The First 40 Minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine Show Great Potential

This post does not spoil anything specific about Deadpool & Wolverine. Let’s get that out of the way right at the beginning. We won’t, and would never, just vomit up everything that happens in a movie for the sake of spoiling it. But, having seen a big chunk of the film, and knowing everyone is really curious about it, we do want to give you an idea of what it’s like, simply to cure your craving before the main course next week.

So, no, there won’t be any spoilers here, but if you don’t want to know anything—like about big broad strokes—it’s probably best to leave now.

This week, Disney and Marvel showed members of the press 40 minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine ahead of the film’s press junket. The idea, presumably, is to give us enough context to talk about in interviews without spoiling any of the big surprises. Because of that, what I wasn’t expecting was that the first 40 minutes actually has a bunch of big, big surprises in it. From the very first scene, you will instantly be shocked at how far this movie is willing to go, and how focused and smart its commentary is. Especially if you’re a huge Marvel movie fan.

Those surprises were very welcome because the first 40 minutes, while incredibly entertaining throughout, were much denser than I was expecting. There is a lot of explaining and setup, which makes total sense. This is Deadpool’s first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s also bringing those Fox X-Men movies into the universe, thanks to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (yes, we know, Beast and Professor X did it first). So, it has to set those things up, it has to clean up the connections to Deadpool 2, it has to explain its connection to Logan, and then it has to set up the story and stakes of this film, which deals with the multiverse. It’s a lot and all of it just about gets wrapped up around the 40-minute mark.

In that time, there are some very exciting, very violent, action scenes. There’s a hugely crowd-pleasing montage. Each moment is dripping with that fourth wall-breaking attitude, much of which involves deep-cut Marvel jokes. But then there are scenes of people just sitting and talking which, while important, do clash with the energy of the rest of it. Scenes like those are crucial to set the table for everything coming after though, and as the footage began to wrap up, you felt all of those stakes and throughlines already starting to pay off.

A big part of that is because this is very much a Deadpool movie. Things start with him, he’s the engine that keeps it going, all the emotions are centered around him, etc. That may start to shift as things move along but, at least in the first 40 minutes, the movie feels more like Deadpool 3 than Deadpool & Wolverine.

The footage then ended with a little sizzle reel of what happens in the movie after, almost none of which has been seen online. There were many more cameos, many more high-stakes showdowns, and many more… wait, sorry. I said no spoilers.

It’s weird to write about just the first 40 minutes of a movie but, when it’s something as highly anticipated as Deadpool & Wolverine, it seems worth it. Obviously though, you can’t review a movie by its first third, so we’ll end with this: the first 40 min of Deadpool & Wolverine are a tiny bit confusing and even a little clunky, but we loved them anyway. If the next 80 minutes continue to build off those at the same pace as is suggested, this could be a very special movie. We have a feeling, when those credits roll, small issues at the beginning could be wiped clean by big swings at the end.

Full reviews for Deadpool & Wolverine go up Tuesday July 22. We’ll have one for you then. It’s in theaters July 26.

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