Robert E. Acuña’s review published on Letterboxd:
The TRUE 'Multiverse of Madness'.
Marvel is currently in a bit of a rough patch lately, and one of the major contributions to this is their dedication to keeping their formula the same since Day 1.
After 'Endgame', audiences were ready for different types of storytelling, tones, and sub-genres. But with Phase 4, Marvel continued to make their films the same exact way, but with lesser quality due to too many projects being greenlit all at once.
This exploded when 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Qunatumania' promised one thing...and then failed to actually deliver on said promise. It also didn't help that 'Eternals' lacked an emotional hook, 'Secret Invasion' wasted an incredible idea, and 'The Marvels' couldn't justify its own existence.
So with all of these L's, Marvel needed a way to win audiences back, and the only way to do it...
Was by saying "I'm sorry."
'Deadpool & Wolverine' is Marvel Studios' apology letter, and I mean this without a hint of irony. Deadpool literally apologizes several times in the film because the backlash, as shown in 'The Marvels's box office, is real.
And boy, what an apology this was.
'Deadpool & Wolverine' is the most fun you'll have at the theaters, and it continues to showcase that Marvel is willing to change, but it's going to take some time.
When Disney acquired 20th Century at the end of 2018, everyone was certain that the company was going to strip away the R-rating from a future Deadpool film.
And after all of the L's, it's kinda wild that Marvel's highest-grossing film in the last 3 years is going to be an R-rated, gory, and straight-up nasty Marvel movie. Dreams do come true.
And I know audiences are going to rave about the easter-eggs and cameos, but that is NOT what makes 'Deadpool & Wolverine' a special film.
I'm a diehard fan of Marvel & DP, but the greatest strength of this franchise is its emotional center. Hell, I even made a video predicting this film and I pretty much nailed it to the T.
The emotional core of this film is WHY this film works. You are invested in Wade, Logan, and so much more, and the "reasons why" are pretty damn satisfying.
Ryan Reynolds fully understands what audiences crave and he delivers on spectacle, heart, and ion while also being funny as hell. I'll never fully understand why people dislike him so much, and after seeing my audience lose its minds watching this, it's becoming obvious that his critics are in the minority.
Hugh Jackman, despite playing this character over the last 25 years, is still just as ionate as ever. While RDJ is Iron Man, nothing really compares to the legacy of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and his performance here is honestly toe-to-toe with 'Logan'. I'm not joking.
The rest of the cast is fantastic, and the less I say, the better.
Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova is deliciously evil and I really loved their* performance. The issue is that I really hated how 1-dimensional their* role was. We never get a "good enough" reason for their* character's motivation, but the use of Cassandra's powers were a visual treat, albeit, a disgusting one.
Matthew Macfadyen is the "true" antagonist of the film and he is a fantastic heel to Deadpool & Wolverine. Playful, funny, and hammy as hell. You could tell Matthew was having the time of his life acting this silly and I really wish Marvel made him the Big Bad instead of Cassandra Nova. Oh well.
My only major complaint is that the film falls into the same trap that hurt 'Multiverse of Madness'.
So...much....exposition.
I would have deleted a majority of these moments because...damn. Audiences may be dumb, but they aren't THAT dumb.
Because of this, the 2nd act drags a bit, but once the 3rd act arrives, this movie's quality skyrocketed, just like 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'.
Truthfully, one of the best 3rd acts in a Marvel film, hands down.
'Deadpool & Wolverine' is my least favorite DP film, but it's a pretty great way to close out this trilogy.
"Welcome to the MCU. You're ing at a bit of a low point." - Wade "Elizabeth" Wilson
Did anyone else think it was funny that 'Furiosa' got name-dropped in this film? It's both funny & depressing that this movie will make more money in just 2 days of release than 'Furiosa's entire box office run, and yet this movie still honors her with sincere iration.
Just a funny observation.
