In the Dark Reviews

Even in the midst of superhero movies going mainstream, for so long, with multiple waves of serious articles written about the supposed onset of "superhero fatigue," I remain amazed that a film like "Deadpool & Wolverine" was able to get made.

"Easter egg" references and inside jokes for the most devoted of super-fans have gone from being unexpected treats to being obligatory inclusions in any new superhero movie. Yet, "Deadpool & Wolverine" still stands out by being nothing other than an Easter egg basket.

Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson, the disfigured but insanely self-regenerative mouthy mercenary known as Deadpool, has become the last character from Fox's X-Men franchise who still gets movies made about him.

As such, to save his universe from extinction, he's forced to turn to Hugh Jackman's Logan, aka Wolverine, or more specifically, who we're told is the "worst" Wolverine in the multiverse.

The vast majority of this story takes place in "The Void" between the multiverse's timelines, where characters who no longer "count" in current continuity are cast off.

Essentially, this is a metafictional narrative about the fates of the various Marvel Comics multimedia adaptations that predated the Disney-owned "Marvel Cinematic Universe" of the past 16 years.

This means we get to see the return of several familiar faces, albeit not all of them in expected roles.

While no shortage of deliberately immature jokes are made at their expense, I was struck by how heartfelt this film was in giving even less-loved would-be (or never-were) heroes a last chance to go out like badasses, serving a suitably glorious purpose.

My sole regret about Emma Corrin's casting as Cassandra Nova, the historically displaced twin sister of Charles Xavier, is that we likely won't see them in the "sacred timeline" of the main MCU, because Corrin is chillingly effective at playing a sociopathic female version of James McAvoy.

Reynolds remains as Reynolds as ever, playing Deadpool with enough underlying angst to leaven what might otherwise feel like an insufferable degree of smugness in his sarcasm, but it's Jackman who shines brightest in this patchwork cast.

Jackman was on the eve of his 32nd birthday when he first stepped in front of the cameras as Wolverine in 2000's "X-Men."

Although he's played Wolverine in several films since then that were not-so-great, he followed the advice of Sir Christopher Lee by always being good at playing the character, no matter how bad the films were that he was appearing in.

Jackman has played Wolverine for just shy of a quarter-century.

And yet, even as his hairstyle has grown more horn-shaped, and he's finally donned the signature "yellow spandex" outfit that the dialogue in the first "X-Men" film decried - both visual trends cleaving more closely to his character's comics counterpart - he's lost none of the gruff soulful pathos that made his take on the inhumanly long-lived loner rebel feel so real emotionally.

The understated subtleties of Jackman's performance balance the adrenaline-fueled aggression of Deadpool and Wolverine's multiple extended rounds of combat.

Those throw-downs lean on both characters' ridiculously overpowered healing factors to turn their elaborate and inventively staged fight sequences into hilarious live-action "Looney Tunes" gags.

Even this film's shameless moment of commercial product placement is almost redeemed by one of Reynolds' unprintably obscene one-liners as Deadpool, which fly fast enough to make this movie worth repeat viewings, since I'm sure I missed a few punchlines the first time around.

There are both midcredit and post-credits scenes, just in case this is your first MCU film.

While the post-credits scene is mostly amusing for the line delivery of the actor whose identity I won't spoil, the midcredits scene made me choke up a bit, simply for compiling a bunch of behind-the-scenes and interview clips from Fox's Marvel films.

Seeing those films' casts from years ago - celebrating and getting goofy with each other between takes, all while earnestly expressing their anxieties to the media over how much they hoped the fans would appreciate their efforts - hammered home how much these people loved bringing some of my favorite comic books to life.

As laughably sappy as it was, the relentlessly 1990s soundtrack actually hit me harder than it had any right to, right down to Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."

However uneven Fox's Marvel movies were, for what it's worth, it was worth all the while, and looking back, I did indeed have the time of my life.

Thanks for reminding me, Wade and Logan.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]