In moviemaking, sadly, there can be a problem with going to the well too many times, and this latest installment in one of filmdom’s better cinematic franchises verges on proving just that. This offering’s predecessors (2016, 2018) significantly distinguished themselves from the kind of fare typically found in the superhero genre with their outrageously bawdy humor, hilarious sight gags and relentlessly maverick attitude. This time out, however, director Shawn Levy’s latest effort is a decidedly hit or miss affair, with an often-incoherent script that feels like it was cobbled together from a collection of leftover parts, some of which work and some of which don’t. I suppose that’s not entirely surprising from a screenplay that was penned by four different writers, making me wonder how much consensus was in place in compiling the finished product. Moreover, this film appears to be intended to fold the Deadpool franchise into the X-Men franchise, an intriguing idea that, regrettably, is handled rather clumsily (as has often been the case with many other recent fusion offerings in the Marvel Universe). And, if all that weren’t bad enough, this release gives short shrift to the colorful cast of supporting players that made the Deadpool films so funny, original and enjoyable, relegating them to little more than cameos in favor of walk-ons by a host of other MCU characters (some of them remarkably obscure, I might add) in an attempt to help cement the franchise cross-pollination going on here. It makes for awkward storytelling at times, especially for viewers who might not be familiar with these lesser-known figures, some of which are drawn from Marvel source material unrelated to its big screen offerings. To the picture’s credit, it features yet another stellar turn by Ryan Reynolds as the off-color protagonist, as well as its share of hilarious bits (without a doubt the franchise’s historically strongest suit), including a number of unabashed, razor-sharp asides referencing off-screen developments related to the studios that produced these films and the actors who have appeared in them. These strengths notwithstanding, however, this is a production that has sadly watered down the elements that best made this franchise work in favor of an overarching programming agenda that simply doesn’t serve this film or the series particularly well. The creators would have served themselves and viewers better by sticking with what works and the basics of good storytelling than trying to force an issue for the sake of future productions that may or may not work over the long term. This has been a noticeable downfall in the quality of many of the most recent Marvel Universe releases, and I’d truly hate to see this franchise befall a similar fate.
