Deadpool & Wolverine

The Background:

I have to caveat this review with the circumstances I found myself in this week. For various reasons, I have had a busy (tough) couple of months. I pulled out of a golf tournament this week, partly because of not having played or practiced, but mostly for mental health reasons. Thankfully it enabled me to catch up with Uni work and to get rid of a demon or two.

And so, because of this, I needed a film that would not only take me away from the current world but also make me cry-laugh all the way through. I had 2 choices: Deadpool & Wolverine or Despicable Me 4. At 3:45 on a Friday afternoon with the schools off, I am not going near a screening of DM4! I'll stick to my geeks and Ryan Reynolds thank you!

The Film:

There are many issues to deal with straight off the bat, starting off with a pretty big one if you've seen Logan (and if you haven't then I'm sorry for the spoiler but it was pretty big news), Wolverine is currently dead! That gets dealt with in the way that Marvel is currently dealing with everything at the moment, the Multiverse!

But not before one of the greatest opening title sequences I've ever seen. It's 90s-boyband perfection and I'm sure you will see clips of this even if you decide not to watch the film. This becomes a theme throughout the film. If you're aged between 35-55 there are more cultural gags in this than you could ever wish to hear.

I've been trying to think all the way home about how I'm going to write a review about a film that requires so many spoilers, and I can't do it and give it the justice it deserves, but the background to the storyline is that Deadpool is recruited by Mr Paradox (Matthew MacFayden) to save his world from extinction. Paradox sends him and Wolverine into the void.

Here we meet various characters, with some fantastic cameos from previous MCU outings and a new character (who I won't mention the name of) played by the incredible Emma Corrin who steals scenes for fun! The cameos will make Marvel fans scream at the screen at times and make non-Marvel fans try to figure out who the actor/character is, but every one of them is well worth the extra budget for the film!

Oh, and there is blood! Lots and lots of blood! But not squeamish blood...just lots of blood! Have I mentioned the blood?!

The Cast:

There are lots of gags about Hugh Jackman now having to play Wolverine until he's 90, but my God does he look good! I don't know how he gets into that shape every time but he seems to look even better now than he did when he first played Wolverine nearly 25 years ago!

But it's Reynolds who does the heavy lifting and does it in a way that only he can. The world can be a pretty shitty place at times but Reynolds is a constant glowing light. Deadpool is basically him in a red suit. The sarcasm, the humour, the complete lack of seriousness whilst also getting stuff done. As the productivity guru Ali Abdaal says, productivity should be fun. And Reynolds does this to perfection.

As mentioned earlier, the huge cast of cameos all play their part, and Corrin looks to have a huge future. I always enjoy watching MacFayden. He seems to enjoy this sort of role and it shows in his performances. All-in-all this is one of the better acted Marvels from the last few years.

Conclusion:

Judging by the fairly full audience in my afternoon screening, the laughter was felt in the same way that I did throughout.

Is it an all-time classic? No.

However, if you're a Marvel fan then this is the film you have probably been waiting for after a few less-than-exceptional films. If you're not a Marvel fan but have a sense of humour of any kind then you'll still enjoy it!

Score: 8/10