Wicked: For Good – Review

Cert – PG, Run-time – 2 hours 17 minutes, Director – Jon M. Chu

Branded the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) fights to prove the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) as a fraud, with Glinda (Ariana Grande) caught between her friend and the public’s image of her.

Somehow, after what seems like a year-long promotional campaign, I managed to go into Wicked: For Good not knowing much of what was to come. Yes, certain elements could be pieced together from the trailer, but much like last year’s ‘part 1’ I went in still not knowing a great deal. I’d been told that the second act, which For Good is based on, was stranger, weaker and didn’t have as good songs. Certainly the latter two elements are true, but that seems less from the second act and more that the film, and it’s 137-minute run-time, is the second act.

While Wicked may have managed to get away with stretching the first act to the length of the entire stage production, including intermission, For Good seems to struggle at times. It’s full of different strands and details, but never quite feels as if it has enough to see it through, leading to a film that feels longer than the former. Even if the songs, while admittedly generally weaker even with the addition of two new solo tracks for the leads, do still provide a good deal of entertainment – when not broken up into small chunks that feel more like teasers for the upcoming bigger numbers than anything else – with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande once again both giving them their all.

With Elphaba (Erivo) now branded the Wicked Witch of the West she’s isolated in the woods trying to find a way to get to the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, relishing his role and having the most joyous time when his highlight number comes around) and prove him as a powerless fraud to the world. Caught between them, or rather her best friend and the public’s image of her as a figure of good, is Glinda (Grande). Wavering between the two sides, uncertain as to what she should do, here Glinda seems to flick back and forth more than her hair. She’s a conflicting character who’s certainly easy to like when we’re meant to, but when leaning more towards the Wizard and propaganda of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) the character simply feels uncertainly unlikable.

It’s a case faced by a number of characters in the time it’s taken to construct the yellow brick road. There are a number who between now and then appear to have become unlikable, or simply seem that way because of the directions they’ve been pulled or are being pulled in since Elphaba began defying gravity. When focusing on the relationship between the central pair and the images they portrayed with to onlookers, and how they know each other to be, For Good finds its most tuneful stride. It makes for the sequences with the best flow, and songs that actually feel like whole songs – with the title track stirring emotions when it finally arrives.

When looking at supporting characters that’s where For Good feels overstretched, although only showing one or two signs of an extended second half rather than that being the dominant feeling throughout. The production and costume design may be even more grand than before, likely to deservingly sweep another set of awards with additional technical nominations to boot, with masses of colour and detail from start to finish, but the events occurring within them aren’t always as immersive, especially when they feel brief and divided up.

Of course, the story is about Glinda and Elphaba, even more than the first film (I’m aware of how strange that sounds). It’s here where director Jon M. Chu’s heart appears to be most, alongside the leads who whilst showing the love for the songs and musical as a whole also show the same for each others characters as well as their own. Much of this coming through when they share the screen – as Elphaba sneaks around Oz and the Emerald City to avoid being captured and killed. For Good may be the patchier second half, but it certainly doesn’t fall flat and provides a good deal of amusement and heartful escape into Oz and the characters within it.

The suggestions of Wicked’s second act being weaker may be true, especially with drawn out early stages with cut up songs, but, there’s still plenty of heart on display alongside the visual immersion to make for an entertaining, if occasionally divided, conclusion effectively led by its central characters.