‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ And All the Cameos
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine | Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) wants to save the world but can’t do it on his own. In fulfilling a lifelong dream, he recruits a variant of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to team up and save the universe.
I’m going to lie, I was pretty excited about this movie. After rewatching Deadpool and Deadpool 2, I had high hopes for this film. And Hugh Jackman coming back to this role was very exciting. The first two movies in this franchise are so much fun, so I was ready for this third installment.
And I left Deadpool & Wolverine feeling disappointed. The first two Deadpool movies felt so fun and fresh within the superhero genre. That first film, especially, had this gleeful subversiveness that made it exciting to watch. Even the second film seems to have a great time poking fun at the superhero genre.
This third movie felt a bit like a bloated mess to me. There are a ton of cameos in this film that are so much fun to see. I don’t want to spoil it, but there were multiple times when a smile spread across my face as an actor from a previous superhero film graced the screen. But cameos do not make a movie.
Your enjoyment of Deadpool & Wolverine is likely largely based on your enjoyment of Ryan Reynolds and his particular type of humor. For me, I find him tedious after a while. And I found him to be very over the top in this film, in a way that I didn’t feel in the other two movies. Though this film is a little over two hours long, it did feel like a slog to me at times, and I think that largely has to do with the plot.
Next, I want to dive into the overall plot, which means I will spoil some things. So, if you haven’t seen Deadpool & Wolverine and don’t want the plot spoiled, don’t read on.
Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine | Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
I think that Deadpool & Wolverine suffers from needing to fit within the Disney MCU and all of its various properties. While elements of this are fun, I think that it results in diminishing returns for this particular story.
The threat posed by the TVA and the elimination of the timeline is so abstract that it’s difficult to wrap your head around. Of course, we can know cognitively that it will mean everyone on Wade’s earth being wiped out, but we never really feel that. We get to see Wade with his friends on his birthday, but that’s all the emotional connection we get. We also don’t see any real danger that his friends are facing.
In order for this to work really well, I think the stakes needed to be more clearly defined. Early in the film, Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) explains to Deadpool that he has 72 hours before the world is destroyed, but that number is never heard about again. It might’ve been really interesting to have that time constraint more present in our heroes’ minds. That ticking clock would immediately add tension and stakes.
Instead, we just see Deadpool and Logan fighting each other and others in the void for a while until they just happen to get back home at the right time to save the world.
I think if the threat posed to Wade’s friends had been more clear and the stakes had been more clearly felt, it would’ve helped significantly. For a good chunk of the movie, I didn’t feel connected to the larger goal the heroes were working toward. There are plenty of fun cameos and callbacks to previous MCU movies, but that doesn’t make up for a plot that, at times, feels somewhat lacking.
Hugh Jackman, Peggy the Dog, and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine | Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
All in all, I wanted more from Deadpool & Wolverine. It was enjoyable enough in the theater, though the runtime was far too long for me. But after leaving the theater, I’ve grown increasingly disappointed by it. It’s fun for a minute, but this isn’t a movie that I’ll want to revisit, unlike the other two Deadpool films, which I found joy in watching again.
However, this film did remind me about just how cool Blade is. I think that’s going to have to be my next rewatch.