It has been 6 years since we last saw the fan-favorite merc with the mouth. After two back-to-back successful movies, expectations were naturally higher from the next one especially when when Ryan Reynolds announced that it would be based in the MCU and that Hugh Jackman would return as the one and only Wolverine! It is Marvel’s only feature release this year, and the excitement for it was sky-high. Well, the moment that everyone has been waiting for, for so long is finally here.

First of all, this movie is a lot. It is an overwhelming experience, to say the least. The stakes are high and that is established very early on. People who were just expecting a light, breezy buddy comedy that is easy to follow, will be disappointed. This movie is none of those things. Let’s start with the merc with the mouth himself, Ryan Reynolds. Apart from being the star, he also co-wrote and produced it. He was surely at the heart of all the decisions, and from a business and fan satisfaction perspective, he made a lot of great choices. We’ll talk about the business and fan-service side of it later, but his performance is as bonkers as you would expect. He oozes charm, he has the style, and the moves (for action and dancing), and most importantly, he is super entertaining for the most part.

Coming to the hero most of us grew up watching, Logan/Wolverine was the brightest star in this galaxy. He is by far the best part of the movie. A lot of us thought we’d never see the grumpy, old, clawed crusader again after Logan (2017), but here he is at the age of 55 showing everyone, who’s arguably the most popular comic book character of all time in features. His physique is scary and it almost feels like he never stopped playing Wolverine. He is still as fierce and full of rage as ever and as brutal as he was in fight sequences. His fights with Deadpool are really cool and well-executed. Hugh also does most of the emotional heavy lifting here.

Deadpool & Wolverine [credit: Marvel Studios]

Among the rest of the cast, Matthew Macfadyen does well with what he’s given and so does Emma Corrin. Rob Delaney gets some good scenes as Peter. There are no other performances that stand out. On the flip side, fan-favorite characters like Yukio, Blind Al, and Dopinder in particular are utterly wasted. They hardly get screen time and just feel unfairly sidelined in this one. Vanessa does get a little screentime and the story justifies it for her, but for the others, there was a lot of scope to use them. T. J. Miller, another really fun character, isn’t even in the movie.

The writing is the most frustrating aspect of Deadpool and Wolverine. Nobody expected this one to have a great memorable storyline, but I did expect a decent one with a lot of heart and emotion especially when you have Logan. Structurally it’s a mess, and it has way too much exposition at times which makes it hard to follow. Some characters also come out of nowhere to spoil the movie’s flow just for a cheap gag. The story also lacks any real heart or emotion, even with such high stakes. The writers could’ve gone so much deeper into the bromance of our 2 leads, but they failed to and that causes a limitation in the level of chemistry between the 2 actors, it isn’t bad, but never fulfills its true potential.

The movie has a relatively decent run time, and clocks just over 2 hrs. But its relentless pace is its own worst enemy at times. There is no space or time to let the arcs properly cook, or to even develop and establish the characters in the first place. That is what holds back the characters of Cassandra Nova and Mr. Paradox from being interesting or menacing. This also results in not fully utilizing the range of Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen who are both superb actors. Fans also expect a great villain that they could hate, in modern superhero movies but Cassandra Nova is massively undercooked and ends up being a forgettable foe than a formidable one.

Deadpool & Wolverine [credit: Marvel Studios]

Even though the movie is called Deadpool and Wolverine, it still feels mostly like Deadpool’s movie, not to say that Logan doesn’t have his moments. If he wasn’t in it, we’d be having a completely different conversation, but thankfully he is and he delivers. Another thing that I noticed is that all the Deadpool movies have a common problem of starting off with a bang and then gradually fading away. I definitely liked the first half way more than the second, and that is largely due to a weak third act. The movie truly goes off the rails in the climax. Its primary concern seems to be fan service rather than tying all the knots and wrapping the story with a warm impact.

For me, that’s on Shawn Levy. I love him as a director, but he seems to be very reserved with his direction here and seems scared to flex his muscles at all. Yes, there is a lot of cool action here and the VFX is great, but he could have done more. His inexperience with R-rated content was evident here. Talking about action, it was mostly cool and very stylistic. But (Minor Spoilers) 90% of the fight scenes are between Logan and Wade. I didn’t come to this movie for that, we already had that in X-Men origins. Ultimately, I think the movie struggles to cope with the pressure of entering the MCU. It not only has to be a good Deadpool movie, but It also has to be a good MCU movie, which comes with its challenges. The writers try to adjust to the new landscape and fit in all the tools that they have at their disposal, but it only made the screenplay more messy in the larger context.

But keeping all that aside, there’s another thing that was promised to the audiences in this movie, cameos, lots and lots of them. They absolutely deliver on the cameos, it might even exceed some people’s expectations. I can imagine people howling in the cinemas at some of them. Most of them work well within the story. They also didn’t hamper the tone or the feel of the storytelling and were molded to fit the Deadpool brand and R-rating. The R-rating is well-used considering it’s Marvel’s first attempt at it, but for all the violence and blood in this movie, don’t expect a lot of gore. Do expect a lot of swearing and adult jokes.

Deadpool & Wolverine [credit: Marvel Studios]

Deadpool and Wolverine is the real Multiverse of Madness that delivers bucketloads of mindless fun, but ultimately gets buried under the weight of joining the MCU. The threequel delivers all the violence, vulgarity and needle drops that you would expect from a Deadpool movie. It brings fresh energy to the MCU and pays homage to the X-Men with a fully firing Hugh Jackman at the heart of it. It is truly a relentless R-rated romp for the most part, but it has a convoluted script that also lacks warmth and emotion, and leaves you wanting more from these characters. But thanks to its awesome soundtrack, a stack of great cameos, and almost nonstop meta-commentary, it still makes for an entertaining cinematic experience.

Deadpool and Wolverine will be released in cinemas on July 26.