Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 20, 2024

Reactions to Deadpool & Wolverine have been perhaps surprisingly wide ranging, at least judging by the completely nonscientific method of hearing from friends who saw it during its theatrical run and, no matter what they may have ultimately thought about the film, helped propel its box office receipts to stratospheric heights (as this review is being written, the film is highest grossing R rated outing in history). The mere fact that Deadpool & Wolverine raked in such untold amounts of cash might indicate de facto that the film was "successful", but there have still been a number of naysayers, or at least less than enthusiastic respondents to the film's unabashedly chaotic, joke a minute (second?) ambience. There are two "pro tips" this particular reviewer might offer in terms of, well, (character name pun incoming) wading through the cartwheeling morass of this film: first, take a deep breath before pressing play, and; second, have the pause button on your remote handy, since both banter and some actual presentational moments may require a quick "instant replay" in order to catch everything that's zinging by the viewer (and listener) at virtual light speed.

Poor Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds). Not only is he both physically and emotionally scarred courtesy of all the mishegoss (technical term) he encountered in Deadpool and Deadpool 2, even ostensible opportunities offered by the increasingly labyrinthine "multiverses" in Marvel's ever expanding cinematic (and television) productions don't present much other than more disappointment. Consigned to being a used car salesman, what's a hapless former kinda sorta superhero to do? That quandary actually takes a few minutes to be revealed, as in expected fashion, Deadpool & Wolverine opens with a veritable onslaught of "meta" material, with Deadpool (and/or Reynolds, not that it really makes much difference) breaking whatever rubble is left of the veritable fourth wall, and riffing on everything from Disney's takeover of the erstwhile 20th Century Fox to the seemingly unsolvable problem of how to integrate the character of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) into the film, since that character is, to paraphrase Monty Python and the Holy Grail, actually quite dead.

While the writing is more than clear enough that no one should be overly confused, it turns out that one arguably fairly obscure reference (at least to those who don't have Disney+) turns out to be a major plot point. For those either unacquainted or uninterested in Loki: The Complete First Season, that show's TVA, which most definitely has nothing to do with the Tennessee Valley, is back, as are certain concepts like "the sacred timeline". That's how that, um, maybe not dead everywhere Logan is able to be resurrected or at least repurposed, as Deadpool is supposedly recruited by the Time Variance Authority to be what he's always wanted to be, namely a hero, though it turns out in this case because Deadpool's version of Earth is about to be eradicated. That's because what might be thought of that Earth's "anchor tenant", Logan, has died. And so Deadpool of course heads off to any number of alternate universes to try to find another Wolverine to bring back to his Earth to make everything right.

Got that? Please refer to the above comment about pause buttons on remotes, but, joking aside, the actual clarity of the screenplay is almost surprising considering how far fetched and "technical" it tries to be. But the plot is almost irrelevant in a way (which may either be a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view), since the film is a nonstop smackdown not just of characters in the frame, but in a very real way, of the audience. Okay, so we have Deadpool from this Earth working with (after two acts of internecine "warfare") a Wolverine from another Earth, with both a smarmy TVA middle manager named Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) and Charles Xavier's bat guano crazy twin sister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) as nemeses (actually working at cross purposes rather than with each other). So what does the film do? Take off on one flight of fancy after another, dashing through an often hilarious array of "Marvel cameos" (including a scene stealing turn by Chris Evans in both the film and its expected sting in a brief post credits coda), as well as all of the above mentioned "meta" references, which will keep even any longtime Marvel fan poring over both past issues and past adaptations to figure out.

Deadpool & Wolverine has the good sense to almost never take itself seriously, though it perhaps flirts with actual human emotion a couple of times, at least until one of Deadpool's patented potty mouthed asides enters the fray. This can admittedly be an exhausting viewing experience, but it is also consistently smart and often very funny.

Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Deadpool & Wolverine is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri Alexas and finished at 4K, this is another stellar looking transfer from this particular trifecta. While I'd certainly advise those with 4K UHD setups to opt for that format for its increased detail levels and palette highlights, you will not be going wrong in any major way if you "only" have capabilities for a 1080 viewing experience. The overall crispness of detail levels throughout this presentation is recurrently impressive, and even some of the CGI elements have surprising specificity in terms of textures. Fine detail on practical elements like costumes and props is typically nothing less than superb. I'd probably argue that some of the less effective CGI moments (as in the "save the world" climax) probably look better in 1080 than in the 4K UHD presentation, but generally speaking, both obvious CGI characters and CGI elements within the frame are nicely woven into the practical elements. The palette is very robust throughout, and while those suits gets grimier and grimier and chaos ensues, both the red of Deadpool's outfit and yellow of Wolverine's outfit pop quite nicely throughout. Some of the Void material is intentionally skewed toward desert yellows.

Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For no discernable reason, once again the wizards (?) at Disney have decided to give their 4K release a Dolby Atmos track and this 1080 release a "mere" DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track (I'm joking, obviously), but in this case, I'd argue there really isn't a huge difference between the two. There are three or four clear examples of Atmos speaker engagement in that presentation (see my 4K UHD review for details), but otherwise, the 1080's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track provides consistent immersion, and clear engagement of the side and rear channels both for action sequences, but also for ostensibly quieter scenes (not that there are many of those, mind you). The big action set pieces offer veritable whirlwinds of surround activity, with both fun panning effects and discrete channelization, and with frequent blasts of LFE. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Finding Madonna: Making the Oner (HD; 6:23) looks at the technical challenges confronting the team for the calamitous finale featuring legions of Deadpools from alternate universes, which was shot unedited (though with multiple takes courtesy of a motion control camera).


• Practical Approach: Celebrating the Art of Ray Chan (HD; 9:44) celebrates the film's production designer.


• Loose Ends: The Legacy Heroes (HD; 10:11) highlights some of what might be jokingly referred to "and the rest", a la the first season Gilligan's Island theme.


• Wolverine (HD; 6:09) discusses the character and how this film decided to bring him back.


• Deadpool's Fun Sack 3 (HD; 3:22) offers a PSA for testicular cancer, among other "comedy" bits.


• Gag Reel (HD; 4:39)


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 2:17)


• Audio Commentary by Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds

Disney sent its 4K UHD release for purposes of this review, but it looks like this standalone 1080 release features a digital copy and slipcover.

Deadpool & Wolverine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Part of the unceasing "meta" approach this film utilizes jokes about Disney offering a foul mouthed R rated production like this one, and there's kind of a slightly comical subtext for long time Disney fans attending this line of humor: if the studio is now "tolerant" of incessant F bombs and other verbal naughtiness, not to mention unbridled carnage offering what might be called Jackson Pollock arrays of blood spray, how can Disney still be sitting on material like Song of the South, refusing to offer it to at least home theater buffs? All of that aside, how you react to this film may be augured by how you respond to Ryan Reynolds' cell phone commercials. If you think they're endearingly quirky, you'll probably love this film. If they annoy the living you know what out of you, that will probably be how you feel about Deadpool & Wolverine. I found Deadpool & Wolverine to be, yes, exhausting, but also hugely enjoyable. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements a lot of fun. Recommended.