Film Reviews- Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters

 

Deadpool & Wolverine  is a brutal buddy movie. It takes that age old story of two people who would never work together forced to do so for the greater good. Its just that it takes a lot of fighting- and I mean a lot- before they do! The opening sequence sets out the stall with no holds barred  - physically or narratively- hard edged yet containing some nuggets that make this more than just one massive series of punch ups. Deadpool was always the outlier of the superhero stable who was able to go to more extremes than other genre movies and I was wondering whether this would change now he’s been fully admitted to Marvel’s mainstream. The answer is hardly at all.

 

 

Remarkably perhaps Deadpool & Wolverine is given free reign to be as meta, as outrageous and as violent as it wants which considering it is Marvel’s only 2024 movie is a bold move. It’s a gamble of course. With Marvel perceived as being in decline (though this has been exaggerated to some extent) to hang their hopes on a film that takes the rise out of Marvel movies may seem like a gamble. Yet this is a cleverer film than it may appear.

While the story pokes fun at the content and business of Marvel movies, as well as the behind the scenes studio shenanigans, it also follows the contours of those movies as accurately as any with hugely entertaining results. So while a lot of the jokes come at Marvel’s and superhero movies’ expense the script also includes material that espouses the inspiration of the Avengers. It’s this that lifts it above the parody into a sometimes affectionate reading of the value of these types of films as modern legends.  It is as if the film is taking us to one side and saying- we know how silly some of this stuff is but at its heart it is good winning over evil which inspires people both in real life and it its fiction.

As you’d expect if you’ve seen the previous Deadpool movies this third offering is replete with swearing, violence and irreverent comments some of which would be called out in most contemporary films. Yet Deadpool gets away with saying what nobody else can say while the film also delights in breaking that fourth wall and quite possible a fifth if there is one! Case in point- one fight sequence takes place in front of a half buried 20th Century Fox sign. While not all the gags land enough hit the bullseye to make it work

Action wise the movie scores highly. It may have a tongue in its cheek yet does not hold back from gymnastic dynamic fight scenes and with the added blood and gore only these films seem to be allowed to portray give it a brutal edge. If the X Men is the unexpected fulcrum of the story then its visual touchpoint is frequently Mad Max from the scorched landscapes and souped up vehicles to the bloody carnage.

Our antagonist amidst this macho movie is the spectral Cassandara played by Emma Corrin whose connection to the X Men gives her enormous power including an ability to look inside people’s mind which is realised in the most icky way possible! Both her band and those against her include returning characters not just from the X Men franchise but other places such as Blade and Loki. That they are mostly played by the original actors is a bonus and you’ll have fun spotting them all. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman appear to be having a great time locking horns and playing with the material. They work so well together its almost a shame when the plot has to come in and interrupt their sniping!

The ending, certainly with a knowing eye, cooks up a solution that means both our flawed heroes have to step up, co-operate and sacrifice everything to save this world and countless others. Here we slip seamlessly into the territory of any Marvel movie. It even uses the trope of something that just seems too far apart to be joined together though a better sequence comes when they face an army of Deadpools to the soundtrack of Madonna’s `Like A Prayer`.

For all the exposition it is left vague as to where we are and what might happen next but if I’ve read it right this is more or less the closure of the Multiverse narrative at least for now. For once a Marvel film feels like it there to tell its story rather than be yet another rung in a taller ladder. There are no post credits dips into the future just a feeling that we’ve seen a great film and that is enough.

 

Twisters is not really a sequel to the 1996 film Twister though some of the same wind machines may have been used! It’s a similar premise though- tornado chasers risking their lives to get close to one of nature’s most awesome yet also dangerous phenomenon. It’s an occupation made for movie making and Twisters offers up a roster of flying objects, edge of the seat rides, danger and mayhem that will satisfy audiences for sure. It is never less than exciting and often top-notch thrills abound. Now we have larger, clearer screens and better sound systems the film takes you right up close with a reliance on as many practical effects as possible to keep it real.

Why are these people doing it? We follow two different groups. The smarter dressed meteorological boffins’ whose work is funded by some shady land deals making a profit from the mess that tornados leave behind despite ostensibly being about mapping them in three dimensions. Helping them after a five year interregnum following a tornado tragedy that we see in the first sequence is Kate Carter. She has an experimental idea that she believes will shrink active tornados thus reducing the damage they do and when her former colleague Javi (the other survivor of the previous tragedy) invites her along she is tempted back.  Then we have the YouTube thrill seekers led by self styled `tornado wrangler` Tyler Owens whose aim is no more than to set off fireworks in the middle of the storm, filming it all for Likes. His vehicle does have a very niffy set of drills that burrow into the ground to stabilise it and I wonder why all tornado chasers don’t have these. Kate has to overcome her wariness of getting back in the field but then , as the shady sideline Javi’s group are engaged in becomes known to her, she begins to gravitate towards Tyler’s more ramshackle crew who are at least helping people.

Any moral or even personal concerns are dealt with concisely in a way that feels as if the filmmakers don’t want to keep us away from the storms for too long. The words `climate change` are never mentioned directly despite talk of an increase in the number of tornados. Twisters is just not that kind of narrative and when it comes to jeopardy films don’t get much better than this. Its usual to highlight especially stand out action scenes in a film but frankly all of them are standout offering multiple viewpoints and varied scenarios. The finale offers up a tremendously realised tornado wreaking havoc on a town plus an absurd act of heroism that you feel films were invented for. Especially when townsfolk are hiding in a cinema when the screen is ripped away revealing the tornado itself – a real surround sound experience!

Daisy Edgar Jones hits the right note as Kate who is resourceful yet filled with doubts and also a moral belief while Glen Powell looks to be having great fun in a role that would surely have been played by Matthew McConnaughey twenty years ago. Anthony Ramos’s Javi makes the most of his underwritten role offering a more earnest  friendship and setting up a potential love triangle as both he and Tyler are clearly attracted to Kate. Who will she choose? Twisters is not an intellectual exercise and I suspect the science makes as much sense as Donald Trump but it doesn’t matter because you will be – sorry- blown away by this film!