What’s Happening With the ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Critics Score? Early Reactions Were Incredible, So Why the Lukewarm Reviews?

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ has officially premiered, and if you managed to score an early-screening ticket, you’ve likely seen overwhelmingly positive social media reactions. We’ve shared fan reactions online, and it’s been difficult to find any negative comments about the movie.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is being hailed as the savior of the MCU and is expected to be Disney’s biggest-earning movie this summer, potentially saving the box office as well.

Now that the review embargo has lifted, the critics’ scores present a different picture. While the reviews aren’t mostly bad, the positive feedback isn’t as overwhelming as expected.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds an 80% rating, marking it as “Fresh” based on 140 reviews. However, on Metacritic, it currently has a “mediocre” score of 54.

The majority of ratings are still positive, but some reviews offer a less favorable perspective. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Deadpool & Wolverine is a “Deadpool” movie, which means it’s rude and irreverent, funny and disgusting, weird and a little sweet. Reynolds and Jackman are fun to watch, in part because their on-screen characters contrast so violently with their nice guy personas off screen. – Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

While it will likely amuse its target audience of geeks and the terminally online, Deadpool & Wolverine is a whole lot of hot air and not much else. – Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

It’s hard to buy this movie as a love letter to anything but Marvel Studios’ corporate conquests. Deadpool & Wolverine has made its hero the worst kind of comic-book character: one who doesn’t stand for anything. – Joshua Rivera, Polygon

The fights are about as sophisticated as watching kids in a playground, and they rely heavily on slow motion, as if that will instantly create tension.

– Caryn James, BBC

Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t a particularly good movie — I’m not even sure it is a movie — but it’s so determined to beat you down with its incessant irreverence that you might find yourself submitting to it. – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

I found this movie messy and overstuffed, but I laughed almost as often as I cringed from its obnoxiousness and can’t dispute that a vast audience will delight in every moment. Even if they spend much of the running time sticking blades through each other’s handily regenerating flesh, Reynolds and Jackman make sweet love and appear to be having a great time doing it. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

The Telegraph’s review strikes a bit too close to home.

The film is so myopically gripped by the idea of Marvel as endlessly fascinating corporate soap opera that in five years time, you wonder if it will make any sense at all. – Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

This is not unusual when considering the larger narrative. It’s common for movies to be praised by audiences but receive lukewarm responses from critics, or vice versa. The two groups look for different things in movies: critics focus on technical and artistic elements, while audiences often seek entertainment and enjoyment.

What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below!