‘Wicked: For Good’ is a Scattershot, Bloated, and Aimless Stumble
Following the smash hit Wicked on the Broadway stage back in 2003, it was only inevitable that a film adaptation would eventually follow suit with last year’s Wicked and this year’s Wicked: For Good. For Good marks an interesting crossroad of sorts in the story as it adapts act two and onwards of the show, which has been infamously cited as a sizable step down in quality from the highs of “Defying Gravity.”
Unfortunately, For Good doesn’t fare much better in comparison. Wicked: For Good is riddled with incomplete character arcs, weaker songs, and even worse visual and framing choices from director Jon M. Chu, making it a baffling downgrade from the first film. That, along with the film’s insistent need to complete its preposterous lore connections as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, makes this second half even more bloated than its predecessor despite being almost 30 minutes shorter. The lead performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are yet again at their best and punctuate the material as much as they can.
What is Wicked: For Good about?
Wicked: For Good picks up long after the first film left off, as Elphaba (Erivo) has now been deemed the Wicked Witch of the West by all of Oz. The Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and his top advisor, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), will stop at nothing to spread their propaganda and lies about the Witch’s true intentions for Oz and her connection to enslaved animals as they continue to spread lies across the land.
A key piece in their plan to retain authority is Glinda (Grande), who acts as a puppet for their will, giving her the name of The Good Witch and even setting up a relationship between her and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). With Glinda pondering about the true nature of the role she plays in the life she’s always wanted and Elphaba’s need to show Oz the truth behind the lies of the Wizard’s rule, the two friends must come together once again to find what is truly ahead for their futures and how they can truly change Oz for the better.
The film’s somber tone change is for better and worse
One of the most significant changes within this second chapter of Wicked is the drastic change of tone from the first film. The first film had plenty of moments of emotional crescendos, but For Good is more focused on the darker elements of corruption that lie within Oz and the sentimental conclusion that we are inevitably heading towards.
This change in tone can be appreciated in some areas, but it of course resides best within the core performances from Erivo and Grande. Erivo brings plenty of gravitas to Elphaba’s turn to being shunned by even those whom she saw as her closest friends, with her rendition of the song “No Good Deed” being one of the only true musical standouts.
But just as when part one was more focused on Elphaba, For Good is centered as a Glinda story first and foremost. Grande’s performance as Glinda is easily the strongest aspect of this chapter in the story. Glinda’s arc of finally finding her true, authentic self, even in the midst of having everything she could’ve wanted, choosing between her friend and her dream life.
This is best showcased in the song “The Girl in the Bubble,” finally seeing the current atrocities within Oz for what they truly are. Some may argue Grande’s performance is a bit more stilted here due to a less bubbly showcase from her, but her arc is really the only thing about this film that feels complete in any way.
The film’s deeper problems start to unravel when you realize that while the darker elements and the political themes of propaganda are appreciated, there’s never enough done with them; it’s all mostly window dressing that the film doesn’t do a lot with.
The shoddy visuals of Wicked: For Good
In all fairness, the first Wicked film never had the best visuals. Director Jon M. Chu’s stiff direction and ugly sheen within the frames of beautiful production design have consistently been a huge hindrance to the awe these films attempt to capture. But at least the previous film had the better songs and more compelling narrative to back it up; here, it’s an even bigger problem.
The sheer Chu visuals only grey out the true beauty of the color that resides all over Oz, but it’s even more shocking how lacking the direction and choreography are within song numbers that go around. So much of the camera movement is so stiff that even when performers like Grande and Erivo are giving it their all in a scene, it all falls flat.
Nothing within Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks’ placement of the camera is ever freeing or magical in any way. Aside from an occasional moment of beauty, all the wonder of these sets and costumes is lost in the dull composition that actively hampers the emotionality of sequences.
Clunky Wizard of Oz prequel aspirations
Then there is arguably the most egregious aspect of this film that makes it way too cluttered: its need to expand on its “lore” as a Wizard of Oz prequel. There’s firstly just no truly necessary reason for why this needs to tie itself so much into a completely separate story aside from lore that is more useless than anything. There’s also the fact that it actively takes away from characters that I would have liked to see more of.
Characters from the first film, like Marissa Bode’s Nessarose and Ethan Slater’s Boq, have completely missing chunks for the reasons for their turns within the narrative. It’s all mashed for what is essentially a nostalgia, fan fiction lore prequel for a story that needs nothing of the sort. The explanation of aspects like “You wanna know why the Tin Man really doesn’t have a heart?” is completely pathetic to watch unfold, and it only adds to the overall aimless nature of this second film.
Final thoughts on Wicked: For Good.
Wicked: For Good isn’t a complete waste, but it only has very few aspects of what makes this story work intact and further amplifies all the smaller issues found within the first film. With even more empty imagery, horrendous pacing, and an absolute mess of a screenplay, it only further cements the idea of Act Two being the weaker part of Wicked. This story would work considerably better as one film instead of two, making this conclusion end on quite the whimper.
Also check out Book Review: Wicked by Gregory Maguire
