Reel Geeks: Deadpool and Wolverine

By Mike Montgomery

For those not aware, I’m part of the recorded-when-we-can podcast “Reel Geeks.”  While we predominantly focus on older films on the show, I thought it might be interesting to use this blog to expand the brand a bit and write up print reviews for newer content when I have the chance to get to a theater.  I also thought it might be interesting to focus more on my thoughts and experiences as a member of the audience instead of the standard dissection of things like “Plot” and “cinematography” and other words usually pulled out by second rate internet trolls who’ve had about as much time in an actual film class as Neil Breen but really want to feel important so they use the big boy words so they can sound important.

And yes, I’m fully aware that if you’re learning of this column from our audio content then there’s no way in hell this will qualify as “new” by the time you’re reading it.  Look, I’m making do with what I have, ok?

I shall do my best to avoid spoilers (you’ll understand why if you choose to read on) but I can’t promise that absolutely nothing will slip, so if you truly want to see the movie “unsullied” then you should stop reading riiiiight … now.

With me again Peanut?  Let’s annoy some film nerds!

If you’re reading this while Deadpool and Wolverine is having its theatrical run, you’ll probably see people on social media proclaiming “Marvel is BACK!” “Marvel Jesus saves!” “Best Marvel movie since Endgame!”  Here’s the thing.  I’ve got three words for people like that and I’ll even put them on a separate line, all highlighted and everything, to make sure they get the message:

MARVEL! NEVER! LEFT!  

Listen, going to a Marvel movie because you enjoy a particular cinematic oeuvre and want to explore the human condition is pretty much the equivalent of going to a Star Wars movie for the Oscar winning dialogue.  You’ve no one but yourself to blame for your disappointment.  Has Marvel Studios needed to make changes?  Of course.  When you’re pulling a VFX team off one unfinished film (Quantumania) to work on another unfinished film (Wakanda Forever), something’s not right.  Did Bob Iger and many of the suits at Disney get greedy with their franchises?  Most definitely.  But us fans?  We go to these movies for fun.  Remember that?  Remember going to a comic book movie to escape life and partake of something that lets you laugh and feel good for a couple hours?  That’s what Deadpool and Wolverine is.  First and foremost.  Yes the plots are often formulaic, yes the stakes are low and no you probably won’t have a life changing epiphany by the time the credits roll.  And you know what else I pretty much just described?

Ice cream.  Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me you’re above a big bowl of ice cream from time to time?  Because, more often than not, that’s what these movies are.  Cinematic ice cream.

I’ve heard the movie described as a love letter to the Fox Marvel-verse and that honestly is the best way to put it.  It is surprisingly respectful of that franchise’s place in film history, while at the same time being just as irreverent and ridiculous as we expect the franchise Ryan Reynolds launched to be.  I have to give it credit for this, because frankly in a film world where studios love to just shotgun member-berries at you, seeing a film give you the references and cameos you swore up and down you always wanted and do it in a way that doesn’t feel like the production has to come to a screeching halt first is really nice.  With the references and cameos, I do feel that the fact so many of them went unspoiled is a textbook example of why not posting spoilers before a film’s release is so important.  As a social media user who had to deal with a particularly arrogant section of fandom going out of it’s way to spoil and ruin everything about Spider-Man: No Way Home in the equivalent of a trivially geeky dick swinging contest, being able to actually enjoy the surprises in this film was an experience I truly appreciated.

Reynolds and Jackman are absolutely brilliant in the leads here, and we’d have every right to expect nothing less than the perfection they delivered.  Ryan Reynolds could probably teaching acting classes on playing Deadpool, and at this point I’m pretty sure that for Hugh Jackman playing Logan is akin to breathing.  He has no idea how to not play the character.  I won’t go into details regarding either lead’s performance, again they’ve done this long enough for us to know what to expect, but I think what needs to be noted is this.  This isn’t just Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine, this is Hugh Jackman unleashed. After retiring the character with Logan I remember Hugh Jackman being quoted as saying he’d put the suit on again to work in the MCU and that was the only way he’d do it.  This is essentially that movie.  This is Jackman getting to do all the things he didn’t have the opportunity to do in the Fox films.

If there’s anyone in the movie you should focus on, specifically who will likely see less media coverage, I’d have to pick Dafne Keen and Emma Corrin.  Matthew McFayden is absolutely doing great middle management as Paradox but it doesn’t feel like much of a stretch for him.  Between this and The Acolyte, this is very much Dafne Keen’s year.  Admittedly she doesn’t have a lot to do, but she does get one key scene that she executes flawlessly, and if you enjoyed her as Laura in Logan, you’ll see more of that here.  The claws do indeed come out, and she’s clearly putting in work.

Corrin’s Cassandra Nova … frankly the only word I can think of for their performance here is “delicious.”  I’m not super familiar with their body of work (yes, I know she played Princess Di, but that’s the extend of my knowledge), but I think this is their first time as a villain and they’re clearly relishing every moment of it.  While Nova’s storyline is pretty standard, Corrin’s work is the key.  Every time she speaks, each word just drips with this syrupy, slimey, evil with such a charming delivery that you’ll occasionally find yourself agreeing with her before you stop and go “Oh wait …”  Her movements often have a dancer’s grace and she employs that perfectly with Nova’s tactile telepathy.  Every time her hand plunges through a character’s head, there’s a smoothness that almost makes it beautiful … and then you get nauseous at the body horror you’re witnessing.

So, in short, yes by now you might’ve had certain aspects of the film spoiled.  Maybe by now you’re curious about the things you’ve heard.  In any case, go see it.  You’ll laugh, you’ll have fun, and you’ll leave in a more positive mindset than you went in.  Y’know … what movies are generally supposed to do.