Hello?: Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’.

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE *** (127 minutes ) MA
Knowing full well that things are not-so-rosy for superhero movies these days, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) returns, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in tow, to force-inject some fun back into the ailing Marvel Cinematic Universe with a cheesy bubblegum blockbuster. All up, it does a fine job.

With Shawn Levy (Stranger Things; Night at the Museum; Real Steel) at the helm, it’s a reliably funny retread of the 2016 and 2018 films, replete with dick jokes, over-the-top action sequences, loads of gratuitous violence and plenty of digital blood-letting.

All of which are perfectly OK, of course, because as all the signature self-referencing, meta joking and fourth-wall breaking continually reminds us, none of it matters in the slightest, not even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The story, or what there is of it, involves the usual, barely comprehensible bulltwang about multiverses, a concept that has now overtaken good old-fashioned time travel as the laziest cliche in mass-market movies today.

Deadpool and Wolverine are drawn together by the Time Variance Authority, an entity that, despite existing in a cosmic realm beyond the parameters of space and time, is run from what looks like a rented office space.

The guy who runs the place (played by Matthew Macfadyen, a fine British actor) tells Deadpool his timeline is dying and he needs Wolverine save it.

The pair subsequently spend most of their screen time in another netherworld called The Void. There they bicker and smack each other and meet other superannuated superheroes who join them in prolonged fight scenes that feature the jagged camerawork and frenetic editing that has long been the Marvel house style.

Gibberish though it unquestionably is, the film is a super-sized lark with lots of laughs and action, the cartoonish violence and prevalence of todger and anal jokes making it a superhero film intended neither for children (that’s another story once it hits the stream, of course) or anyone with good taste.

The meta gags get big yuks (that was the case at the packed Tuesday night preview in Melbourne, at least) with much jibing about Disney and its takeover of 20th Century Fox, which made the first two Deadpools.

Still, all that self-referencing comes at a cost. It’s supposed to be clever yet, three films in, Deadpool & Wolverine never does anything clever with the gimmick.

Fast gags about films, story structure, intellectual property rights, cameos, each actors careers are momentarily funny, to be sure, yet they continually take you out of the movie, thus ensuring that you never really care about what’s going on.

In essence, Deadpool isn’t even a real character, as was the case in the previous two films; it’s Ryan Reynolds we’re watching dressed up as Deadpool, ceaselessly reminding us that we’re watching a movie that has dropped at a low point in the MCU canon. Perhaps in a future film the camera will pull back, expose the crew and get them involved in the action.

And as with any film using the over-used multiverse trope, you can never take anyone’s death as said. Even Deadpool marvels at how everyone is capable of “regeneration”, so when he insists how the prospect of death is sudenly real, we know it’s BS. Number One rule in the Multiverse – resurrection is but one scene away.

We get to see a bunch of alternate Deadpools from other universes, including a few glimpses of Lady Deadpool, a super-sexy Amazonian blonde. This raises the pressing and important question: where’s her movie?

Performance-wise Reynolds is his usual bag of snark but Hugh Jackman doesn’t engage anywhere near as much, either with us or his opposite number. To be honest, he’s a bit bland, too much rage and too little range. The friction between the pair never really develops into friendship, making it tough to describe the film as a buddy comedy.

At 127 minutes, Deadpool & Wolverine clocks in as the latest in a long line of films that are unjustifiably lengthy.

In this case, with the elongated home stretch – which Deadpool actually mentions, perhaps admitting that the thing is too long – it feels like it could have easily shed 20 minutes or so.

Indeed, the film features an expensive-looking sequence that, when you think about it afterwards, could have been excised without taking anything away from a narrative that is celebrated throughout the film for its utter lack of consequence.

Save, naturally, that it rings the bell loudly enough to warrant yet another sequel.

Here’s to it – and that any follow up will feature more than a bit part for Lady Deadpool.