The Dark Herald Recommends: Deadpool and Wolverine
(I won’t be able to avoid spoilers in this review but I will try to minimize them)
This is the last of the 20th Century Fox Marvel movies and it was…
I was about to say it was a sweet send-off but I absolutely cannot apply the term ‘sweet’ to this movie in any context. It is even more raunchy and foul-mouthed than the other two Deadpool movies put together and that’s saying something. This flick is loaded with drug and deviant sex humor, lots of gore but no nudity. If any of this is a dealbreaker for you, you can stop reading now.
There is quite a bit of anger in this movie. 20th Century Fox Marvel movies are now officially dead, this is the last one.
However, it was an affectionate send-off.
Four and Twenty years ago 20th Century Fox launched the first real superhero movie. No one really managed it before then. Yes, you could believe a man could fly but you couldn’t believe Gene Hackman’s clownish Lex Luthor was a threat to Superman. The Salkinds couldn’t resist playing it safe and insert TV-Batman-style camp. Tim Burton’s Batman wasn’t a superhero movie either it was a Tim Buton movie. When he left, the franchise jumped into camp with both feet.
Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four was arguably the first real effort but it was Corman and nobody saw it until Red Letter Media unearthed it.
No, the first proper superhero movie (with a decent budget) to play it straight every inch of the way was X-Men (2000). The closest thing to camp in that movie was a drive-by gag about a yellow costume.
For the next eight years 20th Century Fox/ Marvel’s superhero universe dominated the superhero market.* It built the foundation that Marvel Studios would be built on. It was fresh and innovative. There was real love for classic Marvel Comics. However, it ran out of gas comparatively quickly, Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer seems to have been the point where the magic at Fox was broken. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was so dull I couldn’t finish it. Then Fox/Marvel had a revival with the brilliant innovation of putting the X-Men back into their proper historical milieu in the 1960s, I wish James Bond’s producers would listen to the people telling them to do that.
We can pretend that Logan was the dignified end of the Marvel Fox films if we ignore Dark Phoenix with all our heart and soul.
But for a while, it was something very special and this was a heartfelt goodbye to it.
Which is kind of odd because the Deadpool franchise was a stand-alone within Fox. Like its comic book title, it was more comedy than superhero movie. Although, it did take itself just seriously enough to be more than raunchy camp. What made it the perfect vehicle for being the Marvel/Fox send-off is that breaking the fourth wall was a requirement for Deadpool. It meant that he could comment on real life things directly to the audience.
For instance…
****Spoiler ALERT****
In the first scene, Deadpool is digging up Logan’s body. He talks about how it would be a disgrace to bring Wolverine back to life after the beautiful and meaningful death Wolverine had in Logan. But that they are going to do it anyway.
From a structural standpoint, this is the worst of the Deadpool movies. The multiverse premise automatically kills any dramatic tension. The middle was an absolute muddle. It wandered from cameo to cameo in a desperate search of a plot and never quite finding one.
The story is that Wade gave up on superheroing when his girlfriend broke up with him but he’s adjusted or at least claims that he has even though it’s obvious he hates life as a used car salesman. At this birthday party, he is picked up by the TVA (takes swig of Four Roses before continuing. Fucking TVA!) and is brought before Mister Paradox who will introduce the MacGuffin.
Deadpool’s universe is dying because it lost its “Prime Being” namely Logan when he died. Normally these universes die on their own but Paradox decides he wants to speed up the process with his Time Extractor. However, he liked Deadpool so he picked him up and planned to drop him off in 616. Deadpool runs off and goes through a whole montage of Wolverines before finding one. Paradox then throws him and Logan in the trash heap dimension of discarded IPs. Deadpool and Logan must spend the rest of the movie escaping from this pocket universe and then try to save his.
The story is incredibly weak but the character development is inversely strong. The two-dimensional character of Deadpool finally gets a third. This is the movie where Deadpool finally gets a heart. It works. He really does.
This was only able to work because Hugh Jackman was playing it completely straight as Logan. Even at nearly sixty Jackman can still deliver the magic as Wolverine. By now you’ve heard the joke the “Disney will keep bringing you back until you’re 90” joke. When you are watching this movie you can believe it’s doable. Wolverine as straight man for Deadpool is why this film is able to do the things it does.
The movie does address criticisms or at least acknowledge the criticisms of the current superheroes and the recent addiction to multiverse storytelling. It admitted that Disney/Marvel had made mistakes which never happens for a Disney anything. Although, I noted there were no Star Wars or Grrl Boss jokes. There were some obvious gags that clearly got axed from on high. There are some truths Deadpool may not tell to the fourth wall.
Despite its flaws, it is easily the best Marvel film since Infinity War. But then this was a movie that someone actually wanted to make as opposed to being a corporate entertainment content product desperate to extract money from an increasingly fed-up audience.
Which brings up to the question:
Is Marvel saved?
Oh hell, no. This is a one-off project that Kevin Feige tried his damnedest to kill. It was only made in the first place because Bob Chapek got talked into it by Disney’s now late and much-lamented chief creative director. The Marvel brain trust that built the foundation of Marvel Entertainment was disbanded in the Disney watershed year of 2015. The talent pool of directors like John Favreau, Ken Brannaugh, and Joe Johnston have been scattered to the winds and replaced with noname, easily dominated, DEI hires like Chloe Zhao, and Julius Onah.
Yes, the Russo Brothers have been rehired but Feige is the one that destroyed Marvel once he was put in unfettered charge and he’s still in charge. I see no reason to expect meaningful change just because they are about to start making pastiche films of their previous triumphs.
No, this movie is not a turnaround. It was a funny, angry, teary-eyed farewell to the belle epoque of superhero movies that has now ended thanks to Disney.
If you liked the other Deadpool movies you’ll like this one too.
The Dark Herald Recommends with Confidence
*Don’t get me wrong Nolan’s Batman was great but it absolutely was not a universe, and the fact is there was no way to make it into one without destroying it.
