Break the fourth wall! Bring on the fan service! Hugh Jackman! What more do you want? Deadpool and Wolverine! Yay, kind of?

There are times when I just have to put my critical analysis on pause and give myself over to a film that I just like. Ryan Reynolds pursued his Deadpool project with ardor for eleven years before it made it to screen. After two movies for Fox, and the subsequent purchase of the studio by Disney, the question had to be asked; just where or how or if the Merc with a Mouth was going to fit into the MCU. Turns out, pretty easily, I 'd say.

Of course, post-Endgame MCU offerings have been spotty, though even the worst are not without their pleasures, but let's face it; the lightning that Feige's bottle caught may have seeped out more than Marvel or Disney might like. 

I found the first Deadpool entry in the MCU to be fleeter than I thought and I've never been so happy to hear the title character ramble on so much to help drown out the nagging awareness of the movie being two disparate narratives that don't quite harmonize or mesh. There are distinct tonal shifts between Deadpool's comedy and Logan's gravitas and normally, that would be a huge bug, but Shawn Levy is able to err on the side of Wade Wilson in this enough to smooth over what should be more annoying or jarring. 

That's not to say that annoyance isn't there; Deadpool is an annoying character and it's only due to Reynolds performance and knowing when to pull back at certain moments that he doesn't consume the movie he's in and completely crawl up his own ass. Of course, Reynolds is more self-aware than Wade and more often than not, knows when to pump the brakes. 

Deadpool and Wolverine is the end of a quest that Reynolds had been on for who knows how long and I honestly wasn't sold on the idea of resurrecting one of the more compelling figures in the comic book movie genre, even if, maybe even especially if, Hugh Jackman reprised the role. 

The flick before us accomplishes reviving Logan better than I expected and may actually be one of the better of these films to deal with the multiverse. I'm pretty sure that what got done would have been possible with another approach, but the fourth wall breaking, running commentary and meta-commentary proved useful and I think, integral to the story. It's Deadpool and a self-aware fictional character renders the often ridiculous nature of superhero movies less so by, well, saying what many are likely thinking. 

There is no way to go into any detail about this film without spoiler after spoiler after spoiler, but I was pleased that I wasn't ready for who showed up and when and I like the handling of the loose ends of the Time Variance Authority, the multiverse, and the Chuck Jones/Groucho Marx rapidity of in-jokes, pop culture references, Easter eggs, and not giving a toss about other properties might be the best use of fan service since Free Guy. Shawn Levy and Reynolds are one of the better teams around; however, that doesn't mean that if you start thinking about what you've seen, it might not really add up to much.

Broadly sketched, the opening is pretty much all the fight scenes in the trailers. We see DP squaring off with goons from the TVA and after a Wade Wilson voiceover decrying the vioence and carnage, we step back to a place where we meet Wade years after the last entry in the series as a car salesman. I will mention in passing that our man applies to a job with the Avengers, but I won't say more except that he does so because Vanessa and he are not moving along too well; Wade, in fact, has apparently had a hard time moving forward, at all. 

Wade is brought before a rep from the TVA who says that his universe is in line for pruning because Earth 616's "anchor being" has died. Yep, that being was Logan (I don't know if "anchor being" is canonical; "nexus being", yeah, but I think this is Reynolds, Levy, Brett Reese, Paul Warnick, and Zeb Wills innovating here. It doesn't matter; it sets the plot in motion and eventually, Wade finds this Logan, which we also have seen in the trailers.

It's a redemption story for both characters. Wade really is the world-saving hero he wants to be, Logan becomes the man he was meant to be and along the way, there is enough eye-candy, cameos, and vulgar language to keep any adolescent male happy. That would be me. 

Lest this sounds like it's just a big glibathon and chuckles for the cast and the audience, that would sell the moments of genuine pathos short; they are there, but again, it's an uneasy balance. 

There are visual and narrative homages aplenty, not the least of which is a major shout-out to George Miller. It also exists to serve the story; the Void is the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Mad Max mythos in many ways and also along the way, we are treated to a pretty interesting villain - can't say more - but we are treated to a Sam Raimi-level of disturbing special effects that I will treasure for a long time. 

I don't expect much from these films, really. But when one comes along that acts as a reset for the entire franchise, I applaud the effort. I found a lot of this fun but a bit tiresome in spots where 'pool was overstaying his welcome and where I questioned a lot of the stuff about his and Vanessa's relationship; again, I can't say much since it's a motivational plot point, and even though we are in the hands of an unreliable narrator, he is also a neurotic one. Unlike his comic book counterpart, the movie Deadpool is not as viscously psychotic, but because he is portrayed with more nuance and a more stable approach to life, I think questioning why he chose to interpret a situation the way he did is fair and yes, I suppose it worked for the writing committee, so I won't pick at it anymore.

Were the cameos gratuitous? Who knows anymore? However, it was so worthwhile seeing this in a theater where we all laughed at the same lines, the same appearances, and call-backs to, well, another property now in the MCU that got a collective guffaw from the crowd.

It's a good looking flick; in keeping with the previous two entries, the action is well-shot, and the special effects are more finished looking than a number of other recent (and further past) MCU movies. George Richmond is a sound journeyman at this sort of thing with Argylle, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Free Guy, and the Kingsman movies under his belt.

Credit to George Cottle as Second Unit Director. After having been stunt coordinator for different Marvel properties going back to (okay, it was Fox at the time) X-Men: First Class, and a stunt performer for years before that - working with Christopher Nolan, David Cronenberg, and Tim Burton and going back into the nineties on different Bond films - he's proved himself excellent at this sort of thing, having been the Second Unit Director on the last two Spider-Man movies and Barbie. It's not a bad resume.

All of this adds up to what is the most satisfying Marvel offering in a good while. Is it going to rewrite the genre? Nope. Is Deadpool "Marvel Jesus"? I'm hard-pressd to say; but he's likely as good as any.