Deadpool learns that a dude in a suit (not a spandex one, but the business kind) is going around scrubbing worlds that stray too far from the “sacred timeline” (that would be the MCU one of the “Avengers” movies, where death was handled far more reverently). The man’s name is Mr. Paradox, and he’s played by “Succession” star Matthew Macfadyen as a demented corporate stooge. Unless Deadpool can bring back Wolverine, it’s twilight for his time zone.

Mr. Paradox is not much of a villain, though he does represent a fascinating meta-concept: What happens to all the dead-end Marvel properties introduced over the years? A few of them make cameos here, while others are name-checked in jokes meant for super-geeks. The implication is that Deadpool, who was caught in limbo amid the real-world Disney-Fox merger, could be at risk of being canceled, despite having earned the studio $1.5 billion at the box office. What’s a superhero to do to justify his own existence?

The physics of “Deadpool & Wolverine” function more like a Looney Tunes cartoon than your typical comic book, as Deadpool skips around various dimensions without having to explain how he does it (I blame 2023 Oscar winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once” for mainstreaming multiverses). He finds a few next-best alternatives — including a shorter Wolverine who reminds that the ferocious character originally got his name for his compact stature — before landing upon one sporting the yellow costume and black mask made iconic in the comics.


“He’s usually shirtless, but he’s let himself go since the divorce,” Deadpool quips, roasting what he calls the “worst Wolverine,” though this surly, hard-drinking fighter (played by a still-jacked Hugh Jackman) comes off tougher than ever. “The Greatest Showman” did nothing to soften his image. Furrowing his brow and grunting, as if uncertain about being dragged into a comedy, Jackman makes an ideal straight guy to Reynolds’ talkaholic shtick. They trade insults the whole way through, and whenever Deadpool crosses the line, the claws come out and these two indestructible malcontents turn on one another.

Director Shawn Levy (who has helmed Reynolds twice before) is stronger at comedy than he is with action, which means these sequences aren’t nearly as well orchestrated as “The Matrix” stunt maven David Leitch’s work on “Deadpool 2.” The visual effects are iffy, and city streets have rarely looked more like a backlot. Still, Marvel has enlisted some awfully ill-suited filmmakers over the years (Tim Story killed the “Fantastic Four” franchise, and Peyton Reed made each “Ant-Man” movie more excruciating than the last), whereas Levy is on Reynolds’ ultra-rude wavelength. At one point, he has Deadpool fighting with Wolverine’s corpse, which is still deadlier than most living superheroes. It also raises the question of which is more wrong, a Disney-trolling joke about pegging or the repeated sight of crotches speared by adamantium claws.



No one will accuse Deadpool of good taste. And yet, this film achieves an unexpected poignance when Deadpool and Wolverine are exiled together to The Void, a wasteland overseen by Professor X’s quasi twin, Cassandra Nova (a not-campy-enough Emma Corrin), where orphaned IP goes before being purged forever. There, amid what look like “Mad Max” rejects, the once-mighty 20th Century Fox logo has been tossed aside, à la the Statue of Liberty in “Planet of the Apes.” Like the incinerator at the end of “Toy Story 3,” this is where your nostalgia goes to die, so it’s fitting that it should be crammed full of cameos from misfit Marvel characters (including a card-carrying member of the X-Men who never got his own movie).

Throughout the film, Deadpool wrestles with a desire to “matter.” This wisecracking cancer survivor may be effectively immortal, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be forgotten. When it comes to longevity, these heroes all find themselves at the mercy of both Marvel and the market. In its own uniquely self-aware way, the movie confronts that phenomenon without overstaying its welcome — not just by acknowledging what happens to its two title characters, but especially with the montage that plays over the end credits. It’s a poignant summation of the Fox chapter of the Marvel saga.

Now that he’s back, Deadpool warns Wolverine, “They’re gonna make him do this till he’s 90.” Audiences (and Disney) may well demand it, though this singular mutant satire works best as an irreverent homage to what’s come before, as opposed to the prototype for future superhero movies.

It recognizes the motivation ( the tribute to the old Fox franchise) as the former superheroes ( at least Deadpool & Wolverine) are about to enter a new superhero universe. Nothing is beyond Deadpool's mouth, including a dig at Jackman's single status now. I wonder how Hugh felt about it?

Can't wait to see it - - this review gave me a perspective on how to view this movie and its motivations now!


Btw, Peter Debruge is the same critic from Variety who wrote that excellent review on Bad Education.

‘Bad Education’: Film Review
Hugh Jackman delivers an acting master class, trading on his charismatic star persona to reveal the rotten core of bad-apple superintendent Frank Tassone.

By Peter Debruge

Jo

[jo]

Summary of Reviews:

At the moment --


ROTTEN TOMATOES

81% based on 150 reviews.

ALREADY CERTIFIED "FRESH" by Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh :
Rotten:


www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deadpool_and_wolverine/reviews


METACRITIC

55 (based on 47 reviews)

METASCORE
Mixed or Average

Positive
(49%)

Mixed
(40%)

Negative
(11%)

[jo]

[jo]

One of the highest-rated reviews of Deadpool & Wolverine, from the USA Today, written by Brian Truitt, is featured today on MSN ( Microsoft News) -- this is good because it will reach a wide online viewership!

Jo

[jo]

Rotten Tomatoes Update :

Tomatometer : 80 % (Certifed Fresh)
239 Reviews

Audience Score : 98 %
2,500+ Verified Ratings

Audiences are loving it!


Jo

[jo]

SPOILERS!

