C6
movies
Lots of
Fanfare
killing with
kindness
Deadpool’s female
friends are both
tough and tender
in a funny, violent,
heartfelt sequel
BY FRANK LOVECE
I
Special to Newsday
t’s not easy being a friend
to Wade Wilson, aka
Deadpool, the costumed
Marvel Comics
mercenary with super-
enhanced healing
abilities and preternatu-
ral patter. And that’s especially
true for the women of the
superhero sequel “Deadpool
2,” opening Friday, who have to
put up with his wisecracks,
not-so-wise cracks, idiotic
cracks, and cracks in walls and
furniture where bullets hit and
knives get lodged.
Fortunately, they give as
good as they get. Whether it’s
Wade’s love Vanessa
(“Gotham” star Morena
Baccarin), or his septuagenar-
ian roommate, the aptly named
newsday.com
Blind Al (screen and theater
icon Leslie Uggams), or the
sorta-superhero Domino
(Zazie Beetz of “Atlanta”),
“They can all, under the right
NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2018
circumstances, kick some
serious ass,” says Baccarin, 39.
“Including,” she adds, “Blind
Al.”
“These women are all
badass,” echoes Uggams, 74,
using a word she never uttered
in her Emmy-nominated role
in the miniseries “Roots”
(1977) or her Tony-winning
turn in the Broadway musical
“Hallelujah, Baby!” (1967).
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX / JOE LEDERER
Ryan Reynolds has the title role
and Leslie Uggams plays Blind Al.
Even Blind Al proves highly
handicapable with an
automatic pistol. “She may not
be running around with them”
as Deadpool and his X-Force
team try to protect — and
protect themselves from — a
fire-throwing teen (Julian
Dennison) targeted by a time-
traveling soldier named Cable
(Josh Brolin), “but she can still
kick some butt.”
FEMININE ENERGY
Yet for all that Pam Grier /
Sarah Connor / “Atomic
Blond” machisma, there’s also
a surprisingly feminine energy
to a movie spilling Grand
Guignol buckets of blood, and two in the film, he still finds a truest self (ego). And wise Baccarin believes. “And I think
with a sneer by Josh Brolin safe haven and a comfy couch Blind Al provides a sounding what they see in each other
that could curdle whatever’s with Blind Al as he waits for board along with subtle and gives them hope in a very sort
left. “It’s obviously very his self-regenerative powers to sometimes insulting encourage- of grim world.”
masculine in the sense of all regrow his bottom half. And ment that Wade heed his con- Blind Al, says Uggams, “had
the action stuff,” Baccarin says. then his friends come over, science and become a better been a pretty good spy in her
“But it’s not dude humor” like including bar owner Weasel person (superego). day,” a part of her back story not
in a “Jackass” movie. “It’s (T.J. Miller) and cabdriver “That makes a lot of sense,” made explicit in the movie but
everybody humor. It’s funny, Dopinder (Karan Soni). muses Beetz, 26, when which informed the actress’
and this movie ultimately has a But it’s this unholy trilogy of presented with this theory. performance. “But then she
very sweet message to it. We women that serves as “That really does, absolutely.” became blind and that ended the
talk a lot about family and Deadpool’s id, ego and But what do the women get out spy work. So she kind of lives
where your heart belongs. So superego. The adventuress of their respective relationships vicariously through Deadpool’s
in that way, it’s feminine and Domino goes toe-to-toe with with Deadpool? adventures. I don’t believe she
maternal.” his high-caliber carnage and “I think he brings out in has any family, so he is her
True enough. When non-sequitur nuttiness (id). Vanessa a fierce protectiveness family — he’s like the son she
Deadpool literally is ripped in Vanessa reflects his sense of and a possibility for a future,” never had.”

‘A VERY DARK PAST’
As for Domino, Deadpool’s the
brother she never had. Beetz says
she “did a bunch of research on who
she was” in the comics, where the
character is a decade older and
more hard-bitten that her own
devil-may-care Domino. “She had a
very dark past. She was part of this
government program where they
did a bunch of [genetic-modifica-
tion] testing on this group of chil-
dren [to weaponize them], and she
was the only one who survived.”
Because of that extreme only-child
syndrome, “I think Domino and
Deadpool have a sibling sort of
Morena Baccarin not only is
Ryan Reynolds’ love
interest, but she can kick
some butt in ‘Deadpool 2.’
relationship,” she says. “They have
that back-and-forth banter where
she is not dealing with his [exple-
tive]!”
“For me, Deadpool is an incredi-
bly flawed man who desperately
seeks to do the right thing, except
he rarely knows what the right
thing is,” says writer Fabian
Nicieza, 56, who with artist Rob
Liefeld created the character for
Marvel Comics, and went on to
write years of his adventures.
“The Deadpool we get in the
movie really is trying to grow up a
little bit — trying to, in some
strange way, be a functioning
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Yeah, but Bugs never had a trio
of strong women watching his
back — or, if need be, watching his
back grow back.