Review: Is ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ worth watching?



The Marvel Cinematic Universe has all but ruined its name with the string of insufferably woke movies it’s produced in the last few years.

Lauren Chen has pulled no punches when it comes to roasting the franchise for its in-your-face progressive agenda in films such as "The Fantastic Four," "Madame Web," "The Marvels," and "Echo."

But “Deadpool & Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, may have just broken the curse.

“This is a very good movie,” says Lauren.

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And even though the film hops around the multiverse — which Lauren says is a plotline Marvel has “overplayed” — “Deadpool and Wolverine” is nonetheless “a very fun sequence.”

As for the two main characters, “they play off of each other very well,” says Lauren, adding that the fact that Reynolds and Jackman are friends in real life shines through the interactions between their characters.

Another fun part of the movie is the numerous superhero cameos — all of which are played by well-known celebrities, such as Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum, Wesley Snipes, Chris Evans, and Blake Lively.

However, that’s not to say the film is without its flaws.

For example, the “tongue-in-cheek comedy” that characterizes Deadpool films is a bit overdone, according to Lauren.

“More isn’t always more,” she says, adding that “some of the fourth wall breaking, some of the snarkiness ... did kind of feel like too much.”

As for Cassandra Nova’s character, played by Emma Corrin, Lauren was pleasantly surprised. Initially, she was disappointed in the casting choice because she couldn’t picture Corrin coming across as a menacing villain, but the actress delivered in appearing “unhinged” and “creepy.”

“By the end of it, I was genuinely disappointed that [Corrin’s character] wasn't a bigger part of this film,” she says, noting that Nova would have made a better antagonist than Paradox, who was “needlessly evil” and had vague motivations.

Paradoxically, one of the best things about “Deadpool & Wolverine” also happens to be its most limiting feature — and that is its unmitigated fan service.

Not only is the film chock full of “fun references” to other Marvel superheroes, but it also includes references to “superhero films spanning the past 20 years.” This aspect of the film is certain to thrill longtime superhero movie watchers. However, the cameos could easily alienate younger generations, who haven’t been alive long enough to see all the movies, and “normies” who just don’t watch superhero movies that often.

These people are “going to miss a lot of what's happening because they just haven't seen these other films,” says Lauren.

To hear more of Lauren’s review (spoilers included), watch the clip above.

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'Deadpool & Wolverine' makes the MCU fun again



"Welcome to the MCU. By the way, you're joining at a bit of a low point," says Deadpool at one point in his much-anticipated (by him, at least) team-up with Wolverine.

Turns out, admitting you have a problem is more than half the battle.

It’s satisfying to see a director of Levy's talents play in the Marvel universe for the first time, nailing the requisite epic scale while keeping things fun.

After years of declining audience interest, Marvel Studios has delivered a much needed win in the form of "Deadpool & Wolverine," the third installment in the Deadpool trilogy and the first proper inclusion of the X-Men into the MCU.

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is living a peaceful existence retired from superhero-ing and struggling to find meaning in his life. Enter the TVA (short for Time Variance Authority, an organization introduced in the streaming series "Loki"). Turns out, the TVA could use a man like Deadpool to fix the timeline.

When the Merc with a Mouth realizes he'll have to destroy his universe in the process, he pivots to saving it instead. To do so, he recruits a disgraced, alternate-universe Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). As the two unlikely friends maneuver through the multiverse, the chaos that always surrounds Deadpool follows them.

At the heart of this ultra-violent, ultra-irreverent film are surprisingly sincere themes of friendship and redemption. In their shared struggle to find new meaning in their lives, these two heroes end up saving not only the entire universe in a bloody, action-packed climax, but each other.

