Film Review: Wicked - For Good

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

Wicked: For Good is an emotional and ultimately satisfying conclusion to this epic movie musical.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR WICKED: PART ONE

The story picks up some time after the events of Wicked: Part One.  Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is an outlaw trying to expose the lies of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum).  Glinda (Ariana Grande) is the poster girl for the regime and tries to smooth things out between the two sides when she can.  She is also engaged to the increasingly conflicted Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), with tension simmering underneath.  As all of Elphaba's efforts seem in vain, she makes a last attempt to confront or even compromise with Glinda and the Wizard, which leads to tragic results.

Just as with the first movie, what makes this film work are the musical numbers and the performance by Erivo.  Composer Stephen Schwartz even added a couple of original songs, but they don't really add much to the story.  But when the music and the performance match, it is movie magic (pun intended).  This is especially the case with Erivo's powerhouse voice in "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and in her duet with Grande of the title song "For Good."  That last one in particular is the emotional catharsis of the entire story that got me very emotional.  For that alone, I think the movie is worth it.

The difficulty with this film is that it is Act Two of a 2-part musical.  As is often the case as in shows like Camelot or West Side Story, the first half is lighter and happier while the second is dark and tragic.  The juxtoposition of the two creates a pwerful and balanced emoitonal experience.  But splitting the film into two movies, most of the fun numbers (e.g. "Popular," "The Wizard and I," "Dancing Through Life," etc) are in the previous film.  As a result, this film is a little lopsided towards the tragic.

The other performances in the movie are a mixed bag.  Grande is better in this film than in the first.  There is one part in particular where Elphaba asks Glinda to look at her "not with your eyes, but with theirs," refering to the crods that hate her.  There is a subtle and strong emotional shift that occurs in Grande's experession that I didn't think she was capable of doing, but there you are.  Bailey does a good job of showing Fiyero's emotional arc and his chemistry with both Grande and Erivo is good.  Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible was tolerable in the first film, but as this movie requires more of her, she does not seem connected to ramping emotionality of the piece.  Goldblum plays the humbug as well as in the first film, but you can see him getting wrapped up and spun around in his own machinations.  The Wizard needs a powerful emotional turn to his character, but he is given very little to work with from the script, but Goldblum does it like the pro that he is.  Ethan Slater as Boq and Marissa Bode as Nessarose turn in good performances, but their characters feel so different in emotion from the first.  It would have been nice to spend a little more time on this slow devolution, though this is a problem that the stage musical has as well.

Returning to Boq and Nessarose, I love how the movie shows how love is corrupted by possessiveness.  There is no doubt that Nessarose has deep affection for Boq, but instead of being moved to selflessness, she turns inward to selfishness, trying to capture the feelings from when she originally fell in love.  This turns the person who is loved into an object of obsession, there only to service the emotional needs of the lover.  The movie captures this corruption very well.  

And as with the first movie, I think this is a wonderful example of female friendship.  Despite all the ways that their choices spilt them apart, Elphaba and Glinda really do love each other.  And it is a clear love of friendship, without it being mixed with romance.  There is a power to seeing this type of friendship, which has its ups and downs, but ultimately transforms into charity.  In the end, Elphaba only seeks the good for Glinda and Glinda seeks the good of Elphaba.  When Nessarose tells Boq that she loves him, it feels hollow because it has been tainted.  When Elphaba and Glinda declare their love, it works because it is pure.

I was a bit annoyed that they introduced sexuality into the Oz universe.  I know that this film is supposed to be a more mature and darker take on this universe.  But it felt a bit unnecessary, considering how many little children were in attendance in the show I saw.  It isn't graphic, but it is very clear that two characters are moving towards sex as the sing and slowly undress.

Director Jon M. Chu was overlooked for Oscar awards last year, but I'm hoping the Academy does not make the same mistake.  The production design is as good as the first and he is able to incorporate the CGI in a way that brings Oz to life in a way that is believable.  As I said about the original, he stages the musical numbers in a way where it doesn't feel like you are watching a music video, but he captures the big, bold choreography of the stage.  He also knows how to frame a scene and when to linger.  There is a moment between the two main characters and closed door that holds for an unusually long time.  But the composition punctuates the entire tragic emotion of the scene and gives the characters a proper and poignant farewell.  But as with the first one, the main critique I have is that it could have been tighter and feels just a touch long.

The two parts of Wicked really should be seen and experienced as a whole.  And as the final act of the Wicked saga, Wicked: For Good satisfies.