Rating of
3.5/4
A Match Made in Heaven
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/02/24
The Deadpool franchise has been excellent ever since Ryan Reynolds fulfilled his dream of becoming the violent, foul-mouthed but utterly entertaining merc with a mouth. And his long-running "feud" with Hugh Jackman has long been a great gag in the first two films - so a team up between the two is like eating a candy cane dusted with cocaine - pure bliss.
The film is a both a great entry for Deadpool into the MCU along with a love-letter to the Fox universe of films that came before it (X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.) - both the good and the bad of it all. And Reynolds has no problem in breaking the fourth wall (as Deadpool does) in utter disdain of both companies. One hilarious gag has Deadpool and Wolverine being banished to the purgatory zone and one of the first things you seen in this wasteland is the old 20th Century Fox studio logo half-buried and forgotten. And believe me, there are plenty more jokes like that to go around. I love that they allowed Reynolds to go after Disney and the MCU with such abandon as he gets in quiet a few good digs - but no hard drugs, apparently that was one thing that was off the table (to the utter disappointment of Blind Al - Leslie Uggams - who is forever denied her cocaine).
After an ultra violent opening featuring the inventive use of the remains of Logan (yes, from that movie) we backtrack to the beginnign. The premise of the film sees Wade Wilson trying and failing to join The Avengers after a hilarious interview with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and essentially writing himself off to start a much more mundane life in another plane of existence. He has forgone the hero business and instead sells used cars alongside buddy Peter (Rob Delaney) - and celebrates a birthday with his small group of friends, including now ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Dopinder (Karan Soni) and his second-fiddle X-men. But he is interrupted by the arrival of the TVA (who, for those who skipped Loki, control the multiple time-lines and multiverses of the MCU) and a team led by the snarky Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen). He explains that the world he currently resides in is fated to be destroyed as it has lost its "anchor being" in Logan - but instead of the eons it would usually take for it to collapse, our friend has fired up a time ripper to make things move along faster - as in days instead of thousands of years. Since Deadpool is apparently important for some unknown reason, he has been spared. But, of course, our hero isn't about to let his friends be snuffed out by some time-line beurocrat and he goes hunting for a substitute Logan - leading to the first of some hilarious in-jokes (my favoire being the comic-accurate 5'3" Logan). But once he settles on a rather drunk and depressing Wolverine, he returns only to be informed he has picked the "worst" version of Logan he could - and both are subsequently exiled to the purgatory lands of The Void.
Much of the action takes place in The Void - as do much of the spoilers on who shows up. While many of these have been revealed in interviews and trailers, I'm going to leave this part as vague as possible for those who have somehow avoided everything and still want to be surprised. The Void is home to both people and items that are no longer needed. After a nice, long and bloody battle between our two heroes, the duo find a few of the still-living locals and are brought before Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) - Professor Xavier's sadistic sister who wields her telepathy with wicked ability. Aside from a small band of freedom fighters - and the bloodthirsty Dead Corps (apparently The Void is a veritable bonanza of unwanted Deadpools) - Nova is the queen bee in this world. But The Void is also home to Alioth - an all-consuming entity that will eat whenever it can. After barely managing to escape, the duo manage to stumble across the few heroes willing to stand up to Nova - even if it means certain death - and help get Deadpool back to his world in order to save it from Mr. Paradox. But Cassandra has a plan of her own worked out.
The third Deadpool film follows much in line with the first two - lots of bloody action, lots of swearing, lots of comedy - with the addition of more cameos than No Way Home and Dr. Strange combined. And there are some deep cuts here - some of which I wasn't even spoiled on - and while it is a bit much, I was still happy to go along for the ride. Perhaps the biggest downside of all these fun, flashy cameos is because you have so many and so much - it feels like everyone gets short-changed. This is especially true for the returning characters from the first two Deadpool films. Vanessa, Negasonic and the rest seem like an afterthought and even Peter, for the important role he turns out playing, isn't given much. Ditto for the biggest cameo characters - it's fun to see each one but aside from a few great jokes and one major action scene - they aren't given nearly enough, either. Hell, I think Dogpool aka Mary Puppins (played by Britain's ugliest dog Peggy) is given more screen time than many of the secondary characters. Be that as it may, it's still great to see so many characters back on the big screen.
What do we get in the end? If you've enjoyed the previous two Deadpool films, you will certainly enjoy this one. Reynolds and Jackman make for one dynamic duo and play off each other like long-time buddies - even when they're trying to kill each other. While the amount of cameos may be a bit much - it's still a fun, wild ride and given the box office reaction I'm guessing we'll be seeing more of Deadpool, if not in another movie than certainly as some part of the MCU going forward.
