MIDNIGHT REVIEWS: My Wicked 4DX Experience
Who knew that was going to happen when Elphaba cried?
Matthew D. Smith also has a podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai. You can find it here.
Wicked, Part 1 (2hr 40mins)
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Featuring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum
Synopsis: Elphaba (Erivo) finds herself misunderstood and hated because of the colour of her skin. But due to her natural magical powers, she finds a place at Shiz University, alongside Glinda (Grande). The pair start off hating each other but they quickly learn to co-exist and become friends.
Review: As I walked downstairs into the near-packed screening for Wicked, heat from the masses of people making it unbearable, it was clear the fanbase are going to turn out in droves. Wicked hasn’t exactly been ubiquitous in its marketing, but it’s made its mark and there was a veritable flood of people eagerly spilling into the seats. Alongside the obligatory tie-ins (Glinda as a phone, anyone?), it seems to be the cultural movement of this year, with the possibility of a Gladiator-Wicked answer to Barbenheimer seeming to fizzle out as it’s been made clear Elphaba does not need sandal-wearing gladiators to help her out.
The first question walking in was whether the movie would understand its own identity. Wicked, despite the simple title, comes with a lot of baggage, being based on a book and a stage show. And that’s before we even get to the original Wizard of Oz or even Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful. Is Wicked a simple transposition from stage to in front of the camera, or does the translation fit? The second question is whether it warrants such a runtime.
Themes are made clear very early on as Elphaba is born with the wrong skin colour. Her father disowns her, local children bully her and if she’s not under a harsh spotlight, she’s hidden away. What caused this different skin colour is implied to also give her magical powers. It’s also made clear that these powers aren’t under her control; rather, they emerge whenever Elphaba is put under stress.
Definitely a film of two halves.
When she gets to university and is ordered to look after her little sister (Marissa Bode), she ends up ‘showing off’ her powers and finding herself being given a place, private tutor included. Unfortunately, she has to room with Glinda, someone who takes the phrase ‘popular princess’ and runs with it.
For me, it was definitely a film of two halves. This itself was clear as we reached the halfway point, and I thought the sound mixing had been screwed up. As Elphaba and Glinda make up after an amusing few rounds against each other, any emotion in the scene was violated by the waterfall sound in the background. Background. Forget background, it was positively foreground, even though there wasn’t a waterfall in sight.
Several people left the screening at this point, one person even running. Soon after, people started talking and once the scene transitioned to Elphaba and Glinda’s dorm room, the sound was still present. Had the waterfall followed them home? With brighter lighting, reflections could be made out on the floor, in front of the screen. Wait a minute, the sound isn’t coming from the speakers, it’s too close. As I turn to the person next to me and say, “Is that what I think it is?”, Glinda breaks into song. People behind me are mentioning how they’ve told someone something. As Glinda sings about how she’s ‘going to make you popular’, the manager, beleaguered, weary, a sense of irony considering his timing, comes downstairs to tell us that due to flooding, the place needs to be evacuated.
For context, anyone in the UK will be aware that we’ve been having some bad weather recently. Flooding, destruction, even death. And it seems that nature had encroached on our screening, due to be ankle deep with a film of this runtime.
As everyone filed out, understandably let down but carrying on regardless, we were all offered a free ticket as recompense. We were even informed that another screening of Wicked was due to start and that it was certainly an option to go and join it. People took photos of the flood on their phone. Jokes were thrown back and forth. But once we’d each walked past the water, it was safe in the back of our minds. Several people went off to the other screening while others headed in the direction of the concessions stand. Everybody carried on. And, even though I didn’t know what else to do either, this struck me as a problem.
It’s clear as water that, while we definitely shouldn’t avoid the escapism that movies provide, sometimes a problem needs looking in the eye. Humans have been telling stories for millennia and that shouldn’t, and won’t, go away anytime soon. But when these tiny slices of escapism are interrupted so easily, so flagrantly, by real life, when nature shows off its strength with a shrug of its shoulders, it makes clear what is going to happen. This isn’t a call to arms because Matt had his movie ruined. This is one of many signs that things have to change.
Check the news. Flooding in Germany killed many several years ago; Spain had it worse than we’ve got it just a week or two ago. And to focus only on European problems is incredibly blinkered at worst, naïve at best. We’ve just had the world’s politicians take their planes to converge on Brazil for yet another meeting about climate. This is despite the fact they didn’t follow the terms of the deal last time they converged, and are currently ignoring their own rhetoric leading to several summers in a row being ‘the hottest on record.’
This is a worldwide problem and needs to be wrestled and defeated by the world. Because at some point, the man upstairs is going to come down, tired and uneasy, to announce that the story’s over, and we’re all going to have to leave. We’re at the end of the article now.
Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on movies and TV shows whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter or enjoy the podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai.
