Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

A 4th Wall Break Too Far

Wade (Ryan Reynolds) attends his birthday party with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Blind Al, the lesbian X-Men, and others.  He appears to be truly happy, despite the obvious cheap hairpiece.  But there is a knock on the door.  A band of armored goons have arrived to take him away.  His universe - an unremarkable timeline in the scheme of things - is marked for deletion unless a great hero can be found.  No, not Deadpool.  Deadpool knows just the guy: Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).  He uses a plane-hopping gizmo that he stole from the TVA (Time Variance Authority) to find a suitable Wolverine.  Mostly, he finds tragic, comic, or dead versions of Wolverine.  Finally, he locates a sad excuse for a Wolverine, but it's the best he's going to get.  Rejected!  Off to the void with you.  In the void, a variety of characters - heroes and villains - from abandoned Marvel series appear.

The movie leaps into the multiverse with glee and proposes an agency that determines the viability of each subverse in the MCU.  This allows the movie to grab characters from a variety of Marvel hero movies who were not part of the modern Marvel-verse.  For instance, Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and the Human Torch (Chris Evans) all appear as characters that pre-date the MCU.  Laura - AKA X-23 (Dafne Keen) - also returns, providing a second callback to the tragic conclusion (apparently not) to Logan's story.  Though it is entertaining and funny, it proves to be too much.  Deadpool is no longer Deadpool, he is Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool.  Yes, that is part of the schtick of Deadpool, but a little bit goes a long way.  This movie is one extended fourth wall break, piling the ludicrous upon the more ludicrous.  Again, it is fun as it goes, but it was something of a letdown.  With a multiverse of endless possibilities, it becomes difficult to care about this particular universe.  A lot of this feels like ad lib bloopers tied together as a movie.

The fights between Wolverine and Deadpool are overdone.  We have two characters with amazing healing factors mean they can't die.  One fight is fine.  The second is just pointless and makes the characters appear stupid.  Sure, it's played for laughs.  In the big fight where all the former characters get their opportunity to shine, they do.  In fact, they all kick butt and it is completely one-sided.  Apparently the villains weren't that tough.  Meh.

Again, I enjoyed the film while I was watching it, but it was like eating a box of cookies in one sitting.  Too much sweet and not so satisfying afterwards.  Nonetheless, recommended.