Deadpool & Wolverine is essentially a celebration of superhero history disguised as a road movie. It is funny when the characters are funny, less convincing when the plot asks to be taken seriously, and unexpectedly sincere whenever it lets Logan simply exist.
The jokes arrive early.
The film does not waste time establishing its tone. Reynolds is back in the familiar rhythm of talking directly through the machinery of the movie.
Jackman changes the temperature.
Hugh Jackman's Wolverine gives the film an emotional center that the meta-comedy cannot create by itself. The character's weariness makes the jokes land differently.
The multiverse finally gets a sense of humour.
Fan service with a pulse.
There are plenty of references, cameos and callbacks. Some are delightful, some feel like homework, but the best ones are tied to a character rather than a brand.
A surprisingly warm ending.
Underneath the noise, the film is about people who think their stories are finished and discover they are not.
Its strongest emotion is not nostalgia. It is relief that these characters still have somewhere to go.
The film knows exactly how much nostalgia it is carrying and spends a lot of time making jokes about the weight. Some of those jokes land better than others. When the movie stops looking sideways at the Marvel universe and lets the two leads simply be miserable, funny and unexpectedly loyal, the chemistry does the work for it.
