Shadows on the Wall | Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine

dir Shawn Levy
scr Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Shawn Levy
prd Kevin Feige, Lauren Shuler Donner, Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds
with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, Wunmi Mosaku, Tyler Mane, Karan Soni, Dafne Keen, Chris Evans, Channing Tatum, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes
release US/UK 26.Jul.24
24/US Marvel 2h07

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While Deadpool has always crushed the fourth wall, this movie takes an entirely meta approach to storytelling, becoming an ode to how Fox's Marvel characters have been absorbed (or abandoned) in Disney's Marvel universe. Dialog bristles with riotously funny gags, including the acknowledgement that the multiverse premise is feeling very tired. Which can't help but make the film feel uneven as it switches between clever comedy and enormous action.

Feeling lonely, Wade (Reynolds) longs to partner with Logan (Jackman) on an important quest, but first needs to locate a living version of him in an alternate timeline. Annoyed, power-mad time authority exec Paradox (Macfadyen) banishes them into the void, a kind of existential Mad Max-style trash bin, where they team up with heroes from Fox-era movies to battle Cassandra (Corrin), Professor Xavier's evil twin. If they can defeat her and escape the void, maybe they can save Wade's timeline, including his estranged wife Vanessa (Baccarin), roommate Blind Al (Uggams) and best pal Peter (Delaney).

A barrage of hilarious references, sight gags (the best being a logo half-buried in the void) and cameos (one Wolverine variant is genius) keeps us on our toes, afraid to miss anything. Although only die-hard Marvel fans will catch everything. Although the void feels under-imagined, at least the writers avoid using the multiverse as just another easy plot device, diving fully into the absurdity. They also expand several cameos into proper roles (stay until the very end of the credits).

At the centre is the fabulously exuberant banter between Reynolds and Jackman, who so clearly love each other that their fights are like epically violent marital spats. Their razor-sharp dialog is by far the best thing about the movie, so much so that the gritty and increasingly enormous battle set-pieces begin to feel dull by comparison. And while Corrin has a lot of fun as the gleefully sadistic villain of the piece, it's Macfadyen who emerges as an even more engagingly slippery baddie.

Structurally, the film shifts awkwardly between snappy comedy, messy action and quiet drama, plus a few moments of surging sentimentality. Each jarring tone change throws us out of the narrative, so little is able to resonate very deeply. As a result, this is a very entertaining film that you watch from a distance, always feeling slightly outside all the in-jokes. And as they laugh about what they can get away with in a Disney movie, there's one topic that's still obviously taboo, relegated to the subtext.

themes, language, violence 24.Jul.24

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