Deadpool & Wolverine

Before going into this movie, I made a list of things that I hope (but also felt unlikely) that this film would do: • Deadpool opening narration monologue ✅ • X-Men Origins “Headpool” cameo and maybe he has laser eyes ❌ • Wolverine variants ✅ • Professor X confronts his evil twin ❌ • Spider-Verse reference ❌ • Hulk vs. Wolverine ✅ • A bunch of Marvel Legacy cameos (and possibly their deaths) ✅ • A reference to Ryan Reynolds’s role in Blade Trinity ✅ • A flashback of how all the mutants died ✅❌ • Green Lantern reference ❌ • Russel/Fire fist cameo ❌ • 2000s edgy aesthetic music ❌ • A hint/concrete ending of what happened at the end of the Dark Phoenix movie ❌ • Greatest Showman musical sequence ❌ • MCU Wolverine is going to split away from Logan timeline ✅ • Reference to the original black leather suits ✅ • Wolverine’s height ✅ These were a lot of things to predict and want, and I’m surprised by how many of them they actually achieved. It makes me question whether the MCU is at their best/most fun when it’s full on fan service. CONS: • So Deadpool’s character arc is that he wants a bigger role in his life, but he’s also not being selfless??? Did we forget the whole point of him rescuing and sacrificing himself for Russel in the last movie??? • So they released the tracklist for this movie a little while ago, and one of the songs was The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman (starring and sung by Hugh Jackman). I rewatched that movie a few hours before going in and that was my favourite song from that whole soundtrack, but I also said to myself “if the song lasts for 10 secs and it ends, I would be fine with that”. So the song lasts for 1 second, and it plays during the Honda fight sequence… An Avril Lavigne song was featured longer than that. There were so many moments in which they could’ve added it in, and it would’ve fit perfectly.  • The pacing did feel like it was kinda dragging (my ass was hurting from sitting for so long), and they even did a 4th wall break that kinda acknowledged it as well. However, I said the same thing about Across the Spider-Verse, and I rewatched that film in IMAX this year and gave it a perfect score… so who knows. • The biggest problem was how they had written the main villain. She goes through a face turn, and then goes back to being a heel again. Not to mention the really big plot hole of her being able to open a portal out of the Void, and go into another timeline. So she could’ve escaped anytime she had wanted, and what’s stopping other magic users in the Void from doing the same? Hell, what was stopping Doctor Strange/Wanda from doing it in other movies??  • So the TVA somehow got Laura back in the end, even though her and the Legacy cast got devoured by the mist monster thing from the Loki TV series. This really just needs an explanation so it doesn’t stay in the Cons section. • Sadly now that Deadpool is in the MCU, this also takes a toll on visuals and CGI. It was very obvious when things weren’t practical, and when they used facial filters on actors. • Why tf did they cut Rob McElhenney’s cameo??? PROS: • Having Hugh Jackman back after having an amazing send off was a very risk move, especially with what they did with Professor X in Multiverse of Madness, but I’m glad that they went with another route and essentially gave us a Peter B. Parker Logan. • Oh my god. The cameos were out of this world. For the past 2 years I’ve been rewatching the Marvel Legacy films, originally in preparation for Multiverse of Madness but kinda glad that I didn’t finish most of them ‘til later. But I didn’t expect to see this many this soon though. I was aware of the Deadpool variants, Marvel spoiled X23 just a week ago, but the Legacy casting was wild. I heard rumours of Jennifer Garner appearing again as Elektra like a year ago, but it felt really unlikely towards the release of this movie (they even said Jessica Alba too as Sue Storm, so good thing I really lowered my expectations here), but WESLEY SNIPES AS BLADE?!? I just finished watching the Blade Trilogy, mainly because they were just films that I haven’t had the chance to watch, and I heard Ryan Reynolds was in Blade Trinity - but I’m sure a lot of us were under the impression that this cameo wouldn’t have happened because apparently Ryan Reynolds and Wesley Snipes didn’t along with each other - and the fact that they made a reference to that was hilarious too. They made a lot of jokes about Channing Tatum’s Gambit never happening, and I just find it funny in retrospect how I said this in my New Mutants review - hopefully he does return (either with an actual dialect coach or just no accent in general lol). Also just the fact that all the Legacy characters were treated really well is also amazing. They were treated better than what DC did to their old animated universes for the Crisis on Infinite Earths films. • The action is absolutely amazing, and the stunt coordinators did a really good job at making the fights visually appealing. • One thing I was worried about, and I heard rumours of, that Disney was going to limit the jokes about their whole brand. I’m so glad that they were brutally honest to themselves, especially with how things were after Endgame lmao. • So for the past couple years I’ve been watching older Marvel movies, for the sake of future upcoming multiverse films, and just for my own viewing pleasure. It’s honestly safe to say that you can watch this movie without having to watch the other films. My younger cousins went in and seemed to have a good time. • Just the fact that this movie feels like a love letter to the Marvel Legacy films (especially during the credits). Overall: I don’t necessarily think the movie should be rated this high, BUT because of possible recency bias and huge amounts of fan service, I’m giving it the No Way Home treatment. Both films had their issues, but backed up by pure enjoyment. Safe to say that this is the best superhero movie of the year. Highly doubt that Venom 3 will top this. Kinda itching to rewatch it again in IMAX lol.