The Civil Rights Activist and Congressman, John Lewis, talked about getting into ‘good trouble’. The idea was that to make meaningful change, it would require disruption, confrontation, and a willingness to challenge unjust systems.
Now the Deadpool movies aren’t nearly as important as the Civil Rights movements but let me explain.
The star of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, had tried to get the movie off the ground for years. The powers that be didn’t think the public would want a meta, fourth wall breaking, merc with a mouth. Now I am not saying Reynolds leaked the footage, but somehow…mysteriously…in 2014 some trial footage got leaked and the portrayal of the character was an honest, caring, and accurate representation of the comic book character.
Both the comic readers and the general audience loved it and this little act of disobedience has now spawned three films, with the latest being Deadpool & Wolverine (dir. Shawn Levy).
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe now twenty-something years old – damn do I feel old – it has branched into being a multiverse with different parallel timelines. Deadpool is told that he is special, but his timeline is not and without a certain being it will soon be wiped from existence.
As a habitual line stepper, Deadpool is not going to stand for this. The timelines do have people who can keep them together so he searches for one of these people, who happens to be Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).
In his attempts to find a Wolverine to aid him in his quest, Deadpool jumps from multiverse to multiverse, giving a wonderful chance to show different variants of Wolverine and give comic fans a lot of dopamine hits for understanding the references, one of my favourites being the comics-accurate Wolverine, who happens to be 5 foot 3 rather than Jackman’s 6 foot 2.
Now that Deadpool has his Wolverine, everything is good, right? But they were, all of them, deceived. Deadpool’s timeline would not be kept and all the people he loves will vanish from existence.
This spurns the two frenemies on their journey. Reynolds and Jackman have a real-life friendly animosity and fans have been wanting this film to happen for years.
And let’s not beat around the bush, this is a silly movie. It is a foul-mouthed, juvenile and surprisingly thoughtful movie. Yes, on the surface the jokes are about pushing solid objects into body parts that should only be ejecting things, but what it does well is it focuses on character.
The violence and language all reveal and support who the characters are and what they want. There is a huge dedication to substance over superficial spectacle. Lots of recent films have thoughts that fancy CGI will impress people but it is mostly pretty colours on the screen without anything underneath it, it falls flat.
That’s why, after two hours of blood, dismemberment, and swear words the decisions of the characters make you feel something.
And that is why you should make good trouble, to make something moving.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe
31 July 2024