WICKED: FOR GOOD
(PG) 138mins
★★★★☆
ONCE in a while a musical comes along that is so beloved by fans that the idea of adapting it into a film seems a no-brainer – but also terrifying.
What if you muck it up and end up with the kind of eye-gougingly bad garbage that was Cats?
So producers’ decision to make not one but TWO cinematic instalments of the wildly popular stage show Wicked was a hell of a risk.
A cool $300million could have been blown away in that Kansas twister, leaving director Jon M Chu looking like the Wicked Witch of Hollywood.
Bonkers wizard
Thankfully he, and everyone else involved, can relax.
After acing it with part one, the magic is back for part two.
Wicked: For Good is a pre-Christmas cracker, bursting with colour and a musical score so emotionally charged it will leave you weeping into your popcorn.
Following on from last year’s bum-numbing (but brilliant) 160-minute epic, we see Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship tested as they assume new roles as The Wicked Witch of The West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North.
Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba is now in exile, working behind the scenes to expose the fraud that is the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
Meanwhile Ariana Grande’s Glinda, floats about Oz in her bubble singing the praises of Oz’s increasingly bonkers wizard and getting set to wed Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey).
Elphaba and Glinda spend the film’s 137 minutes attempting to reconcile and the impending loss of the once BFF’s friendship is genuinely heart-wrenching.
Ariana may well be the A-list turn but it is Cynthia who once again steals the show, playing the tough but vulnerable Elphaba.
A new arrival heads down the Yellow Brick Road with her tin, straw and cowardly companions, as the back story slowly melds into the wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked’s Dorothy could have been plucked straight from Victor Fleming’s 1939 masterpiece, such is her similarity to Judy Garland.
A clever touch by producers.
Of course, this being a musical, the heart and soul of the film is the score, and Wicked’s is sublime.
From the subtle reprisals of part one’s belter, Defying Gravity, to the spine-tingling strains of the title track, this is one musical that will stick in your head. For good.
COLIN ROBERTSON
Film news
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RYAN COOGLER has confirmed he will direct Black Panther 3.
SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE
(15) 99mins
★★★★☆
ACTION speaks louder than words here so don’t expect much dialogue in this follow-up to 2022’s Finnish hit thriller Sisu.
But the combat choreography sure delivers.
World War Two is over and one-man armoury Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) returns home with his trusty canine companion seeking revenge for the slaughter of his entire family.
The Red Army officer responsible for slaying them, Draganov, (Stephen Lang, Avatar) has been released from a Siberian jail with orders from above to hunt Aatami down.
What follows is 90 minutes of tightly controlled, perfectly plotted, frequently ludicrous but always brilliantly entertaining capers.
From chase sequences and wince-worthy torture scenes, to bombs and brutality, there’s motorcycles, trucks, planes, boats and trains.
There are moments of pure comedy and stunt genius – and even slapstick, echoing classic silent movies, amid all the bloodshed.
For an ambush extravaganza, there’s some surprisingly emotional moments too.
LAURA STOTT
THE CARPENTER’S SON
(15) 95mins
★☆☆☆☆
THERE’S the seed of a good idea behind director Lotfy Nathan’s bizarre tale about Joseph and Mary realising their child might be the son of God.
But the cliché-ridden result, with a plot based on ancient Gospel readings, has been crucified.
Sackcloth clad Nicolas Cage (referred to only as The Carpenter) does his best with an odd script that requires him to look frightened of comedically portrayed “supernatural forces”.
Singer FKA Twigs as his wife retains the same perfectly blank expression throughout – whether it’s watching babies being burned by King Herod’s troops or witnessing her son “The Boy” (Noah Jupe) performing miracles.
She also – awkwardly – looks far closer in age to her holy offspring than her partner. Malevolent forces are at play with lepers cured and people possessed by snakes but is The Boy evil or is he the Messiah?
Despite much howling and wailing and a good turn by Isla Johnston as “The Stranger”, it’s hard to engage with The Carpenter’s Son.
At this time of year, you’d be better off watching the school nativity.
