In the past few years, we have seen disappointment after disappointment from Marvel’s Phase 4 movies. “Dr. Strange and The Multiverse of Madness” was madness, failing to impress any die-hard Marvel fans or even casual watchers. “Thor: Love and Thunder” was a thunderous crash of nonsense and wasted time, and honestly I forgot it existed until I was writing this article. However, there were also some masterpieces in this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. This phase gives us “Guardians of The Galaxy: Volume 3,” an incredibly sad story with a heartwarming ending for a generally very pessimistic character. We also got “Moon Knight”, a show that made me excited for what would come next with an amazing performance and a great plot about a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), one being a museum worker and one being a mercenary and an icon for the Egyptian god Khonshu, which fun characters and incredibly well choreographed fight scenes all throughout. In this mixed bag of extremely good or extremely bad, where does the newest MCU movie “Deadpool and Wolverine” lie?
Well, I’d argue “Deadpool and Wolverine” is one of the best Marvel movies. I rate my media on a specific grading scale, each aspect worth 10 points. So out of story, entertainment value, and acting did “Deadpool and Wolverine” manage to skewer to their side?
A movie’s priority should be its story. After all, how are they going to be funny if we can’t understand what they’re doing or who they are? Well, “Deadpool and Wolverine” manage to carry themselves with a simple but effective and well-executed plot, (spoilers ahead). “Deadpool and Wolverine” follows Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds), a now-wanted man from the Time Variance Authority (TVA), an organization that hunts down people who disturb their respective timelines or other timelines. This is because Deadpool’s universe is being destroyed and is traveling in an
attempt to find a replacement Wolverine. This leads him and the replacement Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman) to be sent to a place called the void where they must work together with other characters like Gambit (played by Channing Tatum), Elektra (played by Jenefer Garner), and Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) to beat the ruler of this place, Cassandra Nova (played by Emma Corrin). They eventually do and break out to Deadpool’s home universe where they encounter Paradox (played by Matthew Macfadyen), who is the lead of the TVA handling Deadpool’s universe. Here, Cassandra takes over the machine and Deadpool and Wolverine have to fight through dozens of other Deadpools and stop the machine. Deadpool and Wolverine attempt to make the ultimate sacrifice but their combined strength saves them, and the movie ends with Deadpool, Wolverine, and all of Deadpool’s friends living happily ever after. The story was something great and all the characters were so fun to watch and experience, earning “Deadpool and Wolverine” a 10/10 for the story.
The acting in the movie was overall super entertaining and impressive to watch. Even in a comedy movie, I often found myself enthralled by the characters’ stories and how they’d grow. For starters, Hugh Jackman blew it out of the water with Wolverine, coming back to portray the sad, broken version instead of his usual heroic beloved version, leading to some great contrast in character with Deadpool who already had that arc in “Deadpool 2.” Ryan Reynolds also excelled as usual, making the character incredibly lively and energetic as always, while making room for there to be genuine emotional and tense moments. Even the villains, who I wasn’t very fond of, killed it. As this was Marvel’s first go-around with a Rated R movie, I assume the writing was what killed them here. That said, Matthew Macfadyen played it perfectly alongside Emma Corrin, making for incredibly tense villains who set the stakes very well. Overall, the acting was perfect, and never left me disappointed for a second, earning itself an astounding 10/10.
This movie franchise prides itself on how funny and well-written it can be, but does it measure up to the previous two movies? Well, with full confidence I can say this movie has to be one of the funniest movies I’ve ever watched, never failing to make me laugh with its constant jokes and bits. “Deadpool” is one of those movies that manages to be a great comedy while also being a great story and experience, personally having rewatched the other two several times before. Recently, the opening scene went viral as a meme with Deadpool dancing to “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC while fighting TVA agents. This along with many of the other jokes blew it out of the water for me as a truly amazing movie. The fight scenes were also something special, the choreography being incredibly impressive and the angles making it feel so much more cinematic than most, if not all, the fights we see in Marvel movies. We also can’t forget to talk about the star-studded soundtrack, having music from NSYNC, The Goo Goo Dolls, Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts, Green Day, and other big hit bands. These factors colliding together make it impossible to give it anything other than a 10/10.
Overall, “Deadpool and Wolverine” is a near-perfect movie, being so incredibly funny and entertaining that it is a must-watch for any movie lover out there. Between the characters, writing, soundtrack, jokes, and acting, I’d be a criminal not to give it a 29/30 at the bare minimum. So, if you were on the fence about seeing the biggest-grossing R-rated film ever, this is your movie.
