The latest fare from Marvel Studios, the much-awaited Deadpool and Wolverine, after 6 years of the last less-than-exciting Deadpool 2, gives us a much-needed Superhero movie fix that we’ve been missing but stays limited to a two-odd-hour joke-fest and nothing more.
The story begins with the brilliant opening sequence of Deadpool digging up Logan’s (aka Wolverine’s) grave, fulfilling his lifelong desire to unite with one of his own superhero idols. Giving the audience the perfect start with a title dance-fight sequence, choreographed to the nostalgia-trip song Bye-Bye (by NSync from 2000). An absolute delight that hits the spot for every Deadpool fan giving them exactly what they came for. And this just may be the best part of the film, because after this the real story begins, when he is summoned by Time Variance Authority, TVA, that is responsible for maintaining timeline sanctity across the multiple universes (you may remember this from Loki series on Disney Hotstar). TVA lead, Mr Paradox (played by the talented Matthew Macfayden, aka Tom Wambsgans from Succession) informs Deadpool that his timeline (and therefore his friend and family) are all about to be destroyed but he can find a safe haven elsewhere, which triggers Deadpool’s fight against TVA to protect his world from dying, by searching for a Wolverine in one of the multiverses that could be his partner-in-crime. He eventually finds a Wolverine, but gets banished by Paradox into the Void, a universe where all the forgotten beings reside, run havoc by Cassandra Nova, the evil sister of Charles Xavier (X-Men). There, then, starts the journey of fighting Cassandra and her evil reign, as well as TVA towards finally saving his timeline and his world, with a healthy dose of multiple and inappropriate jokes and hilarious situations with Wolverine, supported by many old and new characters like Nice Pool (a good Deadpool in a universe), Johnny Storm (from Fantastic Four, also Chris Evans!), and even other Marvel characters like Blade, Elektra, Gambit and X-23 (from Logan, 2017).
What is thoroughly enjoyable in the film is the one thing that you look forward to in a Deadpool film, the dialogue and the jokes told in typical Ryan Reynolds style, which has you wincing and laughing out loud at the same time. Just for that, it’s totally worth the watch. And paisa-vasool entertainer, more than any Marvel movie or series that's released in these last few years.
Despite this though, the reason why overall the movie fails spectacularly is because of the very thing that Deadpool himself jokes about in the film, the Disney MCU takeover of what was an original 20th Century Fox franchise, in 2016 (Deadpool 1, still the best film of this series).
Now, there are two ways to approach this film, and indeed two sets of audiences that the film attracts. One, that it’s the third in the Deadpool franchise. Or Two, it’s the 34th in the MCU franchise. The film's box office success shows that by trying to appeal to both audiences, Disney has had a clever business idea. A little bit like Kamala Harris choosing Tim Walz as the running mate to reach a wider un-duplicated audience appeal. Full marks for business strategy then!
But from a story-telling and content perspective, we have a problem with the film. In trying to appeal to both audiences, it ends up being neither. It’s neither a great MCU-next nor a fab Deadpool-3. By Disney-MCU’ing Deadpool, the jokes and the shock-n-awe are more muted, safer, and more predictable, and the storyline is the all-too-seen-and-now-very-annoying multiverse blah blah blah. How many more multiverse MCU movies will we have to see? Is there no other imagination left, dear Disney?
And again by Deadpool-ing MCU, it brings down the magic, the fantasy, the larger-than-life vision, and the sheer beyond-reach, beyond-everyday super-power-ness of our superheroes trying to save the universe from catastrophes of the worst kind.
In many ways, the Deadpool franchise and MCU are like matter and anti-matter. The reason why Deadpool works is because it is a breath of everyday-flawed fresh air from the all-too-perfect MCU. Just like the reason why MCU works is because we all want to believe in things larger than our everyday-flawed lives. See my review of DP 2 here https://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2018/05/deadpool2-shocknawethats-what-deadpool.html. By trying to reconcile two polar opposite constructs, the film ends up being a mish-mash of story, plot, and emotions, leaving us entertained yet bored at the same time.
The other angle the film desperately tries but misses by a mile is to create the highly anticipated chemistry between Deadpool and Wolverine. Even if that had worked, we would have something to celebrate from the film. But all the off-screen hilarious chemistry we’ve seen between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on social media, unfortunately, does not translate to an on-screen sizzle. As a possible next resurrection of the Wolverine franchise after the brilliant last Logan, 2017 (my short review here https://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.com/2017/11/logan-short-film-review.html), the film again fails miserably, only ending up making the iconic character (built beautifully by 20th Century Fox series), into just another side-kick. What a travesty!
And finally, what really misses the spot is the complete lack of imagination in the overall plot of the movie. From superpowers to time travel, to multi-verses, to even having multiple superheroes across the universe, playing cameos, we’ve really seen it all. The debilitating hunger for good writing and an unsatisfied thirst for creative thinking is what we’re left with at the end of the film.
All in all, with enough jokes to tell for days after the film, and a great retro-soundtrack (which we also look forward to from the Deadpool franchise), it’s a good weekend cinema fun with the 18 years+ family members. But as two running mates, Deadpool and Wolverine, or Deadpool and MCU, the film disappoints fantastically.
Let’s just hope Harris and Walz have better luck in November!
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