It's one of the best bromances ever captured on film, with both Reynolds and Jackman giving career-best performances. It is one of the most earnest and emotionally satisfying stories we have seen from Marvel Studios since "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

WARNING: SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON

The film also lovingly pays tribute to the 20th Century Fox era of Marvel with cameos from Blade (Wesley Snipes), the Human Torch (Chris Evans), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Pyro (Aaron Stanford), and Gambit (Channing Tatum, who finally gets to play the character after many failed attempts at a solo film).

Even Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen), from what was supposed to be Jackman's final bow as Wolverine, makes an appearance. She confirms that the Wolverine of "Logan" is indeed dead while inspiring this version of Wolverine to become the hero he's always been capable of being.

While these throwbacks are fun, they do sometimes make the film's pacing suffer. Still, it's hard to fault "Deadpool & Wolverine" for its commitment to maximum fan enjoyment.

I must also single out director Shawn Levy, a filmmaker with great family films like "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Night at the Museum," and the Reynolds-starring "Free Guy" under his belt. It’s satisfying to see a director of his talents play in the Marvel universe for the first time, nailing the requisite epic scale while keeping things fun.

It's safe to say that with "Deadpool & Wolverine," the MCU has officially bounced back from the wokeness-fueled nadir of "The Marvels." Will the studio build on the momentum and good will?

Only time will tell, but the recent Comic-Con bombshell that Robert Downey Jr. will play Dr. Doom in both "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" is certainly a hopeful sign. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the party is just getting started.

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Fantastic Four’s Silver Surfer gets gender bent in latest Marvel scandal



Lauren Chen is convinced that Marvel and Disney, who owns the franchise, “hate money.”

“They definitely hate the fans, and so they're just going full steam ahead, looking to destroy the franchise the company originally spent billions of dollars to acquire,” she says.

Once again, the Disney subsidiary is shoving gender politics down the throats of its already waning consumer base.

“They are, in fact, gender-bending the Silver Surfer” in the upcoming “Fantastic Four” film, sighs Lauren.

According to Deadline, “Emmy winner Julia Garner is set to play the iconic comic book character,” who was originally written as a male.

To make matters worse, when Lauren interviewed Nate from Mr H Reviews, she learned that “the reason why Disney presumably bought things like Marvel and Lucasfilm was to expand their male audience base because historically women have always loved Disney.”

“Disney was looking to corner the male market, and so to do that, they bought two predominantly male companies,” Lauren explains, adding that these acquisitions should have made the company “richer than ever.”

However, quite the opposite happened when “they tried to feminize” the franchises.

The writers of the new “Fantastic Four” also missed an opportunity to draw in fans when they decided to cast Pedro Pascal in the role of Mister Fantastic instead of beloved actor John Krasinski, who starred in the role in the previous film.

“Marvel could have had a slam dunk; they could have had a John Krasinski-led Fantastic Four,” says Lauren. “Everybody would have eaten that up.”

“But Disney was like, ‘No, no we don't want that. We don't want your money. Instead, we want you to look at unattractive, gender-bent Silver Surfer,”’ mocks Lauren.

For these reasons specifically, the audience reaction to the new film has been “lukewarm to negative at best.”

To hear more about the film and how fans are responding, watch the clip below.


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To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

‘Madame Web’ Review: MCU once again turns M-She-U in latest flop



“Madame Web” was just released on Valentine’s Day, and it’s already considered a failure of epic proportions. Despite starring big names such as Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, the film received an abysmal IMDb rating of 3.8/10 stars and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 12%.

“I do not believe that ‘Madame Web’ is a film that was honestly made with the intention of either being profitable or well received,” says Lauren Chen, adding that the movie is so bad that it seems like it was created by the same studio that produced “2-Headed Shark Attack.”

However, Sony Pictures is the studio behind “Madame Web,” which is a shame considering the conglomerate has been “praised and made a lot of money” in the past.

“For the first 10 minutes or so, I did not believe that I was actually watching the movie. I was thinking to myself: Has a parody of the film already managed to come out and that is what I'm accidentally being shown?” Lauren recounts, noting that the opening scene is just “so cheesy.”

