Deadpool & Wolverine review: Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds cut loose in comic romp

Deadpool & Wolverine is a fast, snappy, cheeky superhero self-parody that takes the mickey out of a franchise that has made billions.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine. Picture: Supplied

At one point in Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) introduces Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to Nicepool (Reynolds). “This is Logan,” he tells him. “He’s usually shirtless but he’s let himself go since the divorce.” Jackman looks on without comment.

Later, referring to Wolverine’s death in Logan (2017), which was made by 20th Century Fox before it was sold to Disney, he explains, “Fox killed him. Disney brought him back. They’re going to make him do this til he’s 90.” Jackman almost nods in agreement.

Later still, facing a villain, Deadpool threatens to unleash a weapon of mass destruction: Wolverine will “sing the entire second act of The Music Man”, as Jackman did on Broadway, “without a warm-up”.

These scenes illustrate the intended humour of this Marvel superhero movie self-parody. It stars two middle-aged men who know they are being paid a lot of money to wear ridiculous uniforms and take the mickey out of a franchise that has made billions at the box office.

Jackman is the straight man, though he does have a few comic moments, especially involving the scruffy Dogpool (canine actor Peggy). The movie would not exist without Reynolds – “I am the Marvel Jesus,” Deadpool declares – who uses his now trademark destruction of the fourth wall to poke fun at the hands that feed him.

He cracks jokes about Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (“You’ve joined at a low point,” he tells Jackman), mocks the audience, calls his co-stars by their real names, mentions his wife, actor Blake Lively, asks about the dialect coach and the intimacy co-ordinator, and semi-directs the movie. “Wait for the extras to clear,” he tells Jackman ahead of a fight scene.

Reynolds is credited as the lead scriptwriter and that makes sense. It’s fast, snappy, cheeky, crude and all about Deadpool. The other writers include director Shawn Levy, Reynolds’s Canadian compatriot who is best known for the Night at the Museum series (2006-22).

Jackman and Reynolds in another scene from Deadpool & Wolverine. Picture: Supplied

Here’s the plot, for what it’s worth. As the title suggests, Deadpool and Wolverine join forces to fight Mr Paradox (a miscast Matthew Macfadyen from the TV series Succession), a rogue official at the Time Variance Authority who plans to wipe out Deadpool’s universe. They also, almost needless to say, have to fight each other a lot.

The Marvel multiverse, which Reynolds disses, means there are several universes, several Deadpools and several Wolverines, and we meet a few of them. Technically speaking, the main Wolverine is not the one who died in Logan. The main Deadpool is the one from Deadpool (2016) and its 2018 sequel.

It’s full of violence, swearing and juvenile sexual jokes that merit the MA15+ rating (it’s R in the US). It’s amusing at times, especially for fans of the MCU as several Marvel superhero movie stars pop up in cameo roles.

You have to wonder, though, when the comic well will run dry; when ridiculing your employer will become just another day at the office and when teasing your fans will backfire. “Let’s give the people what they came for,” Deadpool tells Wolverine ahead of another fight scene. “Get your special sock out, nerds.”

The director, who does know how to make a funny film, includes an extended scene that spoofs the new Mad Max movie, Furiosa, and introduces the main villain, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), twin sister to X-Men boss Charles Xavier.

Perhaps this alternative comic universe is the path forward for the Deadpool franchise and its associated “big bag of Marvel cash”. As Reynolds tells Jackman when he asks for his help, “Can you imagine the fun, the chaos, the residuals?”