WICKED: FOR GOOD

Director
Jon M. Chu
(WICKED, CRAZY RICH ASIANS)

Starring
Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum

The long 12-month wait is finally over and we at last have the second and final instalment of the stage-to-screen behemoth Wicked (and now Wicked: For Good). When we left the first instalment, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) had discovered that the all mighty Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) wasn’t quite so mighty at all, and in that discovery, Elphaba had made herself enemy #1 in the Emerald City and the land of Oz. When we pickup in Wicked: For Good, some time has passed, whereby Elphaba had been hard at work fighting for the rights of the animals of Oz and Glinda has become the public face of the Wizard, serving as his spokesperson. She is also engaged to Fiyero, who is Captain of the Wizard’s Guard. Elphaba’s sister Nessa has taken over as the Governor of Munchkinland after the passing of their father, and then begins to display levels of cruelty that would be more befitting of the unfair reputation that is being propagandised about Elphaba from the Wizard and Madame Morrible. Through all of this, Elphaba is forced to try and defend her reputation whilst bringing down the evil regime controlling Oz.

Wicked was always going to be a hard act to follow, as is the case with the stage version, where the bulk of the shows high points are all in the first half. The second act is a much more sombre affair and doesn’t have any of the big, uplifting numbers of the first. The most recognisable of them, ‘For Good’ is beautiful and lasting, but doesn’t have the level of pizzaz or gravitas of a ‘Popular’ or ‘Defying Gravity’. Wicked: For Good suffers much the same fate, as despite the introduction of a couple of original numbers, none of them add that heightening experience that we’re lacking. The main issue with the film adaptation is that unless you’re watching the films back-to-back, you don’t have that high of the first half to carry you through to the second. When leaving the cinema last year, my heart was full and that feeling endured. Wicked was the best film of 2025 and it’s just as good on second and third viewings. In contrast to that, when the credits rolled this time, it was more an overwhelming sense of appreciation rather than the absolute awe and wonder that the first left us with.

All of that being said though, this is very much a film to be celebrated. That appreciation I mentioned came from a film done right and one that did justice to its source material. Wicked is one of the most enduring and celebrated stage musicals of the last 30 years, and there are so many ways that these films could have gone wrong, but they not only succeeded in bringing this story to the screen but managed in many ways to elevate it beyond what it had been. The performances across both films are second to none. What Erivo and Grande did for Elphie and Glinda cannot be underestimated. The benefit of this being on the screen is that we can delve further into the depth of the characters, their nuanced expressions, their intimate chemistry and the raw emotion that can only be conveyed through close ups and not a live performance. It was an injustice that neither Erivo or Grande were recognised for their work with a win at last years Oscars (which is often the case with franchise or multi-part films), but I truly hope that is rectified this time around. Last year it was Erivo who was the stronger of the two performances and this year it was Grande who really added layers. But collectively these are roles that have completely been transformed by two incredible displays of acting and it would be entirely unfair for that to be ignored. So strong were the two leads that we often gloss over the supporting cast, which is a travesty in itself.  Jonathan Bailey will have women and men all over the world swooning with his much humbler and more courageous second act as Fiyero. I’m sure I won’t be the only one reimagining parts of the story to include an Elphaba-Fiyero-Glinda throuple. Then there’s Jeff Goldblum, whose Wizard you should despise, but given it’s him, there’s still a certain level of cheeky-charm you can’t help but enjoy. There is not a single weak point in the casting or performances, which is a further testament to this incredible adaptation.

If we’re looking at this film in isolation, it’s very, VERY good, but just doesn’t leave you with that same core feeling as the first film. But if we want to look at this as a collective, it’s a masterpiece and the closest thing to cinematic perfection as you’ll find in the last 20 years. The films combined are magnificent and exceeded every expectation I had when the films were first announced. And whilst I can’t give Wicked: For Good the 5 stars I gave its first half, it’s still going to rate as one of the best films of the year and a MUST WATCH for any film lover.

Wicked: For Good is in cinemas now.