Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corin, Matthew Macfadyen, Dafne Keen, Jon Favreau, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, Henry Cavill, Wunmi Mosaku, Aaron Stanford, Tyler Mane, Karen Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapicic, Randal Reeder, Lewis Tan, Greg Hemphill, Aaron W. Reed, Blake Lively, Nathan Fillion, Ray Park, Matthew McConaughey.

The consensus has been that Marvel has bought about its own suffering in the last few years, an occasional high here and there, but for the most part the tales and characters explored have been poorly advised, inadequately formed, and in some cases playing to an audience that in the comic book world just don’t receive the readership that the more established take perhaps for granted, it’s arguably an unfair comparison, but if you appeal to the fringes then you are only going to have a fanbase from that area willing to spend the money on lauding you.

It could be considered that Avengers: Endgame was a pinnacle, a bar set so high that anything else was always going to fall in comparison. It is a fact of life that there can only be one true peak in a range, there can only be only one Everest in a range of molehills.

K2 might not get the same headlines as its larger sister in the Himalayas, but it is still impressive, so few of us look upon it in anything but wonder, fear, trepidation, and in awe, and it is to the mountainous, the rugged immense rock that is Deadpool & Wolverine that we can finally envisage the scale it must have taken to bring Endgame to the cinema screens and the determination to at last attempt, and almost succeed in reproducing the sense of the colossal, that the instigator of its own staleness has turned a corner and zooming back into the hearts of all who see the comic book/graphic novel adaptations as more than entertainment, but as a reflection of a heroic world we would like to imagine.

Everything about Deadpool & Wolverine is immense, from its pulling together two of Marvel’s most iconic figures into a film that has panache, steel, and robust anarchy woven through it in fine sarcastic silk, a storyline that follows on perfectly from the upbeat and admired Loki serial whilst being its own definitive story line. From forgotten lore, cameos that are off the scale, irreverent fourth wall breaks, and of course the return of Hugh Jackman to a role he insisted he was done with, the film screams pleasure in every department and finally banishes the spectre of Fox being at the heart of releasing MCU films.

Fox should be remembered for at least having the guts to bring the X-Men to the live action screens in the first place, but it is in the house of Marvel, albeit with influence from the House of Mouse, that the fulfilment of prestigious storylines should be forthcoming.

Whilst performances from actors such as Emma Corin, Matthew Macfadyen, Wesley Snipes, and Chris Evans will stick in the mind, it is to the brilliance of Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds that sets the film on fire, it is the long haul to conquering K2 that creates the need to attempt Everest once more; and now more than ever the audience and the fan alike clamour and call for that challenge to be met.

An utterly superb, rip roaring, undeniably inspired film, not for the weak of heart or those seeking a religious like experience, Deadpool & Wolverine is first-rate on every watch possible.

Ian D. Hall