A fan-pleasing adventure.

With much fanfare and anticipation, the third entry in the Deadpool series was released nationwide on July 26, 2024. Even though it cost $200 million to produce (nearly four times the original) - it’s also the only Marvel Cinematic Universe film of the year, so it’s expected to score huge at the box office. A billion dollars could be in play. This also marks the first integration of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film franchise into the larger MCU, after Disney acquired the studio in 2019 for $71 billion dollars.

And with that acquisition came Deadpool, and his infamous R-rating. How would the House with the Mouse handle this adult material? Well… Marvel head Kevin Feige opted to let “boys be boys,” so the character’s trademark violence and lewd language is on full, glorious display. It remains to be seen how this will integrate into future team-up movies - but for now, this is Disney's first R-rated Marvel movie, and it works.

After some mutli-dimensional shenanigans bring them together, the 128-minute story sees Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool joining forces with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine to defeat a common enemy and save a universe. The film's timeline-hopping plot is, at its core, a convoluted means to an end. It exists only to allow the filmmakers creative carte blanche to stuff in whatever character or reference they’d like, and have it “work.” Thankfully, Deadpool’s fourth-wall breaking superpower allows him to guide the audience through this mess by explicitly acknowledging the machinations behind the Disney-Fox merger, and its implications on the story. Trying to explain this within the narrative would have been cumbersome, so while it feels like a total cheat, I appreciated the straightforward approach.

Once that foundational exposition is out of the way, things get off to a roaring start with a corpse-desecrating fight montage set to the ironically upbeat sounds of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” From there, the story pivots to a proper buddy film with Reynolds and Jackman. Having previously appeared together only briefly in the disappointing “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the gentleman two are finally afforded the opportunity to star in a proper two-hander. And it’s a delight to see these real-life friends bring their famous chemistry to the big screen. That familiarity is also something they share with the film’s director, Shawn Levy: Reynolds worked with him on “Free Guy,” and “The Adam Project” and Jackman starred in “Real Steel” – all three of which I’ve already reviewed, which you can read or watch by clicking here.

Reynolds is predictably excellent, as always: maintaining his snark without becoming irritating. His character however is in a state of arrested development, as he doesn’t learn or do anything new. If there’s a “Deadpool 4,” I’d like to see Marvel do something genuinely disruptive or different with him. One-liners and self-deprecating monologues about sacrifice can only sustain this franchise for so long.

Then there’s Jackman as the Wolverine. Including cameos, this is his tenth time portraying the character, and while “Logan” remains his strongest performance, he taps into some genuine emotional pathos here. Even in his 50s, this Australian still has the sauce. He’s also a perfect comedic foil for Ryan’s constant quips - most of which come at the Greatest Showman’s expense. And while I’m not a comic purist, it was delightful to see Hugh finally don that iconic yellow and blue cowl.

Meanwhile, Emma Corrin is featured as the bald and menacing villain that rules over the “Void.” She’s serviceable in the role, but her motivation is just lazy writing. Narratively, little here is compelling or organic, it only exists to smash more intellectual property together for laughs. I was also disappointed that nearly all supporting characters from previous “Deadpool” films are sidelined, and only glimpsed in the bookends. I wasn’t expecting much continuation there, but it would have been nice to catch up with Dopinder or Domino again.

The first “Deadpool” movie relied on potty humor. The sequel on pop-culture. And this threequel leans heavily into self-referential comic book lore. This constant barrage of callbacks and references is like drinking from a garden hose. With an array of material only the terminally online can fully appreciate. Indeed, one character’s entire dialogue string relies on the audience knowing about a shelved Fox project from ten years ago. If you’ve been watching Marvel films since the 90s - you’re in for a treat… but I fear many will be left scratching their heads at some of the more obscure references.

None of the surprise cameos are particularly significant to the plot, so I guess you’d be okay without knowing who they are. But it was still fun to see their characters again. And the actors themselves are provided a nice, if brief, opportunity to tie a bow on their respective legacies. A clip-show montage of Fox’s X-Men franchise during the credits is also a rather fun send-off to characters and actors of yesteryear.

Beyond these deep-cut cameos and fan-pleasing references, it’s the multiversal variants of Deadpool and Wolverine that provide some of the best laughs, as we glimpse angrier, shorter, and nicer versions of the title characters. While the visuals here aren’t noteworthy, I'm happy to report that everything is cleanly photographed against simple and uncluttered sets. An early sequence amidst massive ruined artifacts in a temporal purgatory is particularly inspired. The giant, hollowed-out corpse of Ant-Man is undoubtedly one of the more creative decisions. All the while, the fight choreography allows for ample blood and gore.

Although it’s a clumsy introduction of the X-Men into the MCU, this is a hugely amusing experience for die hard fans. But God help you if you go into this picture without having seen at least two dozen other films first. I can’t in good conscience even recommend it to casual viewers for that reason. But if you are determined, I’d suggest watching – at a minimum – “Deadpool” one and two, obviously - and then “Logan” and season one of “Loki” beforehand.

And for those who have invested half their lives watching these stories and following these characters? “Deadpool & Wolverine” is tailor-made for you, a raucously fun time that satisfyingly unites two of Marvel’s best characters. I thought this film was GREAT, and I’m excited to watch it again soon.