Deadpool & Wolverine - The Second Watch and Possibly Final (?) Thoughts (Dated July 30th, 2024)

Alright, I've seen Deadpool & Wolverine again, so its finally time for the runback. Not really a runback, but lets talk about it a little more in depth yeah? I'm going to mark this for spoilers so that the few people who haven't seen it can avoid the big spoilers. I'm gonna go about this in a bit of an act-by-act basis, if I can, without going on much tangents. There's a lot to talk about here, so lets just get right into it.

First Act: Zeb Wells, You Motherfucker.

This film went through a lot didn't it? The constant rewrites, as well as the Disney/Fox merger. This resulted in the first two writers on the film, Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin's script getting essentially tossed and re-written by the franchise's scribes, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. After their script was finished, Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy did their adjustments, and then gave Zeb Wells a pass at the script as well. I'm not going to assume that Zeb Wells is at fault for this faulty script, its definitely got Reese and Wernick all over it, but motherfucker, why did Vanessa and Wade need to split up? And for that reasoning too? Really? Not only is that a spit in the face to what was established in the first film, but its just a lazy way of giving Wade extra motivation for the plot to get moving. Which this film truly wastes no time to get into.

My first thing here I personally sorely missed the side characters from Deadpool 1 and 2. I personally believe that there is no use in imagining what a film could've been, and lamenting a false film in your head making issues for the film that actually exists. Saying, "this is what they should've done." Hindsight is 20/20, and you'll always have better ideas after the fact if something doesn't work. So there's no use in critiquing a film for what it isn't, versus what it is. That all being said, I wish that there was more of those characters. Wade does all this for them, but they have no agency at all, nor do they really get to know what he did for them, although he probably did tell them everything he did with all the gloating in the world. 

To actually talk about the first act, I don’t really buy Wade giving up after not being allowed to become an Avenger. I get him wanting a meaning for his life, but this is such a random motivation and crisis for this character after spending the ending of the last film giving himself everything back with Vanessa, with that chance that they were gonna have kids. It’s such a turnaround from the last film that’s just kinda lame. Felt wrong to me. But that’s just part of the setup.

Once we get to the TVA, the true plot kicks in. Turns out that when Logan died at the end of Logan, it rippled their universe because Logan is what is called an “Anchor Being.” An Anchor Being is someone who has such an effect on a timeline that they single-handedly keep it from destruction. When an Anchor Being is lost, the timeline will self-destruct some thousands of years after losing the being. This presents a problem for Wade and the TVA, as the one who brought Wade to the TVA, Mr Paradox, doesn’t believe in wasting time and wants power in the TVA. So, he creates what’s called a Time Ripper and wants to mercy kill Wade’s timeline to prove to the TVA that his way is the right way. The problem with this is that well, Wade obviously doesn’t want that, and decides to go find another Wolverine to replace his universe’s Anchor Being. 

After montaging through a bunch of comic accurate Wolvies, and a great Henry Cavill as Wolverine cameo, he finds what Paradox calls “the worst Wolverine.” He tells Wade that the Wolverine he brought let down his whole world and that he can’t just replace an Anchor Being. Paradox prunes both Wade and Logan, sending them to the Void. After a quick fight with Deadpool and Wolverine, Wade promises Logan that if Logan helps Wade, the TVA can fix whatever happened to his world. Logan reluctantly agrees and now the plot gets on moving. 

Ok, the reason I described the whole setup is really just to acknowledge the first of this film’s problems. The change to how the Multiverse works in the MCU, and the weakness of the film’s villains. The setup to the film is basic, but fine enough. It gives the audience the necessary motivation to want to see this through with Wade and Logan, as well to see what’s in store for them in the Void. For me, I don’t find the Paradox character to be at all interesting, or even that fun to watch. Mathew Macfayden is having a wonderful time in this role, especially getting to play opposite Reynolds, but the role is underwritten and pushed aside to make room for the many, many cameos in the film. 

