Deadpool & Wolverine

 Hey, Hollywood. You missed me, didn't you? 

It's been six years and one corporate buyout since I, Deadpool, was in a movie. That's going to change now. And, oh look, I brought me a friend. He's been away from the movies longer than I have. Seven years, a year longer than me, but it's still longer! Say hello to Hughverine!

Help Me.

This is Deadpool & Wolverine. I'll leave it to him to tell you what it's about before I step in.

So, I've (Ryan Reynolds) been living my worst life ever since Deadpool 2. I broke up with my girlfriend, Vanessa, I got rejected from The Avengers (long story), and I'm a used cars salesman (and I'm not good at it!). But Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) of the TVA (Time Variance Authority, go watch Loki on Disney + for context!) sends his goons after me. He tells me that my timeline is deteriorating ever since its "anchor being" got himself killed, and he has a Time Ripper thingy to put it out of its misery. But he tells me that I can go to the "sacred timeline" and be part of the MCU. Sounds tempting, but I have another idea: replace my timeline's anchor being with another variant of himself. Who is this anchor being? It's the other guy in the title!

I eventually find a Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) of my very own. But Mr. Paradox tells me he's the worst Wolverine of them all, and not the fun kind of worst either. He sends us to the Void, a Mad Maxian wasteland filled with Marvel Movie characters Disney wants to forget. It's ruled by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Professor X's evil twin sister, and she doesn't want me or Wolvie to escape. Well, fortunately, there's a team of Marvel Movie characters that can help us. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of me's.

Everybody got that? 

Here's more.

It's been six years and Deadpool's sincere irreverence hasn't diminished with age. The film literally starts with Deadpool digging up Wolverine's adamantium skeleton, which he uses, piece by piece, against waves of TVA minutemen. It plays its brutality for laughs just as much as the other films. Among many examples, let's just say that the Wolverines Deadpool encounters before the main one aren't happy to see him. It still knows when it needs to be serious; you'll feel it when Wolverine confesses his greatest failure. Cassandra is treated as a serious threat, and Corrin's performance doesn't let us forget it.

Deadpool the character is still that same fun merc-with-the-mouth. He may be rude, crude, immature and brutal, but he still has a supporting cast that he sincerely cares for. You'll definitely feel it when he calls them his world. Wolverine is a great straight man for Deadpool; their disagreements lead to some of that comic brutality. He spends the movie learning his value as a hero, which he proves when he helps Deadpool stop the Time Ripper. Meanwhile, Macfayden hams it up spectacularly as Mr. Paradox, a seemingly intimidating bureaucrat who is just a paper tiger. 

This is a film pretty dependent on knowing its references. Chris Evans shows up, not as Steve Rogers, but as Johnny Storm from Tim Story's Fantastic Four movies. We get Wesley Snipe as Blade, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Channing Tatum as Gambit (referencing the film he almost had), and Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23 for the Resistance. A lot of other cameos disappear into crowd shots, such as Billy Clements, tagging in for Kevin Nash, as the Russian from 2004's The Punisher, a film I never saw. Let's not forget all of Deadpool's meta-commentary. You might need an annotated book to get all of the in-jokes and cameos, because I don't think I can go through them here.

The technicals were all right. There's some great production design for the TVA HQ and The Void, the latter of which is literally littered with references (including a buried 20th Century Fox logo!). There are some good visual effects for our heroes' superpowers, though Cassandra running her fingers through her victims' heads has unpolished CGI. The best effects involved Deadpool and Wolverine tearing through an army of Deadpools in one long camera shot. Speaking of Wolverine, I'm sure a lot of viewers will appreciate his new costume, which approximates his classic yellow spandex suit into live action. I think it's all right, but I especially like his reason for wearing it. There's a decent score by Rob Simonsen, though I think you'll remember all the needle drops even more.

Welcome to the MCU, Deadpool (why thank you, kitty). Some may think that Deadpool & Wolverine's multiversal gimmick reeks of desperation, but I think it's a pretty brutal joke. You won't regret it if you can tolerate comic brutality and a multiverse of references. There's a lot I have to leave out for clarity's sake. But I'm sure you'll be surprised once you see it in action; just wait until you see who plays all the Deadpools. You can disagree with me once you see the movie. It's time to get to my next reviews.