Still from Deadpool & Wolverine, complete with an in-joke concerning Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld.
Mostly spoiler free
Deadpool & Wolverine isn't so much a movie as a series of gags and breaking the fourth wall, along with the occasional dramatic scene.
The film, essentially, is a farewell to the Marvel movies made by the former 20th Century Fox starting in 2000. That all came to an end when Walt Disney Co., owner of Marvel Studios, bought its rival for a staggering $71 billion.
Fox, before the Disney acquisition, made movies featuring the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra (a spinoff character from Daredevil), and others. Today, Chris Evans is best known for playing Captain America for the Disney-owned Marvel Studios. But he earlier played the Human Torch in two Fox Fantastic Four productions.
Fox also made two R-rated Deadpool movies starring Ryan Reynolds. Those movies stepped up the violence while providing a lot of cynical humor. The Fox-made Marvel movies also made Hugh Jackman a star, first in X-Men films, later with solo adventures.
Once all of this came under the control of Disney ownership, it was natural that Reynolds and Jackman would get together. It was just a matter of time before studio executives and agents finally discovered a way to make it happen.
Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the biggest hits of the summer with a global box office of more than $800 million so far. After a lot of setbacks for Disney and its Marvel Studios in recent years, execs can breathe easier -- at least for now.
But how is it as entertainment? Well, the term "mixed bag" is appropriate.
A lot of the gags land. There are plenty of in-jokes and cameos of actors who participated in those Fox/Marvel movies. By this point, gore in an R-rated movie is a given. There's no point in being offended by it. It's also a given there'll be lots of swearing, including plenty of f-bombs.
The lead actors are in fine form. Still, it's an uneven ride. GRADE: C-Plus.
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