Many or most people want to avoid cameo spoilers.

But in the case of this movie -- they are not simple cameos - where they simply flash a familiar face ...and that's it!

We know that it was talked about early on how many cameos will turn up.

But what was surprising ... was how these cameos were actually used as part of the serious storytelling.

Movie analyst & influencer ( probably the most talked about ) Grace Randolph talks about her list of CAMEO Honor Roll in this movie.

There are many cameos and they are part of the storytelling -- if you ask me, I think if you know who they are and what they play, you can appreciate the movie much better when you actually see it.

I have seen the movie and I felt a little bewildered trying to tie up the many cameos that were unfolding.

If I were reading this... I would certainly make seeing the movie much more appreciated by knowing what they are and their part in the storytelling

But it is your choice ---

*
*
*
*
So, here goes --

MAJOR SPOILERS**********MAJOR SPOILERS***********MAJOR SPOILERS**********MAJOR SPOILERS
MAJOR SPOILERS**********MAJOR SPOILERS***********MAJOR SPOILERS**********MAJOR SPOILERS

*
*
*
*




Enjoy!

[jo]

Jul 25, 2024 22:45:13 GMT -5 jo said:

Rotten Tomatoes Update :

Tomatometer : 79 % (Certifed Fresh)
285 Reviews

Audience Score : 97 %
5000+ Verified Ratings

Audiences are loving it!


On IMDB, moviegoers are starting to rate it --

www.imdb.com/title/tt6263850/ratings/?ref_=tt_ov_rt

43 thousand (K) have rated the movie.

Weighted average - 8.3
Arithmetic mean - 8.5

[jo]

Update --

Rotten Tomatoes

Tomatometer


80% /Certified FRESH
298 Reviews


Audience Score
97%
10,000+ Verified Ratings


IMDB Reader Rating

IMDb RATING
8.3
Based on 74,000 Reader ratings

8.5 (unweighted rating)

[jo]

The intense scene with Wolverine/HJ that drew so many notices and discussions --

x.com/i/status/1817801095869087896

Part of so many serious replies(near 200) --

Barkha
@barkh_a
·
1h
“The movie’s all slop key jingling cameos and Reddit jokes” y’all didn’t watch the same movie at all 💀


Whats up
@aj07united
·
3h
@rattibha
download
𝑩𝒍𝒗𝒄𝒌 𝑩𝒖𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒂
@blvckbulmaa
·
22m
You got nothing to say MOUTH 🤣🤣 this scene was so intense


Sir Alex
@ferghassan
·
24m
Too mean 😔


LUCY🐰
@lucyqrow
·
2h
I haven't watched the movie, but this scene is pretty awesome, ngl


Barkha
@barkh_a
·
1h
I litetarlly just imagined Kong being this extreamly pissed off at Godzilla and he says all of this to him if he talked 💀


💀💀
Barkha
@barkh_a
·
1h
He read him so bad omg 😭 I was gagged in the theater ..



Comics Run the World
@comicsrtw
·
54m
Jackman is such a phenomenal actor



Kendall 🕊️
@mistress_kendal
·
1h
line delivery so good you can feel yourself pitying wade 😭



Camilla✨
@spicycammy
·
2h
I’d let him be rough with me anytime



Prince of Swole
@poohead189
·
5h
"You couldn't even save a relationship with a gooddamn stripper"



CamKrueger
@krueger_cam
·
7h
One of Hugh’s best scenes as Logan. The pure anger and frustration towards Wade was delivered incredibly. Literally after he was done yelling, I whispered “damn” in the theater



Saint
@chvska_
·
5h
“You got nothing to say, mouth?”😭😭😭



SpaceSkeleton
@space_Skeleton_
·
"...I'm gonna fight you now." 😭



PG
@painfulgamer1
·
8h
This felt exactly like an argument they would have in the comics



Nolan Grayson
@omni_man96
·
6h
"I am going to fight you now"



Aki
@crusaderofweb
·
8h
biblically accurate wolverine

So many similar others follow.

[jo]

oscar
@onthewayjay
·
22s
Hugh Jackman was acting circles around everyone so bad that they had to give him those goofy white eyes in the third act to bring him down to everyone else’s level

🌌 𝒥𝒶𝓎 🌌 #FreePalestine🇵🇸
@parzival_jay
·
8h
Obsessed with the dialog line delivery and sound and roughness Hugh has in this scene

Kevin Dawson
@dawsonforreal
·
10m
I’ll say it every time. Nobody in the superhero genre will ever touch Hugh Jackman. He’s the greatest comic book movie actor of all time. Nobody else comes close.

🌌 𝒥𝒶𝓎 🌌 #FreePalestine🇵🇸
@parzival_jay
·
8h
Obsessed with the dialog line delivery and sound and roughness Hugh has in this scene

[jo]

🌌 𝒥𝒶𝓎 🌌 #FreePalestine🇵🇸
@parzival_jay
·
8h
Obsessed with the dialog line delivery and sound and roughness Hugh has in this scene

Casas Bahia of America
@artisticregalia
Fun fact: This scene was entirely improvised, it was just Hugh Jackman going off on Ryan Reynolds and the director just kept rolling.

[jo]

[jo]

x.com/i/status/1818275216403169324

I am one of those 10000 peeps who voted perfect!

LOL!

Who cares about the CRITICS votes - they cannot add to the box office $$$, unlike the Audience

JO

[jo]

IMDB Reader Ratings ( from 105,000 raters) is now 8.2 of 10.

Unweighted average remain at 8.5!


JO