Wicked: For Good – When Your Sequel Forgets Its Magical Pizazz (And How to Light a Scene)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
The *Wicked: For Good* movie sequel seems to be fumbling its landing, much like a buggy game update, struggling with perplexing visual choices, a misguided tonal shift to grimdark, and jarring pacing, despite its lead stars carrying the flawed experience with their electrifying performances.
Right, so I've been tinkering with the latest buzz around *Wicked: For Good*, the cinematic sequel that just dropped, and bloody hell, it’s wilder – and frankly, a bit more perplexing – than I first anticipated. You know that feeling when a beloved game franchise gets a sequel, and the 'devs' decide to go all grimdark, thinking it's what the players want? Yeah, well, apparently, that's what's happened in the Land of Oz, and my digital wizard eyes are still trying to adjust.
Originally reviewed by Emma Stefansky for IGN South Africa, this follow-up to *Wicked: Part One* (which, let's be fair, had its own visual quirks) seems to have doubled down on, well, being a bit of a visual enigma. Imagine playing an RPG where half the zones are permanently stuck in 'night mode' with your gamma settings cranked to zero. That's essentially the experience here. Stefansky points out a specific moment where Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba is so harshly backlit by the 'pesky Ozian sun' that she's practically a silhouette. And just when you think you're getting a break, the camera pans to a waterfall reflecting *the exact same sun*, creating another wall of blinding photons. Talk about a UI error, mate!
It sounds like director Jon M. Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks have gone for 'moody' and landed squarely on 'murky'. This commitment to backlighting everything, from suns to lanterns to entire walls of torches, was a criticism of the first film, and apparently, it's back with a vengeance because both movies were shot concurrently. I mean, fair dinkum, you build these opulent, incredible sets – Chu even outdoes his own wedding staging from *Crazy Rich Asians* with Glinda's party – and then you shroud them in shadow so deep you can't even make out the actors' faces. It’s like the art department spent a bajillion skill points on environmental design, and then the lighting crew accidentally clicked 'desaturate and dim' on every layer. Elphaba's tower turning into something straight out of *Elden Ring* sounds epic, but if you can't actually *see* the Elden Ring-esque bits, what's the point?
But the visual glitches are just one boss fight in this journey. The biggest issue, Stefansky keenly observes, is that *Wicked: For Good* inherits all the problems of the first movie *and* the inherent challenge of adapting Act II of the musical. For fans, we know Act II gets a bit heavier, a bit more serious, but it still maintains that knowing wink, that underlying absurdity that makes Oz, well, Oz. The film, however, seems to have stripped away all the effervescent pizzazz and embraced a 'Very Serious' tone. It’s like a game patch that completely reworks the core mechanics to be 'grittier' without actually understanding what made the original fun. We loved the whimsical chaos, the character introductions, the vibrant energy of the first act/film. Now, we're apparently left with a war movie, complete with action sequences, 'wrenching interpersonal drama,' and a 'harrowing refugee escape scene.' Blimey, it's a far cry from defying gravity!
This tonal shift is perplexing. *Wicked* (the musical) has always played its silly story sincerely, but it never lost its self-awareness. Watching talking animals and Munchkins in what feels like a war epic just makes the whole thing jarring. We've seen 'grimdark Wizard of Oz' before, with *Return to Oz* and Syfy's *Tin Man*, and it never quite stuck the landing. It makes you wonder what design document the 'devs' were working from here. Did they genuinely think players wanted a *Call of Duty: Ozian Warfare*?
Then there's the pacing. Stefansky highlights 'atonal pacing,' where songs drag on forever, but character transitions are practically non-existent. It’s like a visual novel where you skip all the dialogue options and just jump from major plot beat to major plot beat, leaving you wondering why characters are suddenly behaving a certain way. Elphaba's iconic Wicked Witch laugh moment, a theatre-igniting cheer, is 'barely gestured at.' This isn't just skipping side quests; it's skipping vital main quest exposition! At 137 minutes, it's certainly long enough to lay everything out, but it seems to assume audiences will just fill in the blanks themselves. That's a bold move, mate, relying on the community to patch your story holes.
Now, here's where my inner optimist kicks in, even amidst the chaos. Despite all these design flaws, the 'NPCs' – or rather, the lead actors – are absolutely carrying this show. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are, by all accounts, phenomenal. They 'nail all the complicated, contradictory emotions and themes' and are 'electric whenever they’re sharing the screen.' Jonathan Bailey's Fiyero also holds his own. It’s like having two or three incredibly powerful, perfectly specced characters in your party trying to carry a raid where the mechanics are broken, and the boss is invisible in the shadows. Their talent and the strength of the musical's songs are almost enough to make you overlook the wonky 'gameplay.' But 'almost' isn't quite 'there,' is it?
So, what's the takeaway, eh? *Wicked: For Good* sounds like a case study in how not to translate a beloved experience to a new medium without understanding its core appeal. It's a reminder that sometimes, trying too hard to be 'serious' or 'epic' can strip away the very magic that made something great in the first place. For us gamers, it's a cautionary tale: new graphics and a darker palette don't automatically make a better sequel. Sometimes, you just need to turn on the lights and let your players see the damn game.
*Original article by Emma Stefansky for IGN South Africa, titled "Wicked: For Good Review", published
Tags: movie review, sequel woes, gaming analogy, visual design, adaptation
Original article: IGN South Africa