By John Corrado
Named for the most well known song from the second half of the Broadway musical, Wicked: For Good is the grand finale of director Jon M. Chu’s two-part film adaptation, and it delivers on the dramatic promise of the story.
If it’s maybe not quite as good as the first movie, which became a box office sensation and, well, a bit of a phenomenon when it was released in theatres last year, this darker Act Two still offers a very satisfying conclusion. Chu delivers an emotionally resonant end to the saga of witches Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande), one that is sure to satisfy fans of the first movie.
At the start of the film, Elphaba is now living in exile, trying to free the animals that are being driven out of Oz, and expose the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) as a fraud. But she is known to the townsfolk as the Wicked Witch of the West, and they want her dead. This sense of panic is maintained by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
Meanwhile, Glinda (Ariana Grande) is enjoying her newfound influence as a public figure in Emerald City, announcing her marriage to Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). But in order to enjoy this life as a symbol of goodness, she must deal with the conflict of hiding her friendship to Elphaba.
While Wicked: For Good feels very much like the first film’s second half, it is also much heavier on a narrative level, with fewer moments of comic relief. It builds on the story’s deeper themes about the Wizard’s increasing authoritarianism, and how Glinda is willing to go along with it to maintain her own social standing. This deepens themes about the fracturing friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, while allowing for possible moments of redemption.
On a narrative level, Wicked: For Good also coincides with the events of The Wizard of Oz. The opening scene involves the building of the Yellow Brick Road, and it even weaves in the arrival of Dorothy from Kansas, shown from a radically different perspective. The film doesn’t do as much with The Wizard of Oz stuff as it could have, with the Cowardly Lion (voiced by Colman Domingo) in particular feeling very underused. But Chu does cleverly work in some visual nods to the classic 1939 film.
The choice to split this film adaptation into two parts is meant to mimic the two act structure of the Broadway musical, and give the films more breathing room to go deeper into the story and characters. But, because most of the show’s big songs (like “Popular” and “Dancing Through Life”) are famously in Act One, which culminates with “Defying Gravity,” it also means that there are naturally fewer musical numbers in the second movie.
To help fix this, For Good adds two new songs written by Stephen Schwarz; “No Place Like Home” and The Girl in the Bubble,” giving Elphaba and Glinda each their own new musical numbers. They are both very good, but the latter in particular is a real highlight, providing another show-stopping moment for Grande. We get the same dazzling production design elements and gorgeous costumes throughout this sequel, particularly Glinda’s array of gowns. The colour grading also looks a little less washed out this time around, a common nitpick of the first one.
Erivo and Grande are once again incredible and remain the beating heart of these films, with both of their performances becoming quite emotional by the end of Wicked: For Good. Erivo is an exceptionally expressive performer, and even under the green makeup she is able to say so much with every look or facial expression. While Grande showed impeccable comic timing in the first movie, she does an excellent job handling the dramatic turns in this film’s second half, as her character becomes deeper and more complex. She is absolutely doing enough here to not only win an Oscar, but also deserve it.
While these roles were already made famous by Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth on Broadway, Wicked: For Good leaves little doubt that Erivo and Grande have now also made these roles completely their own, defining Elphaba and Glinda in a new way. The emotional centrepiece of the film is their rendition of the titular “For Good,” a heartbreaking duet that provides as moving a culmination to their story as we could’ve hoped for. It’s a big reason why fans who were so taken by the first film are likely to find this such a poignant way to say goodbye.
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