By Luc Gauci Green, Third Year, English and History
Now, where do I even begin with this… The long-awaited sequel was jam-packed full of characters, flashbacks, action, and despite finding the overall trajectory of the film to be obvious, for me, it was never clear what awaited round the next corner.
After lots of complicated time travelling, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) has upset the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and finds out that his timeline has been destabilised because of the heart-wrenching death of Logan (Hugh Jackman) in, you guessed it, Logan (2017). The evil, British TVA boss, Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), intends to speed up the destruction with a very aptly named ‘Time Ripper’. So now Deadpool (who is, in reality, a retired, sad, girlfriend-less and purposeless car salesman-pool) puts his suit back on to find a variant of Wolverine/Logan to try to fix the timeline. Alas, Paradox banishes them both to the Void.
The pair then encounter a lot (and by that, I mean a lot) of mutants, random heroes and hundreds of Deadpool variants as they try to navigate the Void. They also desperately try to avoid Charles Xavier's scary, bald twin (what?!), Nova (Emma Corrin), who is the Void’s kingpin. After meeting some like-minded resistance fighters, they fight Nova in order to get back to Deadpool’s timeline and stop Paradox’s Time Ripper. Upon hearing about this machine, Nova decides to use it in combination with her powers to destroy all existing timelines. Ultimately, Deadpool and Wolverine, who end up being the good guys (surprise surprise), sacrifice themselves and destroy the machine at the cost of both their lives. Yet (surprise surprise), they don’t die and still manage to save all timelines. Happy days.
Despite this, the plot walked, so that the craftsmanship of the film could run. The cinematography was fantastic and helped to bring colour (perhaps a bit too much) to the iconically violent Deadpool films. Slow-motion fight scenes, swooping camera angles and blood splatters that seemed to jump out in 3D all contributed to a gory, but at the same time, completely mesmerising, viewing. Paired with a tracklist full of bangers like ‘You’re the One That I Want’ from Grease (1978), Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ and T.I.’s ‘Bring Em Out’, which perfectly complemented the high-octane action and left a lasting impression (for better or for worse) with the soundtrack’s incredible catchiness.
In terms of the storyline, Marvel blockbusters tend to be a bit formulaic: action-packed violence, a reconciliation of some kind and the good-(ish) guys triumphing in the end. The beginning of the film felt a bit slow and repetitive with grisly Deadpool fight scene after fight scene, and no clear direction of where the story was really going. However, it definitely picked up in the second half as the frequent switches from past to present began to make sense and a clear plan was discerned amid the violence.
Olivia Howard
As well as this, the acting is by no means Oscar-worthy, but it is extremely entertaining. Reynolds and Jackman band together really well, with Deadpool’s outrageous and incessant humour, contrasted with Wolverine’s serious and blunt (but equally funny) demeanour. The duo’s rude wit, Deadpool’s fourth-wall breaking mockery of just about everything (even Marvel and Disney themselves), and Wolverine’s general brusqueness almost never missed the mark. I think, for Marvel fans, the chance to see previous fan-favourite characters, such as Johnny Blaze (played by Chris Evans), Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) and many more mutants from the X-Men franchise felt like an apt goodbye to the Fox ownership of the mutant universe. But perhaps this also acts as a chance for a future revival of all these stories and characters - we’ll have to wait and see. In terms of costume, nothing can top the sight of a comic-book-accurate, five-foot-three Wolverine finally adorning the classic yellow suit… Except for maybe Deadpool’s toupee, when he hangs up the suit and joins Peter (Rob Delaney) as a car salesman.
Overall, the violent fights felt a bit excessive and unvaried, especially the seemingly never-ending battle between Wolverine and Deadpool, seeing as neither of them can die! At the same time, a lot of people are fans of the Deadpool franchise purely because of that extra grit and gore that isn’t seen in the usual PG-12 Marvel films. The humour was top notch and helped to tie together and bring alive a relatively formulaic storyline. It was lots of fun seeing the numerous cameos and especially Wolverine’s comical interactions with Deadpool. I would conclusively say that it is a good, entertaining watch, but it is by no means the groundbreaking film we were perhaps expecting. Maybe I’m being harsh, but I did not find it any better than Deadpool or Wolverine’s previous films.
Featured Image:IMDB / Deadpool and Wolverine
What did you think about Deadpool & Wolverine?
