Movie
Name/Year: Deadpool
& Wolverine
(2024)
Genre:
Action, Adventure, Comedy,
Superhero, Sci-Fi
Length:
2h
8min
Rating:
R
Director:
Shawn Levy
Writers:
Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy, Rob
Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza
Actors:
Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Dafne
Keen, Jon Favreau, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams,
Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, Henry
Cavill, Wunmi Mosaku, Aaron Stanford, Tyler Mane, Karan Soni, Brianna
Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapicic, Randal Reeder, Lewis Tan,
Nicholas Pauley, Aaron W Reed, Ray Park, Blake Lively, Inez Reynolds,
Nathan Fillion, Matthew McConaughey, Olin Reynolds, Paul Mullin,
Peggy the Dog, Alex Kyshkovych
IMDb
Blurb: Deadpool is offered a
place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance
Authority, but instead recruits a variant of Wolverine to save his
universe from extinction.
Cat’s
Point of View:
I have been craving another cinematic
Deadpool fix ever since the credits rolled on Deadpool 2
(2018). The next movie just couldn't get here fast enough. Then out
of the blue, Ryan Reynolds (Free Guy, Red Notice, The Adam
Project) released the teaser ad where he nonchalantly asked Hugh
Jackman (Real Steel, Rise of the Guardians, The Greatest Showman)
if he would come back to play Wolverine one more time and I've
been fairly bouncing in my seat with anticipation ever since. Marvel
could churn out an endless number of Deadpool movies and I
wouldn't care if they were just cash-grabs; as long as Reynolds was
involved with the creative direction and continuing taking on the
role of the titular snarky, quick-witted, irreverent character.
Then there's Wolverine. He's one
of my top 3 favorite X-Men of all time. He shares the top
spots for my fangirling with Rogue and Gambit. I've been a fan of
Wolvie longer, though. I have core memories of getting into my dad's
comic stash when I was little (we're talking 1st or 2nd
grade here) and they were primarily X-Men issues. I think I actually
cried when I saw an issue where Wolverine was in a hospital
bed for some reason. (Don't ask me what issue or the rest of the plot
as to WHY, but I think that
Storm and Lady Deathstrike were also in that issue? I haven't tried
to look that one up in forever and that was over 30 years ago so...)
I digress.
In any
case, when you get the team-up of the century, it warrants a
cinematic experience. We went to the theater for Deadpool &
Wolverine as a family, as part
of my daughter's 21st
birthday celebrations. We all loved it. Give us more. Of course, it
was also mid-August at this point and I had already been spoiled on
the majority of the “secret” cameos, too but I didn't care.
Speaking
of which, we here at Trust the Dice do our best to offer you
spoiler-free reviews. There are some occasions where spoilers are
very hard to avoid, however. Deadpool & Wolverine
hit screens on July 26th
and we were in theater seats on August 14th,
and I had been thoroughly spoiled on quite a bit without even trying.
In fact, I had done almost my best to avoid any and all spoilers
because I wanted to be surprised regarding the cameos, etc.
Unfortunately, even with dodging social media posts and avoiding
TikTok and the like, I still ran into them. I said “almost”
because I was eagerly partaking of the media whirlwind that Jackman
and Reynolds went on to promote the movie. I watched so many
interviews and their promo-spots appearing on things like Hot
Ones (2015-) because that duo is
just heartwarmingly hilarious with their playful rivalry and
friendship. At one point, the spoiling became inevitable because “it
had been out [in theaters] long enough.”
That being said,
I'm going to offer a summary of my experience here, spoiler free
before I delve into the spoilers, so you can skip the spoily section
if you have managed thus far to avoid them (and if you have, bless
you, your patience, and I'm jealous of your luck).
The action was
vicious, bloody, and glorious – as expected for this R-rated
superhero mashup. The characters of Deadpool and Wolverine
both are very violent and by nature pull no punches, verbally or
otherwise. This was the time that everything came together to set
both of them off of the leash that the earlier X-Men movies
had required for rating purposes.
I loved the story,
as well. It was fun to see this dynamic duo explore the multiverse
courtesy the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. If you aren't a fan of
spoilers, though, and haven't watched the Loki (2021-2023)
series yet, you'll want to do that before you delve into Deadpool
& Wolverine. Some of the elements of this story will
definitely spoil some of that series if you haven't already watched
it. Further, it's not a must to have seen it to understand Deadpool
& Wolverine, but it helps explain some of the fine nuances in
the film that there wasn't explanatory exposition about. It generally
helps to be up-to-date with MCU stuff because they do love to weave
in little nuggets that underscore how everything is connected between
all the various individual superheroes and stories. It's not
mandatory in order to enjoy this movie, however. Further, you'll also
want to be caught up-to-date on the Deadpool movies in
general, as there are events touched on in Deadpool &
Wolverine that call back to events from Deadpool 2.
Deadpool &
Wolverine was also very respectful to the narrative that had come
before for the cinematic version of Wolverine – particularly
in regards to the events in Logan (2017). Hell, this movie was
just flat-out respectful to the character of Wolverine in
general. Can we talk about the classic yellow & blue suit? Verbal
jabs from the banter in the early X-Men movies aside, I've
been hoping they would eventually bring that out of the proverbial
mothballs. It was worth the wait.
