DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE : Tuesday 30th July 2024.

I saw the MA15+ rated 'DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE' at my local multiplex theatre this week, and this much hyped, eagerly awaited and highly anticipated American Superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics characters Deadpool and Wolverine, and is the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and a sequel to 2016's 'Deadpool' and 2018's 'Deadpool 2'. Those first two films in the franchise grossed a total US$1.57B at the worldwide Box Office off the back of a combined production budget of US$168M. Tim Miller Directed that first instalment with David Leitch on duty for the second, and Shawn Levy taking the helm on this third offering, who also gets a Co-Writer and a Co-Producer credit too. With a budget of US$200M the film has so far grossed US$659M internationally in its first week since opening and has set the highest grossing opening for an R rated film and has garnered largely mixed or average reviews.

The film opens with an action set piece while the starting credits roll of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) going head to head with a small army of TVA (Time Variance Authority) foot soldiers whom he successfully manages to violently kill every last standing one of them by utilising Logan's adamantium skeleton which he has just dug up, as his preferred weapon of choice. We then back track to 2018 and Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) uses Cable's time-traveling device to travel from his timeline, being Earth-10005, to Earth-616, the 'Sacred Timeline', where he meets with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and basically pleads to join the Avengers because he want's to 'matter', but is rejected.

We then fast forward six years later, and find Wade has officially retired from being Deadpool and is working as a used-car salesman with his friend Peter Wisdom (Rob Delaney) after splitting up with his girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin). During his birthday party, the TVA captures Wade and brings him to Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) who offers him a place on Earth-616, while also revealing that Wade's timeline is deteriorating as a result of the death of its stabilising 'anchor being' - that is, Logan. Paradox details his plans to use the 'Time Ripper', a device he developed to mercy kill timelines, to prematurely destroy Wade's timeline in three days rather than the traditional couple of thousand years it would usually take. Wade steals Paradox's TemPad to escape and dig up Logan's grave, which brings us back to the opening sequence. When he fails to resurrect Logan, Wade uses the TemPad to travel across the multiverse in an attempt to find a Variant of Logan in order to save his timeline, but locating the right Logan proves problematical for Deadpool.

After crossing paths with numerous Logan variants across numerous timelines, Wade comes across one in a bar knocking back whisky like it's going out of fashion and he feels this one fits the bill. He takes this one back to the TVA, where he learns that this particular Logan (Hugh Jackman) is considered the worst Wolverine in the multiverse. After an argument, during which Wade learns that Paradox is acting without the knowledge of his superiors, Paradox prunes Wade and Logan into the Void. 

There, Wade and Logan fight before they and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) of The Fantastic Four are captured and taken to Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the twin sister of X-Men leader Charles Xavier. Cassandra, who was pruned as an infant but made a deal with the TVA to stay willingly in the Void, kills Johnny and leaves Wade and Logan to be consumed by Alioth (a cloud-like, matter-consuming entity which lives in the Void and guards the Citadel at the End of Time), although they successfully manage to escape. 

Logan and Wade meet a variant of Wade called 'Nicepool', who gives them a beat up old Honda Odyssey  and points them to the Void's borderlands, where the resistance against Cassandra is located. However, en route Logan chastises Wade for hiding the fact that he is unable to fix Logan's timeline, leading to a fight that leaves them both unconscious. Laura aka X-23 (Dafne Keen) drives them to the borderlands, where they meet resistance members Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), Eric Brooks aka Blade (Wesley Snipes) and Remy LeBeau aka Gambit (Channing Tatum). Wade calls them the 'Others' and proposes an alliance to fight Cassandra. Logan refuses to cooperate, but eventually relents after a conversation with Laura about his inability to save the X-Men in his universe. 

Wade, Logan, and the Others go to confront Cassandra, and manage to block her powers by placing Juggernaut's telepathic blocking helmet on her head. However, Cassandra is betrayed and shot several times in the stomach by her henchman Pyro (Aaron Stanford) acting on behalf of Paradox. Logan convinces Wade to remove the helmet which he does reluctantly so allowing Cassandra to self heal and open a portal back to Wade's timeline, which he and Logan jump through. 

Arriving back on on Earth-10005, Wade and Logan come across an army of Deadpools all transported in from the Void and all intent on dispensing with Wade and Logan. Needless to say Wade and Logan successfully thwart the army of Deadpool variants only for each and every one of them to rise up regenerated from their injuries. However, when Peter Wisdom emerges as his own Deadpool variant, the other variants all crowd around him and cheer, leaving Wade and Logan to continue with their business at hand. They soon find that Paradox has begun to use the Time Ripper. Cassandra, having learned of Paradox's plan from Pyro before executing him, arrives through another portal and kidnaps Paradox. She plans to take control of the Time Ripper to destroy all timelines, leaving only the Void, as revenge for Paradox's betrayal. Paradox tells Wade and Logan that disrupting the matter and anti-matter power flow of the Time Ripper would kill a person. Wade and Logan use both of their bodies as a conductor by sharing the burden, and destroy the Time Ripper, killing Cassandra. Paradox is then promptly arrested by Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) from the TVA. 

B-15 reveals that Wade and Logan's actions prevented Wade's timeline from deteriorating. Wade asks B-15 to free the Others from the Void, before asking if it is possible to rewrite the history of Logan's timeline. B-15 says it was his history that made Logan the hero needed to stop Cassandra and there is nothing to fix. The pair then go off to find something to eat at which time Wade asks Logan, what's next for him. Logan, says that he wishes to retire and live a peaceful life, but is taken by Wade to meet his friends, along with Laura. Upon Logan's encouragement, Wade reconnects with Vanessa.

With 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Director Shawn Levy has crafted a film that has clearly won over critics and audiences alike (for the most part anyway!) and this is particularly evidenced by its record breaking Box Office haul just ten days after release. The chemistry and mateship that exists between Reynolds and Jackman is plainly evident here, even if the plot is wafer thin and makes little sense - but that's hardly the point, as it's the sheer entertainment value derived from seeing these two characters riff off one another ad infinitum, the F-bombs that come thick and fast and the irreverence shown at almost every turn. With cameo appearances aplenty this film is sure to please MCU and X-Men fans as well as those harking back to a bygone era of superheroes whose TV and film time is spent or was never realised (think Elektra, Blade and Gambit here most notably). The action sequences, of which there are enough to fill two feature length films, come thick and fast and are very well executed, although I couldn't help thinking that with their regenerative powers what's the point behind shooting, stabbing, punching, kicking in all manner of creative ways if your opponent is going to get up and brush it all off when you're done. All of that said 'Deadpool & Wolverine' is well worth the price of your cinema entry and should be seen on the big screen.

'Deadpool & Wolverine' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-