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TIn Hollywood, sometimes there is no more valuable asset than low expectations. At least, that seems to be the thinking. Deadpool & Wolverine's marketing campaign pivoted this week to full-on self-advocacy: “We need to set the table right,” star Ryan Reynolds begins in a “disclaimer” video that fans can access by following a QR code. “This movie is paper-thin as a sequel can be.” battlefield earth. ”
As the marketing metaphor goes, evoking the name of John Travolta's Scientology-adjacent sci-fi movie is more or less a nuclear-related choice. But Reynolds continues to dunk on his own movies. “Most of the time we're just going to beat each other up senseless, antagonize Disney, and tell stupid jokes,” he says. “So, sit back, relax, and lower your IQ and raise your heart rate while you travel to a hazy dreamland. Grown men and grown women walk around in tights and ask for help in a huge cultural Judging from the promo, this sounds like an almost completely honest assessment from Reynolds, or perhaps the filmmakers. Deadpool & Wolverinemarketing department.
But why would Reynolds sell off a summer blockbuster? We're not used to hearing words like “trashy” used to promote a multi-million dollar movie. It's exactly the kind of edgy, raw sarcasm we'd expect from the character Deadpool. dead pool (2016) and deadpool 2 (2018) Spray Snark in the direction of the fourth wall. But here the irony solidifies. It's condescending, dishonest, and very dark. deadpool & wolverine It's a corporate branding effort to trick you into believing you're one of their kind, a supermarket disguised as a skate park.
Reynold's mischievous self-deprecation is always largely to be honest, Deadpool and Wolverine The team “made enemies with Disney” (the film is produced by Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios). Admittedly, like the first two Deadpool movies made for Fox before the Disney merger in 2019, the film might not be considered a traditional Disney production. Deadpool & Wolverine There's brutal violence, foul language, and dirty jokes. But it's absurd to frame the film as some kind of anti-corporate subversive activity. It's a film that was probably focus-grouped to maximize profits, and made entirely in accordance with Disney's broader strategy for the franchise. You can't separate art, or a product, from its corporate underpinnings.
Towards the end of “Disclaimer,” Reynolds says, Deadpool and WolverineContent dedicated to the ills of the superhero genre as a whole. Again, he's not exactly wrong. The widespread superhero craze of the past 15 years has To do It is a cry for help and, at the very least, a sign of cultural infantilization. But the complaint comes out of a person’s mouth. Ryan Reynoldsamong everyone?
The 47-year-old actor and gin king is probably synonymous with the kind of spandex slop he's skewering. dead pool This isn't Reynolds' first foray into a major superhero series, as she previously flew around with emeralds shooting out of her nipples in 2011. Green Lantern (Okay – I’ve never seen it.) Before this, X-MEN Origins: Wolverine (2009), he played a very different, totally insensitive Deadpool, and going back even further, there's Wesley Snipes' terrible trilogy. Blade: TrinityWhile Reynolds may not technically be patient zero of this contagious superhero plague, he was definitely in a lab somewhere, running around and licking petri dishes when the plague broke out.
Even when Reynolds' projects aren't technically Marvel movies, they still have a frustrating, depthless shine to them. Free Guy or in 2017 Hitman's Bodyguard It's superhero schlock in spirit, if not in technical terms, and it's infuriating to hear Reynolds vent about the emptiness of the modern superhero blockbuster while he hurls stones at the walls of his own glass house.
Film has been in a precarious position lately. With a few notable exceptions (dunes: part 2; Godzilla x Kong: New Empire), many blockbuster films flopped at the box office this year. This applies to all genres.Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt action comedy Fall Guys ” is the latest major release to disappoint, but when it comes to superhero movies, the drop is especially steep. Deadpool and Wolverine Having to rely on negative advertising means that everything do not have It's also good in terms of genre. Reverse Psychology is Marvel's last gasp, a desperate attempt to shift a fading product. What we're left with is a franchise that has no respect for itself or for that matter, you.
Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 25th