Let’s start right when we get to the Void, why don’t we? A big criticism that’s been lobbied at this film since the first trailer, is the cinematography. Or rather, the color grading. This film is so, very grey. From the opening scene in the snowy forest where Logan was buried, to the big showdown in the street with the Deadpool Corp, the film’s color palette is very boring. Lots of greys, orange hues, with really only the colors of the character’s suits really popping out and adding some color to the thing. I don’t particularly feel that the film looks bad or cheap, but I do think the film looks visually boring.

The first Deadpool visually looked like this as well, but somehow, it feels more like an annoyance here. There’s this assumption in some places that the higher the budget, the better a film should look. Except that definition constantly changes. People complain about washed out colors and boring grey palettes. Not everything can look like Dune or Avatar. I think in many circumstances, people assume color an equivalent to money, and that’s not the case. While I disagree with some of the sentiment, and plenty of the arguments, I do think that Deadpool & Wolverine is lacking some pinash visually. Some flair. It’s directed and shot very competently, but with no visual element that makes it stand out from the rest of the MCU. If we can even call this an MCU film since it stands so far away on its own from the rest of it. I think the film looks fine, and the outrage over its look feels a bit overblown, but for me I do think the film is pretty forgettably directed. I’ll definitely have to watch the film again in Dolby Vision or HDR encoding when the digital stream drops.

This really comes through on the action, which is great in some places, like both the Deadpool and Wolverine fights in the film, but then super shaky and lame like the big fight in Cassandra’s courtyard, or oddly choreographed like the big finale fight in the street with the Deadpool Corp. Definitely a disappointment on that front considering the first two films had great action sequences. But now, let’s talk comedy and cameos.

Second Act: “You must be this season’s Juggernaut.”

The comedy in this film is essentially the same type of comedy as the first two films. Referential, dirty, exploitive, and all around just nasty with zero fucks given. However, the humor in Deadpool & Wolverine is almost exclusively referential, with many of the jokes being in-jokes on various Hollywood secrets, inner dealings, and other various filmmaking terms and references. This presents a bit of a problem to the typical audience member. To the most basic of audience, which is the type of audience that this film is explicitly NOT made for, this just goes over their head entirely. As the typical audience member is not privy to this type of knowledge. And even then, probably only knows things because of tabloids and general news. In the other Deadpool films, this type of humor was rampant, but not the driving source of the humor. The driving source of the humor in this film are the in-jokes and reference humor. I’d say at least for me that when the jokes hit, they hit. But when they don’t, they don’t. It’s a pretty 50/50 split between jokes that worked for me and jokes that didn’t. Like there’s the joke that Gambit makes about his conception that left me in stitches, and then there’s the consistent cancel culture and Gen Z jokes that didn’t work for me.

While the humor is a mixed bag, the cameos were not. They’re used mostly effectively with them not being used for simply cheap pop factor. They aren’t there to add depth to the story or to further the characters or anything, but really just there to do some wish fulfillment and to make use of the multiverse concept. Making the void full of the rejects from the Fox Marvel franchises is quite a funny idea and they make good use of it throughout. The Johnny Storm bits really made my theater cackle the first watch. Then we get to talk about the Resistance members. Seeing Wesley Snipes as Blade again was a fucking treat and a half and finally watching Channing Tatum get his chance to play Gambit was fulfilling. I haven’t seen anything Dafne Keen has been in since Logan, so I can’t speak to how she’s grown as an actress, but she was underutilized here. Same with Jennifer Garner as Elektra, who feels like an afterthought in this fun collection of characters. 