I was also
intrigued by Deadpool & Wolverine's villain, Casasndra
Nova, played by Emma Corrin (The Crown, A Murder at the End of the
World, Good Grief). The way she used her powers occasionally just
made me want to squirm in my seat from 'the ick.' It was a powerful
performance... not to pun.
Also,
as usual, this latest Deadpool
movie remains true to the character's prolific use of 4th-wall
breaking. It wouldn't be Deadpool
if it didn't happen, to be honest. Between all of the squee-inducing
moments of cameo-induced bliss (and they're some heavy duty cameos,
let me tell you) and the multiverse laden plot, Deadpool &
Wolverine is a wild, raunchy,
and action-packed ride. I'd say most audiences would agree,
considering the high ratings across multiple sites that track such
things and the over 1.2 billion dollar box office (as of September
1st,
2024).
The
magical duo of Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum: Secret of
the Tomb, Free Guy, Stranger Things)
and Ryan Reynolds has resulted in some of my favorite movies out of
the last few years. I want...no, need more.
With
all that out of the way – here comes the spoiler section.
If you
don't want to see them, scroll real fast down to the bottom.
Here
we go.
The
cameos were a huge part of what made Deadpool &
Wolverine amazing for me. Some
of them were just fun, like seeing Ray Park (Star Wars:
Episode I – The Phantom Menace, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Accident
Man) reprise his role as Toad
just for a few seconds or the original Sabretooth, Tyler Mane
(Halloween II, Jupiter's Legacy, Doom Patrol)
– both from the OG X-Men
(2000) movie.
Others
were more integral to the story, such as B-17, the time agent from
Loki played by Wunmi
Mosaku (Lovecraft Country, Loki, Scavengers Reign).
It was also a real treat to get to see Jennifer Garner (Peppermint,
Yes Day, The Adam Project)
reprise Elektra
without any of the baggage from the mixed reviews from Daredevil
(2003) or Elektra
(2005). Here, she was just able to be a badass. I'm also a fan of the
new guy that has stepped into the modern version of the character
Blade, but Wesley
Snipes (The Player, Dolemite Is My Name, True Story)
is my Blade dating
back to the Blade
(1998) trilogy. His movies were what started it all for the MCU.
Before that, DC had really been the one that had reigned at the box
office. I was giddy – yes, giddy – I tell you when I learned he
would be joining this cast to reprise his iconic role.. and I was not
disappointed at all.
But
the whole reason why I couldn't hold my spoilers in was Channing
Tatum (The Lost City, Fly Me to the Moon, Blink Twice)
as Gambit. Tatum, and really the whole world, was cheated when Fox
was acquired by Disney and shelved his Gambit movie. I'd been waiting
for that for years. His
outstanding performance in Deadpool & Wolverine
as the card-tossing and staff-wielding ragin' Cajun is proof positive
that he absolutely 100% can pull off that character and make a
stand-alone movie bankable. I certainly hope that the mouse house has
woken up and decides to dust cobwebs off of that movie and resurrect
it from production hell so we can see it in all its glory. Further,
they should tap Levy to help Tatum bring it to the screen. Seriously.
He even got the accent right. Yes, right. I'm from Louisiana and I've
got family in the southern part of the state that talks just like
Gambit does. I can spot a fake “Cajun” accent a mile away, and he
nailed it.
I like
Taylor Kitsch (Only the Brave, 21 Bridges, The Terminal
List) as an actor just fine.
They did him – and the character of Gambit – dirty in X-Men
Origins: Wolverine (2009). That
was not the Gambit we needed. Channing Tatum's Gambit was. (The only
other one I've seen come close was a 20 minute short called Gambit:
Playing for Keeps (2020),
featuring world champion martial artist Nick Bateman (Hobo
With a Shotgun, The Perception, Airplane Mode)
and Eric Roberts (Heroes, The Dark Knight, Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood). (As an aside,
Bateman had also worked on a previous Gambit
short of only 4 minutes in length and the 20 minute one seems to be
its sequel, given the reprised roles of both Gambit and Rogue.)
Without
going too far down that rabbit hole, my point is that I love that
character. I want to see justice done for that character, and
Channing Tatum's version of that character was the closest I've seen
outside of the original animated X-Men
(1992-1997) voiced by Chris Potter (Kung-Fu: The Legend
Continues, The Pacifier, Heartland)
and the admirable job in X-Men '97
(2024-) by A.J. LoCascio (The Witcher: Nightmare of the
Wolf, Gremlins: Secrets oft he Mogwai, The Croods: Family Tree).
Channing Tatum is the live-action Gambit we need. Period. Let's make
it happen already. With the set-up already in place with the
mutliverse, there's zero reason why it shouldn't.
So
there we have it.
Spoilers
are over as of here. Don't read above this line if you want to keep
yourself in the dark on all the glorious cameos I mentioned. (I also
left out some big ones, but I don't want to touch them because they
are more glorious in the moment and you're just going to have to see
them for yourself!)
I
would watch Deadpool & Wolverine
again in a heartbeat, and am somewhat impatiently biding my time for
it to reach streaming platforms so I can do that very thing.. a few
times... at least. If you're even slightly a fan of the MCU or these
characters, Deadpool & Wolverine
is a must-see.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 79%
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score –95%
Metascore
– 56%
Metacritic
User Score –
7.7/10
IMDB
Score –
8.0/10
Trust
the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5
P.S.
- There is a post-credits
scene, as well as a closing montage.
Movie
Trailer: