Attentive readers out there will sense that I’ve been suffering from superhero-movie fatigue ever since Coppola and Scorsese labeled them “closer to theme parks than movies.” I simply had nothing to say about each big-deal multi-character Marvel romp or dull DC mix-up. And there was that nagging feeling that fans of this stuff don’t really do a lot of reading. 

Then Deadpool came along in 2016 offering some much-needed satire on the genre. It was fun, but I skipped the sequels. I confess to a slight allergy to Ryan Reynolds’s skittery smugness. Wait! Didn’tHugh Jackman kill off Wolverine in 2017’s stand-alone Logan? Well, yes, but you know if there’s a buck in reviving him somehow, Marvel’s going to make it up (cue the multiverse).

But I had some time to kill a few days ago and so caught a screening of this latest (R-rated!) mega-meta-mashup, and here are my takeaways: 

Positives: The rapid-fire jokes at Hollywood’s expense and the inside-showbiz references are spot-on and knowing.  I had fun, mostly. I laughed six times. Okay, eight. It’s also full of Easter eggs and big-name cameos, so it’s fun spotting those. And breaking the fourth wall is always amusing.

Negatives: Messy and overstuffed. Too many too-long, too-violent battles to the death among beings that can’t die. Yawn. It’s more exhausting than entertaining. The movie is entirely made up of seemingly unrelated, screen-saver set pieces. Clever, okay, but also extremely silly, with virtually no story line. Nothing really to care about. With the money Marvel has, would it be too much to ask for something more than a love letter to fanboys? (128 min)