For those who came in late, now that Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox are subsidiaries of Walt Disney Studios, it was just a matter of time and money and egos managed, before a reunion of all Marvel originals would be staged. There is no real “endgame” when it comes to superhero films and franchises, Deadpool reminds us here, and he tags along none other than Wolverine in a merger within a merger of sorts. That’s to say Ryan Reynolds is tasked along with Hugh Jackman to revive the superhero genre by Disney and Reynolds who wrote the film with director Shawn Levy does it in true Deadpool style, to the hilt, almost. All irreverence intact, less innuendo, probably because of the presence of probably the greatest actor to ever embody a superhero inseperably, Jackman. And he holds the record for that too, incidentally, despite Rober Downey Jr and the MCU.
Here Deadpool doesn’t break the fourth wall, there is no fourth wall, in fact. This film can approached for an analysis at so many angles that it would be analogy to the multiverse theme running in these MCU films. Not that it’s the kind of a film that needs an analysis. But yet, this is probably the most self aware, self deprecatory superhero film or rather any film to hit the screens ever. No one is spared, the Fox acquisition by Disney, the MCU lows in terms of box office and content, to the actors. Reynolds mouths the word exposition on at least two occasions that I noticed. It’s just about as meta as any form of popular art could get. The writing in the opening sequences are almost a subreddit comment section on anything ranging from studio businesses to memes, if you know what I’m talking about.
Watching Jackman perform, I couldn’t but help think if the actor was given his due by writers and directors out there, considering the powerhouse of a talent that he is. While you cannot as a viewer envision any other actor as Wolverine, he is capable of so much more too. Jackman himself has stated that he took inspirations from Clint Eastwood to portray Wolverine along with Mel Gibson. But he emotes too in his inimitable style, grounding the film, picking up from where he left off in Logan. It’s the perfect antidote of a screen appearance to everything Reynolds and Deadpool stands for. And they complete each other in more ways than one.
What made me sit up though were the cameos, easter eggs are not really a thing anymore in Marvel movies. One of those cameos has the ability to bring down any movie hall packed with 90’s kids. With Deadpool fighting to the tune of NSync’s Bye Bye Bye the movie makes it evident early on that it had every intention to bank on every element of nostalgia around. When staying back for the post credits scene feel nostalgic, you realize that you are not getting any younger and that time flies indeed. But again this film is all about irreverent unapologetic big screen entertainment and Deadpool delivers it with much help from Wolverine.
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