Wicked: For Good Review

Wicked: For Good volition beryllium released successful theaters connected November 21.

Midway done Wicked: For Good, astatine the climax of 1 the musical’s galore songs, Cynthia Erivo is harshly backlit by that pesky Ozian prima that has someway made it into virtually each framework of this story. The camera pans dilatory away, and, ah, a respite from each the squinting you person to bash successful bid to spot thing that’s going connected successful this movie! But the alleviation is short-lived, due to the fact that the changeable yet settles connected a elephantine waterfall that is… reflecting each of the airy from that precise aforesaid sun, obscuring the main quality erstwhile much down a partition of photons.

I usage this tiny illustration to exemplify Wicked: For Good’s cardinal problem: it has each of the issues of the archetypal movie, compounded by the information that Act II of Wicked the philharmonic is, famously, conscionable not arsenic bully arsenic the first.

The communicative has jumped successful clip an unspecified fig of years, and the tricky Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and his mouthpiece Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) person convinced the radical of Oz that the green-skinned “wicked witch” Elphaba (Erivo) is Public Enemy Number One. Meanwhile, Elphaba, who’s been exiled to the woods, is dead-set connected drafting backmost the curtain connected the Wizard’s fakery and redeeming the lives of each the sentient Animals who are progressively forgetting however to speak. It’s a Very Serious setup for a Very Serious movie, with nary of the effervescent pizzazz of the archetypal act/film. That’s the occupation with the dreary backmost extremity of this story—you’ve already had each the amusive of getting to conscionable everyone for the archetypal time, and present each that’s near is to ticker them marque themselves miserable.

It’s a weird tonal displacement that conscionable doesn’t lucifer the inherent absurdity of the environment. Wicked plays things very sincerely with its precise silly communicative (I accidental this arsenic a fan), but determination are ever moments successful the show—a hilariously mispronounced connection here, a well-timed speech there—that wink astatine the ridiculousness of the premise. In contrast, watching Wicked: For Good is similar watching a warfare movie, implicit with enactment sequences, wrenching interpersonal drama, and a harrowing exile flight country that provides the backdrop for 1 of the film’s 2 archetypal songs, the somber don’t-let-the-bastards-get-you-down anthem “No Place Like Home.” The self-serious ambiance makes talking animals and the occasional notation of the assemblage of radical that calls themselves “Munchkins” adjacent much jarring. Look, they already tried to bash “grimdark Wizard of Oz” with the puerility trauma-inducing Return to Oz and Syfy’s Tin Man miniseries, and (again, I accidental this arsenic a fan) it didn’t truly enactment those times, either.

And past there’s the information that you can’t spot astir of it anyway. Director Jon M. Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks’ committedness to backlighting each country with a sun, a lantern, oregon a partition of torches persists here—probably due to the fact that Wicked and Wicked: For Good were changeable astatine the aforesaid time—and was already roundly criticized by critics and fans the archetypal clip around. The 2nd movie is darker successful each consciousness of the connection (aside from galore of Grande’s scenes, convey goodness), and determination are environments that are truthful dimly lit you can’t marque retired Erivo’s look astatine all.

It’s each precise frustrating, because, arsenic with the archetypal film, you tin archer that existent enactment was enactment into gathering opulent environments for the actors to stomp astir in. Chu outdoes his ain wedding staging from Crazy Rich Asians here, throwing Glinda a enactment overflowing with flowers and acceptable for a fairy queen. The operation Elphaba yet transforms into her lair during the triumphant villain opus “No Good Deed” looks similar a battleground from Elden Ring. Cool, tactile sets shrouded successful shadows are possibly marginally amended than the washed-out lighting of the too-bright archetypal movie, but, fixed however inertly everyone is often staged successful this film, you inactive get the consciousness that you’re watching radical walking astir successful sets.

The songs though are astir capable to marque you hide astir each of this. Erivo and Grande are truthful bully it makes the information that these movies aren’t that large adjacent much disappointing, and they particularly nail each the complicated, contradictory emotions and themes moving done this sequel. Wicked: For Good does its champion to yank them backmost and forth—allies 1 moment, enemies the next, and past backmost to besties again—but they some support themselves steady, electrifying things whenever they’re sharing the screen. Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, the 3rd subordinate of their isosceles emotion triangle, holds his ain with the 2 of them, adjacent though helium doesn’t get overmuch to bash present too rotation his wide shoulders and smolder straight astatine the camera, and that’s fine. (Michelle Yeoh’s propaganda curate Madame Morrible remains the anemic link, which is simply a shame, arsenic she’s the lone genuinely villainous quality successful this full happening and intelligibly relishes immoderate accidental to beryllium mean.)

Really, the biggest occupation with Wicked: For Good is its atonal pacing—songs instrumentality ages to finish, portion characters are perpetually being tossed into country aft country with precise fewer transitions successful betwixt to afloat explicate wherefore anyone is acting the mode that they are. And it’s doing each this portion besides stepping connected astir of the root material’s champion bits—Elphaba’s large Wicked Witch laughter moment, which ignites cheers successful the theater, is hardly gestured at. Wicked 2 is surely agelong capable to laic everything retired successful a sensible mode (at 137 minutes, it’s lone 20 minutes shorter than the archetypal movie), but seems to deliberation that audiences volition conscionable spell up and capable successful the blanks for themselves. Its songs and endowment are surely bully capable to seashore on, but it inactive fails to marque the lawsuit for translating a beloved signifier amusement to 2 just-okay films. It’s clip for this bubble to pop.