I am not a fan of Deadpool, nor did I enjoy his previous two films. I'm glad that many others love them, but they're not my thing. I wasn't going to watch this, but I love Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, so I gave in to nostalgia and gave this a shot. I think this is a mixed bag, but I do think it's more fun than the previous two Deadpool films.

It has all of the same issues I had with its predecessors. The humor is an endless barrage of references, fourth wall breaks, and raunchy sex jokes, and a lot of them annoyed me rather than making me laugh. But there were a surprising number of jokes that I did find funny (The Proposal), and some were even brilliant and clever. The writing asks us to care about the story and characters, mocks us for caring, and then asks us to care again. But I won't pretend that some of the emotional moments didn't work for me, with the mid-credits scene actually hitting me in the feels. One action scene abuses shaky cam to the point of being incomprehensible, but the others were well shot and a lot of fun to watch, with one taking inspiration from the hallway scene from Oldboy. I'm still not a fan of Ryan Reynolds or his performance as Deadpool, but I did find him far more tolerable here. Hugh Jackman seamlessly slips back into the Wolverine suit and reminds us of why he's still one of the best comic book movie performances we have ever been given. Deadpool and Wolverine's dynamic mostly worked, which is helped by solid chemistry between Jackman and Reynolds. I found Matthew Macfadyen's performance to be distractingly terrible, but Emma Corrin's Cassandra Nova was fantastic. They were clearly having a blast playing this role, and every facial expression and body movement captured my attention. I hope they get the chance to play this role again, because they could be an excellent antagonist for a serious film.

Deadpool & Wolverine has a ton of cameos and references to other Marvel films from both the MCU and what came before it. Fortunately, like with Spider-Man No Way Home, I felt that the story had a purpose for the references that wasn't solely about making us feel nostalgic. A lot of the references here serve to pay tribute to the superhero films that came from 20th Century Fox. Seeing various characters from those older films trapped in the Void reflects how they are no longer relevant to modern culture, and they have been left behind and forgotten. This film gives them one last opportunity to say goodbye with a form of dignity that many of them were not rewarded in their actual films, while also keeping the door open to future possibilities. I am still not thrilled that they brought Hugh Jackman's Wolverine back, since I believe that Logan was the perfect conclusion to his run as the character, and this film actually agrees with me on that. It knows it's kind of tarnishing the legacy of that film, but it's also not, because it's following a comic book trend that I had forgotten about. Superheroes die all of the time in comics, with even beloved characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and Batman all staying dead for a while. But they were always brought back, because they had more stories to tell. Deadpool & Wolverine follows this idea by letting us know that, if there's a story to be told, our heroes can always come back. It doesn't take away from their sacrifices, nor does it seriously hurt the stories that came before it. Heroes die, and they come back. If Wolverine can come back, then any of the heroes from past Fox films could return some day as well. This movie serves as a goodbye to those past films and heroes, but also lets us know that we could possibly see them again if we wanted to. I think it's fair to see this idea as removing the serious impact that deaths should have in these stories, in addition to reminding us that this film is advertising future products to us. Disney is begging us not to give up on the MCU by letting us know that they could throw in a bunch of nostalgic references to the past to keep us on the hook. Still, I think there's something beautiful in this message and idea, and it's more than I expected from a Deadpool movie.

Also, that montage at the end showing the behind the scenes footage of the past Fox superhero films got me unexpectedly emotional. I am old enough to have grown up watching X-Men 1-3 and the two Fantastic Four films. Regardless of their quality, they are still a part of me. Saying goodbye to 20th Century Fox is saying goodbye to a big part of my childhood, and it's bittersweet. I know it's a studio, but it's a studio that brought me so much entertainment and joy, and I will always be grateful for that.

To conclude, I had a lot more fun than I was expecting while watching this. A lot of it didn't work for me, but there were many things that did, and I left the theater happy. It was entertaining, and that's all I needed from it.