Deadpool & Wolverine

Cumbersome plotting aside, there’s enough gory mayhem and genuine zingers to make Deadpool & Wolverine a fun ride in a packed and up-for-it cinema.

It’s amusing at times, especially for fans of the MCU as several Marvel superhero movie stars pop up in cameo roles...

Some of the jokes land through sheer volume and force of will, but it feels like you have to endure 40-or-so rectal stabbings for a single juicy zinger.

The tonal battle between the two characters is a walkover. Between the frenzied slapstick violence and battery of gags, two hours plus pass in a finger click.

Avengers/X-Men fans who're looking for fun, keep your ears open. The real party is in the freaky chatter.

Hall H: The Movie, offering up an onslaught of familiar (though largely forgotten) superhero faces intended to elicit knowing, nostalgic nods and applause.

The queer-coded material in Deadpool & Wolverine is played for laughs and comes off as homophobic.

If it doesn’t quite feel like a reset for Marvel, the film’s persistent self-awareness nonetheless feels like a love letter to superheroes.

Rather than a smart send-up, the movie functions as a dreary distillation of the worst excesses of the MCU and its apparently endless offshoots.

Deadpool & Wolverine is less a long string of crass gags and bloody gore and more a celebration of the FOX era of Marvel films, mixed with amusing set pieces and lots of trademark fourth wall breaking gags. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it!