Beebom Score
Deadpool and Wolverine has hit the theaters and even though the hype for Deadpool 3 was at an all-time high, the overall execution just caressed them. The movie is garnering attention from the fans and the theaters are choked full. However, when I walked out of the theater after watching Deadpool 3, I had mixed feelings about it. There were some letdowns, and some missed marks but the Marvel fan in me who was waiting for this bromance for years was content with the fun-filled cameo-fest that I witnessed. But, I feel there’s a timeline in which Deadpool & Wolverine could’ve been better.
So What’s Happening in Deadpool 3
The plot of Deadpool and Wolverine is pretty straightforward. The movie shows us that Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), a TVA Agent who knows that Deadpool’s timeline will be destroyed eventually as a result of the death of Logan (Hugh Jackman), the “Anchor Being” of Deadpool’s timeline. Mr. Paradox can’t wait for a couple thousand years for it to happen so he is planning on pruning Deadpool’s timeline ASAP. However, there’s a catch. According to his seniors, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) has a massive “Glorious Purpose” in the Sacred Timeline so Mr. Paradox abducts Deadpool from his timeline and offers him to join the MCU so he can execute his plan.
Now naturally, Deadpool refuses to do so and escapes TVA with Mr. Pardox’s TemPad to find another Wolverine/Logan to replace the one who died in his timeline. He meets multiple variants of Wolverine who do not turn out to be very friendly before bumping into the one with whom he sets out to save his world from dying at the hands of Mr.Paradox.
Now that you’re familiar with the plot, I’m not going to beat around the bush and will give you two straightforward verdicts for Deadpool 3 each from a critical point of view and a fan’s point of view.
The Plot Crucified the Marvel Jesus for Good
Now, from a critical point of view, the defining factor of any movie or show is how the plot line is carried out. In all honesty, the plot offered by Deadpool and Wolverine seems like the beginning was written by the brightest mind there is at Marvel’s office while the rest of it was passed on to someone who just wanted to go home early but had to do overtime.
Deadpool 3 starts well. The first 15 minutes make you wanna punch the guy in front of you to let out the excitement. But, as the plot progresses, you might wanna punch yourself. The movie brings us so many amazing actors playing iconic characters. However, what extinguished the excitement of seeing them was that they were either killed off too soon like Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) or were left with an incomplete arc (yet again). We never get to see what happens to Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and Gambit (Channing Tatum) after Deadpool and Wolverine escape the Void. If this was a tribute to long-forgotten heroes, they were better off without it.
X-23 or Laura (Dafne Keen) has been such an important character in Logan’s arc but she was given three lines of dialogue and less than 10 minutes of screen time. The thing that upset me the most was how much Lady Deadpool’s actress was left for us to guess and in the end, she didn’t even take her mask off. We got to see the entire Deadpool Corps but they ended up fighting the Deadpool himself, who is their leader in the comics! The list seldom ends. The hollow plot heavily impacted Deadpool and Wolverine’s potential and the execution of it was equally miserable.
A Villain Who Didn’t Villain Enough
The second critical downside of Deadpool and Wolverine is the overly underutilized villain. Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) was brought in as the main villain for Deadpool 3. Now if you are not familiar with who she is, let me give you a quick brief. Cassandra Nova is the twin of Charles Xavier who is extremely powerful and evil. In the comics, she is the one responsible for the Genocide of Genosha and is someone even Charles Xavier was scared of. However, in the movie, she has been criminally nerfed.
In the movie, we see that at one point, Cassandra is ready to kill off Deadpool and Wolverine but after a speech from Wolverine, she changes her mind which is nothing like the comic book counterpart of her. Moreover, the biggest complaint I had with Deadpool and Wolverine was the lack of a single combat sequence between the heroes and Cassandra. For most of the movie, Deadpool and Wolverine fight among themselves.
Emma Corrin did a wonderful job at portraying Cassandra Nova but the movie did not utilize her talents as it should have. On top of all this, her death was also unsatisfactory. Cassandra Nova is known to be one of the strongest characters in Marvel and there was a lot of potential for this character that could have made Cassandra a terrifying villain. But, Marvel did not go through with it, resulting in an unsatisfactory and overly underutilized villain.
Clutter of Cameos
Deadpool and Wolverine’s major selling point was the inclusion of multiple actors in the movie reprising their roles as titular Marvel characters they have played before. However, even though it was nice to see so many of our loved characters back, the Cameos were a bit over the top which made the movie feel a bit cluttered.
Another thing I found a bit underwhelming was that Deadpool 3, in its marketing promised to change the MCU or act as a canon but throughout the movie, we see nothing that seconds that claim. Sure, Deadpool is a part of the MCU now on paper but at the end of the movie he is back in his timeline. So how is he going to be The Marvel Jesus?
The only thing that hints towards his major role in future MCU projects is the clip of Thor crying over Deadpool and Mr.Paradox telling him that this happens in the distant future. Mr. Paradox keeps telling him that he has a big role in the sacred timeline in the future but we are never told what it is. Marvel could have given us some hint to what might happen in the future for Deadpool with a tease in the post credits scene but they blew that too as well with an unnecessary clip leaving us with no clue whatsoever regarding what’s next.
Now that we have talked about my critical analysis of Deadpool and Wolverine, let’s move toward the reasons which make the fan in me call this movie a people’s champion
Regardless Deadpool and Wolverine Is a Fun Watch
With everything mentioned above, Deadpool and Wolverine indeed has some major issues but overall, it is a fun watch. As far as I think, the idea behind making Deadpool 3 was to make it seem like someone is reading the pages of a classic Deadpool comic book and for some people, it worked and for some, it did not. The bottom line is that Deadpool is Deadpool-ing hard in this movie with his over-the-top jokes, constant yapping, outstanding soundtrack, and being a pain in the…a** for Wolverine.
The action sequences are well done, especially the opening sequence of the movie where Deadpool digs up Logan’s grave, pulls out his Adamantium skeleton, and rips it apart using it to butcher the TVA agents all while dancing to NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye. Ryan Reynolds is as brilliant as he can be playing Deadpool and at this point, I’m convinced that if Wolverine was real, it could be no one else except Hugh Jackman. Overall, you might have complaints about Deadpool 3’s plot, but you will have fun for the entire runtime of the movie.
Deadpool 3 is An Unhinged Love Letter To Marvel Fans
Every once in a while, a movie or show is released which makes it insignificant what we critics or reviewers say about it. What truly matters in such cases is what people think of it and this time, that movie is Deadpool and Wolverine. Since the movie was announced, the only thing people care about is seeing Hugh Jackman in his comic-accurate Wolverine suit which he wore after almost 20 years alongside Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool.
Fans got to see Channing Tatum as Gambit, Chris Evans as The Human Torch, Jeniffer Garner as Elektra, and Wesley Snipes as Blade which was a massive nostalgia trip for people who had been fans of these characters for years. The cameos, the action sequences between Wolverine and Deadpool, and most of all, Wolverine putting on his comic-accurate cowl, after almost two decades, while he butchered the Deadpool Corps drew applause from everyone present in the theater around me. All in all, Deadpool 3 was a love letter to everyone who has grown up with the X-Men franchise, the MCU and Deadpool comic books, and people can’t care less about the technicalities of it.
Sure, the movie has flaws, but in essence, Deadpool and Wolverine is a fan service movie. If you don’t look at it from a critical point of view, this movie has given Marvel, especially Wolverine fans, something they have been emotionally attached to. Yes, the execution could have been better but practicality can’t overpower what might be a dream come true for billions of people.
