Deadpool and Wolverine (15) |Close-Up Film Review
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Review by Carol Allen
The basic premise is that the universe (ours, I think) in which Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is trying to live a normal sort of life, is threatened with extinction. He is summoned by a sort of senior civil servant figure in the Multiverse hierarchy, played amusingly by Matthew Macfadyen, told about the universe destruction issue and instructed to join forces with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and sort it out.
Only problem is Wolverine died in Jackman’s last appearance in the role in Logan back in 2017. However in a multiverse set up that is no problem. All Deadpool has to do is go find Wolverine in a different universe, where, it turns out, he is having a jolly good go at drinking himself to death and isn’t terribly interested in super hero-ing. However he is persuaded on board, and off they go to a sort of wasteland universe (yes, another one) called the Void, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the location for the Max Max movies. Here they encounter the film’s equivalent of Dr No in the person of non-binary villain Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), bald as an egg but with perfect eye make-up and a rather impressive high fashion camel trench coat, who for reasons best known to themself doesn’t want to dominate the multiverse but to destroy it.
Reynolds and Jackman make an amusing, squabbling double act – the first with his continuous stream of foul mouthed witticisms and sly asides and Jackman as a Mr. Grumpy with big muscles. There’s also a lot of super hero battle action, where a whole tribe of them from former Marvel movies make guest appearances and join up with this current dynamic duo in their spectacular battling against the forces of destruction. Among them rather touchingly is Dafne Keen as Laura, the mutant little girl that Wolverine looked after in Logan, now all grown up and ready to support her adopted “dad”.
Personally my preference was for Jackman and co in the X-Men universe, which has now of course been gobbled up by Disney – Deadpool even makes sly jokes to us about it. But for dedicated fans of the superhero genre in all its many incarnations, Deadpool and Wolverine will be a bit like having all your Christmases at once. Enjoy.
