Film Review : "Deadpool & Wolverine"

 What a world we live in. Its a world where writers must keep a careful balance of internet theories to please their audience. In fact, Deadpool's entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe pokes fun at this in its smartest moments. It also pushed the bounds of what you expect Disney to allow as the studio shows there is more wiggle room than expected since even half the adult audience might have to Google the meaning of jokes about pegging. Then it is too late, and they already have the money of the more prudish patrons in hand. I am impressed by how they worked in a wide swathe of the company's media output making "Loki" almost required viewing before going into this. Also, the bulk of the Fox films could help when some characters are marched out.  Spider-man and Ghost Rider were the only corners of the bigger Marvel Universe not touched upon with only a few winks in the direction of Peter Parker.   If you are touchy about spoilers then go see the movie, nothing happens that was not part of wider speculation and had not already been spoiled. 

Reynolds and Jackman, make this a buddy cop team-up that works well against the absurdity of premise. The fight scenes between the two were some of the movie's strongest action sequences. The various incarnations of Wolverine worked better than the varied incarnations of Deadpool, I mean where was Gwenpool? Though like many aspects of the movie, If I blinked I might have missed it. Plotwise there was little surprise, stop this and save your world tropes. I have read critics praising the movie villain Cassandra Nova, and it really just felt like Emma Corrin was doing her best Tilda Swinton impersonation as there was no clear motive or really anything to flesh her out, I think Mojo would have made more sense and been a more inspiring link to the X-Men, would have given the baby Deadpool an ore sensical role. Paradox, worked better as his two-faced manipulations of things, with no real powers held more weight. 

It would be misleading to say there were no X-men in the movie, as Colossus, X-23, and Gambit are all part of the team. I think what they were looking for is Storm, Cyclops, or Rogue, and get a glimpse at how they are going to be brought in. We can pretty much not rest assured that Henry Cavill is not going to play Wolverine, as look what happened with the Reed Richards casting in Dr. Strange, just enough fan casting then take a left turn. My favorite parts of the movie were the NSYNC dancing at the beginning and the brief appearance of the Hulk during the search through Wolverine variants. Overall the chemistry between the two leads was strong enough to carry the film in the classic Hollywood formula even when given the Marvel spin. It did not make apologies for being a super-hero movie which is a must for any such film. 

Daredevil Season 2

The second season of Daredevil held up to the bar the first season raised for it. Not playing much off the tone established in Jessica Jones, there was a little cross over, but nothing like what we will see when Luke Cage airs. Even though Charlie Cox has settled into the role of Matt Murdock, the Punisher threatened to steal the show. Granted I'm a bigger fan of the Punisher than I am Daredevil. It was grittier in tone and more violent with Frank Castle blowing peoples faces off. The fight where the Punisher runs the gauntlet in prison was especially satisfying and one of the best scenes of the series along side Daredevil beating up the Sons of Anarchy. There was enough Daredevil versus the Punisher fights, but later into the season some of the constant ninja battles got a little tiresome and I'm a little disappointed that Bullseye never showed up as I think he could have spiced that up a bit, he could have even worked for "the BlackSmith".


Speaking of which why was it the "Blacksmith"? They could have used on of Punisher's rogues gallery members to fill that void. Why did they set us up for the Owl last season and not deliver?  Elektra who in her final scene gives us a glimpse of where her real costume could come from, was a little too Hollywood scrawny. I have read the actress who play her, is a student of martial arts in off screen as well, but she needed a little more muscle on her bones. They kept Joe dressed in a way that allowed him to not have to bulk up like the role should require for Punisher, but give us one character who looks the part. I do think they paved the way for Iron Fist nicely by creeping the supernatural elements in though Dr. Strange will have already kicked the door in on that before that show airs. Overall it succeeded in being entertaining. I am not as sure where they are going to go on a third season, I imagine Kingpin will try to live up to his threats. I doubt we will see Cobra and Mr. Hyde pop up, but Hammerhead, Jigsaw, Tombstone Silt-man or the Jester would be welcomed additions.

Elektra has the attitude more than her big-screen counter part has in the awful Affleck film, so I am sure that is not the last we will see of her, but they screwed the pooch because now Bullseye can never kill her. My comic book brain could continue to nitpick things, but tonally I think this season captured things better than what they are doing over in Agents of Shield this year, with the costume helping out and proving that it's ok to stay in costume and keep your mask on most of the time.