Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil

This review may contain spoilers!

The first film was an unique twist on the Sleeping Beauty story, this sequel wasn't in high demand and takes you on a confused journey. I would give Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil a 4.5/10.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is the sequel to 2014's Maleficent, it follows the upcoming wedding of Princess Aurora to Prince Philip, the exploration of Maleficent's dark fey roots and Philip's mother, Queen Ingrith, declaring war on the fey folk. The best plot for this sequel was the cloak and daggers that occurred between Maleficent, Ingrith and Aurora as Maleficent was framed for inflicting a curse upon Ingrith's husband: King John. This felt like a very clever way to build conflict and subtly pit characters against one another, I felt like these moments really hearkened to the high fantasy setting they wanted to achieve.The cinematography really seeks out to capture the scope of the visuals and setting, you have these jaw-dropping wide shots that take in immense sprawling forests, towering castles and the deep warrens the dark fey call home. The special effects are certainly a sight to behold, the design of Maleficent and the dark fey - in particular their wings, looks incredible. But that is nothing compared to the abundance of fey folk throughout the feature that have a charming unique design that captures the joyous spirit of magic at the heart of this story.

Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Queen Ingrith, takes a little while to find her feet as the film's antagonist but once she settles in it is something to watch; Pfeiffer becomes this duplicitous monarch the likes of which you'd expect to see in Game of Thrones due to the manner in which she delivers lies and manipulations. Sam Riley, who played Diaval, feels like he's found a good groove as the voice of Maleficent's conscience this time around; Riley really feels like that familial bridge that links between Jolie's Maleficent and Fanning's Aurora. Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played Conall, is the compassionate heart of the film and as good of a guide into the dark fey as we could have hoped for; the manner in which Ejiofor presents exposition makes you feel the weight and history in the words he is saying. Jenn Murray, who played Gerda, has to be one of the most fascinating antagonist's henchperson I've seen; she has this silent lethality to her that feels really cruel in some of her key scenes and I loved the fiercely loyal bond you could immediately see between her and Pfeiffer. 

However, the best performance came from Angelina Jolie, who played Maleficent. As I said in my review of the first film, Jolie was born to play this character and continues to convince me of that here. This film may not have the strongest script but Jolie fights to show off every powerful and moving character moment she can when at all possible. Every scene she enters you feel the foreboding presence that comes of being a feared sorceress, she absolutely radiates powerful just through posture and a look. I think the subtlety of the role comes through in seeing her nervousness at attempting to reconcile with humanity, her perseverance for Aurora's sake and her pain and rage when Ingrith inevitably betrays and frames her. The entire film is a journey that sees Maleficent wrestle with these turbulent feelings, unsure if she can trust past treasured relationships and furious once more towards humankind. Her unification with the dark fey is fascinating because we see a side of Maleficent that is full of wonder and even joy at the sensation of being united with her own kin. Ultimately seeing Maleficent recognise her love for Aurora and a need for peace is a humbling moment and it's great to see Jolie bring a gentle, happy conclusion to this character's arc.

The story in this film has all the callsigns of a bad sequel script; significant aspects of the last film are repeated, there's a wedding, and most significantly there are now a whole new group of characters that closely resemble a main character. The entire film being fuelled by a budding romance between Aurora and Philip is a bit hard to swallow when the chemistry is so very bland, these two never seem strongly bound together and the narrative does nothing to enhance their relationship.The antagonist for the film has rather thin motivations for hating the fey folk and her entire plot to kill all faeries seems to happen because the sequel needs something to generate conflict. The film almost rushes to this point, seemingly aware that no one cares about Aurora and Philip and hoping the audience doesn't notice the absurdity of a flower that grows when a fairy dies being able to then be used to kill faeries. Once the film stops rushing however it slows, very noticeably, with the arrival of the dark fey: fey folk who look in every way like Maleficent does. Oh and they live in tunnels because they're the 'hidden race', such a new idea. The dark fey drag the film down because most of them are gearing up for war against the humans for very thin reasons and you start to realise the whole film is pushing towards a big fight scene but didn't really know how to get there. After numerous scenes of lengthy monologuing, some poor foreshadowing that Maleficent can cheat death because she's like a phoenix and one of the most forgettable character deaths in the film, the big battle finally plays out and the film rushes to its conclusion. If the narrative alone isn't enough to put you off the dialogue throughout the film is so bad even Jolie can't salvage it at times. The special effects throughout The film look pretty spectacular, yet in the first act there's a real problem with how the colour palette of the film is presented. You are assaulted with such a variety of bright colours that it really does feel like a lot of cartoonish chaos to take in.

Elle Fanning, who played Aurora, was absolutely stunning in the first film but doesn't really seem to know how to take the role further in the sequel; Fanning doesn't play well to her role's distrustful subplot and the bright, bubbly persona feels a bit more forced this time around. Harris Dickinson, who played Prince Philip, was undoubtedly one of the worst leads in The Darkest Minds film and has managed to improve a little this film; yet in spite of finding a better role Dickinson is ever consistent with a flat tone and an inability to find chemistry with a single living breathing member of the cast. Ed Skrein, who played Borra, is a war driven magical being who just seems to want a fight and that's about the totality of his character; Skrein is quickly becoming boxed into these antagonistic headstrong fighters and sometimes he runs with it and other times it is a shell of a role like Borra. Robert Lindsay, who played King John, gives about the most phoned in kindly father figure you'll see this year; Lindsay's blindly optimistic role feels like such dead weight in scenes with more complicated roles like Pfeiffer's Ingrith. David Gyasi, who played Percival, doesn't seem very comfortable in the medieval setting and struggles with his accent; Gyasi never really feels like a strong, soldier type and his relationship with Dickinson as on-screen friends is a hard sell. Juno Temple, Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton, who played Thistlewit, Flittle and Knotgrass respectively, weren't good in the first film and aren't any better in the sequel; this trio just blurt out mindless comedic relief intended for the three year olds in the audience and are pretty forgettable otherwise.