Deadpool & Wolverine

He’s back for a third film and this time Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) brings Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in from another timeline to help save the world.

I liked the first Deadpool¹ and was also pretty into the second one², but this one shows that the whole thing has run out of steam. We were in the cinema watching it and, unlike the other films, this one never summoned a laugh from the audience - just total silence from start to finish.

Deadpool’s trademark snark is just a little more thoughtless this time, a little more sterile. You get the impression that for Reynolds this is simply one piece of a tapestry that makes up his personal brand and in terms of entertainment, storytelling or artistry it’s really lacking.

From a Marvel perspective the self-deprecating tone of the film seems to be their way of forgiving themselves for making decades of bland corporate superhero movies. But what is the use of mocking the classic structure of all their films if they aren’t going to subvert it in any way? You can be all meta and smart about it but you are still doing the thing you are saying is bad.

Worst of all, they didn’t use a seasoned action director like in Deadpool 2 and those scenes are pretty much all write-offs. People were taking pee-breaks during the fight scenes.

This film probably could have gone two ways but like all the post Endgame Marvel stuff it seeks to deride it’s just a confused, cynical cash-grab.