‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is barely a movie

I am not sure I have ever seen a movie more opposed to the things I find valuable in cinema, or in art and entertainment in general, as “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have been made by people who are less concerned with the quality of the finished product and more focused on cost reduction and production efficiency.

In their attempt to maximize the film’s cameo-to-runtime ratio, the filmmakers seem to have forgotten about every other aspect of filmmaking. Corners have been cut wherever possible, the shots are not so much edited as thrown together in a vaguely sequential manner, and the visual effects are overused and totally unconvincing.

The aesthetics of the movie were a huge disappointment, to say the least. While I may never be able to confirm this with the director, I assume that the lighting budget was cut in its entirety to ensure that Chris Evans received a paycheck, because every scene is lit as if it takes place inside a Walmart. The images are uninspired in composition and dull in color. Even the title characters’ vibrant red and yellow costumes look washed out.

The few times director Shawn Levy attempts any kind of image more expressive than a close-up is laughable. From what I have seen, Levy seems to simply borrow style from superior filmmakers who have used the same techniques more effectively and in better films. What Levy produces just feels hollow coming from him. None of the choices Levy made elevate the material, and they feel out of place and disconnected from the rest of the film.

Characters like Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Dafne Keen’s X-23 and Wesley Snipes’ Blade come across as not just lifeless, but dead. These returning characters feel more like pieces of intellectual property than people, defined not by emotions but by their status as familiar products being resold to an eager public.

Aside from the three previously mentioned, each character reintroduced in “Deadpool & Wolverine” originates from some maligned relic of the early 2000s, pre-MCU superhero craze. While this is a “Deadpool” movie — meaning there are, of course, a few jabs at the characters’ historical insignificance — these snarky moments are overridden by the movie’s attempts to valorize them and turn previously failed characters into gods.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is, above all else, insulting. It is a movie that presupposes that its audience will not care that it fails to meet the most basic standards of competence we should expect from a movie as long as it supplies us with an endless stream of recognizable things.

Perhaps the most maddening thing about it is that had the filmmakers handled the movie with even a modicum of care or respect for their craft, it would be infinitely better. Instead of evoking emotion and entertainment through well-crafted filmmaking and clever writing, “Deadpool & Wolverine” takes the easier, dumber path and bludgeons the viewer with an onslaught of content until we are forced into resigned submission.