Wicked: For Good

Wicked: For Good continues the story of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a few years after the events of Part 1, as their paths have diverged. Elphaba has challenged the Wizard’s totalitarian regime in Oz, liberating the enslaved animals, and learns to embrace her newfound identity as the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’. While Glinda has been given an honorific, public title of ‘Glinda The Good’ by the Wizard as Oz’s defender against Elphaba, and a beacon of hope against wickedness. With their friendship fractured, Elphaba and Glinda must make decisions that will seal their fates.

Shortcomings and Pitfalls of Part 1 repeated and amplified in Part 2: Full disclosure that this reviewer has not seen any stage production of Wicked, nor have they read Gregory Maguire’s novel on which the musical is based. Any critiques of Wicked: For Good and its predecessor in this review speak of it purely as a work of film and not as a work of adaptation. As Part 2 was shot together with its first installment, it was foolish to suspect much would change from the frustrating experience of wasted potential that was Part 1; a film whose messy, restrained vision was constantly at odds with the vibrant and wondrous source material because Wicked: For Good is a rinse and repeat of everything that hamstrung the previous film. The lavish, textured, and inventive costume and production design are cheapened by the awkward incorporation of weightless visual effects. The impressive choreography and the performance of the musical numbers are still obscured and mishandled by poor direction, editing, and lighting - particularly backlighting - that is either way too dark and murky or way too bright and over-exposed, completely washing out the images. The script is so bloated and clunky, whilst somehow still feeling rushed and paper-thin, the latter of which is immensely amplified in Wicked: For Good.

Erivo and Grande deliver where the script does not: Even from the most die-hard fans of the stage musical, it seems unanimously agreed that Act 2 of Wicked is much weaker than the first half. In that regard, Wicked:For Good may, in fact, be a faithful adaptation, as the faults of the film may also be the fault of the source material. The progression and development characters go through in Wicked: For Good, at best, feel underdone and predictable, and at worst, just unnatural and contrived. Even the central friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, that is the beating heart and the rich soul of this dual cinematic venture, feels undercooked on the page. Whilst some actors really struggle with the lackluster material - Michelle Yeoh, chief among them, with further proof she was woefully miscast as Morrible - the magnetism, screen presence, and intoxicating chemistry of both Erivo and Grande do so much heavy lifting with selling the deep emotionality of their friendship with powerful performances that elevate the film and deliver where the script cannot. However, it does not make their arcs in the film any less flat, as their motivations and actions make sense, but what those motivations and actions are the result of is not always consistent and is driven more by plot convenience than believability.

A film full of misfires still hits the moments that matter: Wicked: For Good is a mélange of drab visuals, underwhelming set pieces, muddled, threadbare commentary on fascism and cults of personality and obligatory, eye-roll inducing callbacks where the narrative merges and overlaps with The Wizard of Oz’s storyline (a feature I’m sure is present in all versions - this story is essentially fan fiction after all). And yet even amidst all of that, Wicked: For Good defies not just gravity, but also the odds stacked against it with just enough effective, memorable moments to forgive its shortcomings and carry it over the finish line with intense exasperation, again due in no small part to Grande and Erivo’s larger-than-life performances. The musical sequences of ‘No Good Deed’ and the titular song ‘For Good’ are by far and away the highlights of the film and where it feels most alive. With ‘No Good Deed’ the turning point and ‘For Good’ the epic emotional ballad for the film’s dramatic climax where Elphaba and Glinda confront each other for the final time, both sequences are spectacular, delivering on both spectacle and emotion to a degree the rest of the musical sequences fail to deliver on.