The overall feeling I have on cameos is that I’m quite sick of them, unless they’re here for a reason other than a cynical pop for the audience. Multiverse of Madness was abundant with this and it makes that film insufferable on the rewatch at times. No Way Home is guilty of this at times as well with how long they leave the Spidey’s intros silent to make room for the audience clapping. It can be worse though. Just last year with two different DC films utilizing cameos very cynically. Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. The latter of which using cameos in a downright disrespectful way, with the lifeless CGI shells of the late Christopher Reeve, Adam West, and George Reeve to add some applause moments to a film that brings back a legacy character for cynical reasons in Michael Keaton’s Batman. All that to say, that in stark contrast, Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t do any of that, yet the cameos still feel a bit lame and forced in. That’s probably due to the nature of the film feeling very scatterbrained. 

At least in this act, we get the great fight between Deadpool and Wolverine in the Honda Odyssey, and the backstory to this Wolverine variant. The Wolverine of this film returned to Xavier’s mansion after getting shitfaced to the deaths of the X-Men. In response, Logan murdered everyone responsible, and many that weren’t. Causing the reputation of not only the X-Men, but all mutants to be tarnished and the world turned against them. The suit Logan wears is a physical reminder of the X-Men that he saw die, as well as what they wanted him to be, and who he wants to be. It’s a pretty typical self-loathing Logan story, but Hugh Jackman really sells it and makes it feel new. We get to know all of this through his conversation with Laura, and a scene with this film’s villain, Cassandra Nova.

Nova is a really forgettable villain. Emma Corrin does all they can in the role to add some levity or some charm to the character, but the script underserves them in the role, as Cassandra Nova is an unmotivated, evil for the sake of it villain, with no defined reasoning for anything that she does. Due to this, the character becomes non-threatening, and you really don’t care about anything she does. Even though she’s incredibly powerful and the way she can step into people’s mind is a creepy and well executed effect. That doesn’t really stop her from being one of the most forgettable Marvel villains to date. 

Final Act: “It only took 20 fucking years.” 

I’ve talked a bit about it, but that final act is a bit rough. From the forced in confrontation, to the lame inclusion of the Deadpool Corp, and the oddly choreographed action sequence. There’s some good bits in there, like the Nicepool stuff, and Logan’s cowl finally being realized in live action. It looks great in some shots, and fake as hell in others. But man am I glad that we finally got it. The Deadpool Corp are fucking stupid. They don’t care at all about the Multiverse and themselves getting axed, nor does it get acknowledged when Reynolds Deadpool tells them that they’ll all die. It’s cool to see all these comic variants of Deadpool walk through that portal, but it’s beyond lame how they’re used. The film would’ve been genuinely better off without them. But I guess we needed one more action scene and to make use of the Multiverse, we gotta throw em in. That action scene by the way, is really weird to me. Simple shot, being an Oldboy style oner. But the choreography feels a bit stunted, with many Deadpools running at the main duo, but yet they’re all running a couple at a time and getting wiped out in a couple of hits from our protagonists. It’s a cool shot, don’t get me wrong, but it just felt weird. Definitely too much information on the screen. 

I failed to mention the film’s needle drops, but to mention them now, I’d say that they’re really excessive and invasive, and are really annoying most of the time. There’s only three that I thought worked perfectly for the film. The N*SYNC “Bye Bye Bye” opening, the “One That I Want” car fight and the usage of “Like a Prayer” by Madonna. That all worked pretty well. I also haven’t noted Rob Simonsen’s score yet. I don’t like it. But I don't think it’s the travesty that I said it was on the first review. I still really don’t like it though the film wraps itself up in a nest little bow with a proper flimsy power of friendship and everything fixing itself. 

To kind of end this review a bit as I’m writing this at 11:30pm U.S. EST, and am very tired, I still like Deadpool & Wolverine on the second watch, but still not very much. I think it’s an okay at best film with a gluttony of issues, but never really stopping it from being a fun, gory and nasty ride through the multiverse. This movie is making lots of money and it will continue to make lots of money for Disney and Marvel. 

2024.
MCU
X-Men
Marvel
Deadpool

Rating Discrepancy - 6.5/10