Wade is retired and celebrating his birthday when the time travel authority shows up ans whisks him away. They want him to a job for them. If he does he will survive the collapse of his time line...a collapse that Paradox the man in charge of his time line, is planning on bringing about as fast as possible. Having been told the reason that collapse is due to the death of Wolverine, Wade makes B-line to find one to replace the one who is dead. Chaos follows as Deadpool, with the worst Wolverine in tow, travels the multiverse
I liked the film way more than I had hoped.
Unexpectedly, there is a real story, something many recent big budget sequels seem to have forgotten to include (Mission Impossible anyone?). While there is a looseness to some of the plotting, in part because the film is messing up with the notion of the multiverse and the, surprisingly few, cameos, the spine of the film- the drive for Deadpool to save his friends at any cost is incredibly strong. Actually the story is so strong that you actually feel real danger. We don’t know if everyone is going to be alright- yes it is a comic book movie which means no one stays dead- but it isn’t a certainty. I say this because we don’t know if there will be a sequel. We don’t know if there will be other appearances. Sure Disney will probably cart Wade and Logan out again, but it isn’t set in stone. Most importantly because the Logan in this film isn’t the Logan from LOGAN (that one is most assuredly dead) we know that some characters can die and at least some variation of them can stay dead.
What sold me on the film were two things I suspect most people over looked.
The first is Hugh Jackman’s performance.
As good as everyone thought he was in LOGAN, he’s better here. This is a Wolverine who is broken. He messed up and cost the lives of all the other X Men. His speeches about what happened and about being a failure, being the worst Wolverine in the multiverse, about needing to be an X Man, but not being able to let anyone know, and feeling he wasn't a hero, are crushing. These moments were the first time in any of the MCU films where someone truly understood the heart and soul of what a hero is all about. The speeches, thanks to Jackman’s delivery, cut through the bullshit and got to what it is like being a superhero. The only thing I can compare it to is the Iron Giant’s declaration of choosing to be Superman. Yes, really. This is the first MCU that really opens the soul of being a superhero or someone trying to be. They are moments of raw emotion in Jackman's delivery that are magic and that connect unreal to heartbreakingly real.
The other moment is when the heroes decide to attack the compound in the Void. It’s not what happens but it’s the attitude of the team that Wolverine and Deadpool assemble. They are very aware that their stories are not what they should have been. They are aware in a meta- way that their last appearances were in films of lesser quality, and they want a better “ending”, a better memory for them. They want to do something truly heroic. It’s a moment any lost characters in literature or culture would wish for themselves. However, and where the emotion comes from is that it is also very much like a team of samurai on a suicide mission- we will give ourselves the ending that we all aspire to (again like Iron Giant). Of course, the filmmakers give them a great ending (for now). I was deeply and genuinely moved by their resignation going into the fight of “F it, at least we go down heroically”.
The thing I love most about the film is that because we don’t know if Deadpool and Wolverine will definitely show up in another film (no sequel or appearances have been announced after all and Jackman is being cagey about more) the ending, and the possibility of them dying resonates more than in any other Marvel movie (Don't even suggest you really thought that any of the other characters in any other film was going to stay dead-The fact Marvel announces 19 films ahead is why I hate the films now). The question of who will/may die has weight in this film- and even the ultimate outcome not only works but makes perfect (comic book) sense.
I also need to say that when we finally saw Jackman in full Wolverine suit, with the mask I suddenly realized, bright yellow or no- his look is genuinely frightening.
It’s a stunning achievement, that is intellectually (and in many moments emotionally) one of the finest superhero films ever made
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