“I present to you ‘Madame Web's’ opening scene,” she continues, reading some of the film’s initial dialogue.

Ezekiel Sims: “That spider can give superhuman strength and power, right? Las Arañas?”

Cassandra’s mom: “Las Arañas, the mythical spider people who run across the treetops and punish evil men with their black poison webs? I like to base my research in science, not legends, Mr. Sims.”

Ezekiel Sims: “Those spiders are wasted here.”

Cassandra’s mom: “These little spiders have the potential to cure hundreds of diseases.”

“How did that make it past the initial edit?!” asks Lauren in disbelief. “There are so many different people who are involved in making a movie…No one was like, ‘Hold up, let's give that another go’?”

Soon after this scene, Cassandra’s mom “just appears on screen with a little spider in her jar and announces, ‘I found it,”’ but the actual locating of the spider “happens off screen,” which makes little sense considering “the entire film is based around [that event].”

Ezekiel then proceeds to kill Cassandra’s mom and her entire team in order to steal the spider, but before her mother’s death, infant Cassandra is delivered by the Las Arañas, who just show up out of the blue. They take her to their “spider cave,” and then suddenly the film “fast-forwards to 2003 New York and now Cassie is all grown up.”

And that’s just the beginning of the film.

Between “three spider-women ... a white one, a Latina one, and a black one,” a weak connection to Peter Parker from the original Spider-Man franchise, plotlines that make no sense, and “annoying characters,” “Madame Web” fails so catastrophically, it can’t even be considered “an entertaining hate watch,” says Lauren.

To hear more of Lauren’s analysis, watch the video below.


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'Echo' tops of the list of worst Marvel productions yet



Marvel’s latest TV mini-series, “Echo,” just dropped on Disney+ last week, and it’s already making waves, which isn’t that surprising when you consider Marvel’s downward spiral into wokeness.

The series revolves around Maya Lopez – an indigenous, deaf female amputee – who becomes Kingpin’s top hit man.

“I guess [Kingpin is] like really into DEI,” mocks Lauren.

“If the obvious ESG push behind the show wasn't enough to just kind of give you pause,” she explains, there have also been “reports of production issues as well as Disney being so unhappy with the final product that they even considered not releasing the show at all and instead just taking the loss as a tax credit.”

“I've watched it,” Lauren admits, and “I've got to say, if I were Disney, I probably would have taken the tax credit.”

After a series of tragic life events, Maya ends up working for her father’s mob boss, Kingpin, in order to avenge his gruesome death. Given that Maya is Kingpin’s muscle, she’s doubly disabled, and the fact that this is a Marvel production, one would think Maya must have incredible superpowers.

But no. Maya’s vague superpower is that she can connect with her ancestors’ abilities when she finds herself in dire situations. This strange supernatural gift was a drastic diversion from Maya’s original powers in the comic books, however.

“The director behind the show was very clear that she believed Echo’s comic book powers were ‘lame,”’ explains Lauren, admitting that she’s “still not 100% sure what [Echo’s powers] exactly are” in the TV adaptation.

“Essentially Echo’s powers in this series equate to her maybe having had an energy drink. … Sis had a Red Bull, so she's a little more focused, a little more confident,” she criticizes, adding that it’s clear that the writers and producers “didn't want to make a Marvel series; they wanted to make a series focusing on disabled people or the Choctaw nation.”

According to Lauren, Maya’s powers were so vague and underdeveloped that “if you were to remove [them] entirely from the plot, the show could still happen and basically remain unchanged.”

But that’s just the beginning of the long list of complaints audience members had about “Echo.”

In addition to Maya’s character being “very unlikable,” viewers expressed frustration with the pacing of the series, confusing plot twists, and cringeworthy scenes, including one featuring a “70-year-old Native American grandmother beating up mobsters.”

To hear Lauren’s full review of “Echo,” watch the video below.


Want more from Lauren Chen?

To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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