Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (2019)

Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil - 2019

The next film we feature is 2019's "Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil", starring Angelina Jolie.  The sequel to 2014's "Maleficent", this installment brings us the joy of Philip and Aurora's wedding.  It is, however, marred by war.  Maleficent must decide which side she's on and either bring peace and destruction to the two kingdoms.

The supporting cast includes Elle Fanning, Harris Dickinson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sam Riley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein, Robert Lindsay, David Gyasi, Jenn Murray, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, and Imelda Staunton.

The film begins with invaders in the Moors.  They steal some fairies for an unknown purpose.  They also happen to take away a tomb bloom, which marks the place of burial of dead fairies.  Of the party of three that has come to the Moors, only one escapes, the other two being killed.  The one who escapes brings the one fairy he manages to catch and the flower to the castle in Ulstead.

Days later, Prince Philip of Ulstead proposed to Queen Aurora of the Moors.  She says yes, and the Moors are thrown into jubilation.

Prince Philip brings the news to his parents.  His father, King John, is overjoyed.  He's long been waiting for the union and peace between Ulstead and the Moors.

His mother, Queen Ingrith, puts on a forced smile and says that they will invite Aurora and Maleficent to dinner so the two families can celebrate.

One person who is not happy is Maleficent.  She doesn't understand why Aurora wants to get married at all.  Aurora, however, tells her of the King and Queen's dinner invitation, and begs her to attend.  She reluctantly agrees.

At the castle in Ulstead, King John tells Philip he's very proud of him, and he gives him his own sword to wear at the dinner.  Queen Ingrith is eavesdropping and isn't pleased at all.

She marches off to her dressing room.  (I do have to take this opportunity to say what a wonderful job the costume designers did with Michelle Pfeiffer's clothes in this movie, as we will see.  She's a knockout as a medieval queen.)

She goes to one of her mannequins and with the simple twisting of it's head, a secret door to a tunnel is opened.

It closes behind Queen Ingrith, leaving absolutely no trace of where she went.

The passageway leads to an armory, which is a hive of activity run by the queen's right hand woman, Gerda.  It also reveals a secret room where experiments on fairies are being carried out.

Queen Ingrith goes to a cabinet and opens it.  Inside, we see the spinning wheel and spindle at that cursed Aurora five years earlier.

Dinner begins rather awkwardly with Maleficent trying to navigate the strange customs of small talk and social situations.  Once dinner is announced, they sit at the table.

Queen Ingrith's cat is particularly interested in Diaval during dinner.  He is a bird that has taken human form and is a close friend of Maleficent.

Maleficent and Queen Ingrith barely tolerate one another, both issuing pointed barbs at the other.  Matters come to a head when the Queen tells Aurora that she is now her own daughter and doesn't need Maleficent anymore.

Maleficent explodes in anger, thwarting all attempts by those around her for restraint.  She tells Aurora that there will be no union and that they need to return to the Moors immediately.

Queen Ingrith tells everyone she is afraid and runs to the King for protection.  Inexplicably, he falls ill and stumbles into a deep sleep.  Everyone accuses Maleficent of cursing him as she did Aurora.  Even Aurora is convinced and begs Maleficent to lift the curse.  Maleficent says she's done nothing and flees the castle alone.

As she flees, Maleficent is shot with iron (to which she's deathly allergic) by the queen's right hand woman, Gerda.  She falls into the river and goes over a waterfall.  As Maleficent lies dying at the bottom of the river, a horned creature hovers over her and lifts her out of the water and flies away with her.

After she awakens, Maleficent finds herself in an unfamiliar place.  Upon exploring it, she comes across creatures just like her, which shocks her.  One of them, Borra, is stirring them towards war, while another, Conall, tells them that Maleficent could bring peace.

Conall takes her on a tour of the cave where they are and shows her all that is left of their kind.

While the king lies cursed, Queen Ingrith has taken on the mantle of authority.  She tries to get Aurora to see that Maleficent never belonged with them, and tries to turn her away from Maleficent.

Meanwhile, all fairy creatures of the Moors are invited to the wedding of Aurora and Philip in three days time.  All are not just invited, they are expected.  The three fairies who raised Aurora are thrilled to be going.

As part of their tour, Conall shows Maleficent the remains of a Phoenix, from which the Dark Fae began and evolved over centuries.  He tells Maleficent that she is the last of the Phoenix's descendants.  Conall tells Maleficent that in her hands she holds the power of life and death, and she can be a force for peace in the world.  Maleficent is still hurt by the fact that Aurora believed she cursed the King, and does not want to help.

In Ulstead, Queen Ingrith goes to Aurora and presents her with the wedding dress that she wore when she married King John.  Aurora wants to wear a dress the fairies made her, but the Queen is insistent.

Aurora is finding her life at court depressing.  Prince Philip comes to her at night, and she confides in him that who she is in Ulstead is not who she really is at heart.  He tells her he doesn't want her to change.  He loves Aurora from the Moors.

Back in the secret room, Queen Ingrith watches as her henchman works on a poison that will kill fairies.  The poison comes from the tomb bloom that was stolen from the Moors.  The Queen dispatches an army to go and gather more for her evil purposes.

As the tomb blooms are being picked, Maleficent can feel a change within her.  She leaves the rest of her kind and flies back to the Moors.  As the tomb blooms mark the graves of fairies, she's very sensitive.  Borra and Conall follow her.  Marksmen from the army are still surrounding where the tomb blooms grew.  When Maleficent arrives, they take aim, but Conall comes between her and the arrows.  He is fatally struck.  Borra carries him back to where the rest of the Dark Fae live.

On the day of their wedding, Philip brings Aurora a tomb bloom.  She's surprised at the gift and asks him where he got it.  He tells her he got it from his mother.  Something doesn't sit well with her, so she decides to investigate and makes her way to Queen Ingrith's chambers.

She finds Queen Ingrith's dressing room, and manages to discover the entrance to her secret passageway.

She enters and makes her way through the passageway.

Meanwhile, all the fairies that have comes from the Moors from the wedding are being shown to the chapel.  Once they are all inside, the doors are locked and the door is barricaded from the outside, trapping them all indoors.

Aurora finds the spinning wheel.  She reaches her hand to the spindle, and just before she touches it, she realizes that it was Queen Ingrith who cursed the King, by jabbing him with the pointed spindle.  The Queen tells her that she must get rid of the fairies of the Moors because they didn't help her kingdom when she was young, and her two brothers were killed when her father, who wanted peace, sent them as emissaries.  She has Aurora locked in her room.

Borra uses Conall's death as the catalyst that sends the Dark Fae to war against the humans.

In Ulstead, Queen Ingrith oversees the final preparations for war.  Her army is getting ready the fairy poison that is to be used during the attack.

At Ingrith's command, Gerda begins playing the chapel organ.  The playing of a specific key launches streams of fairy poison out amongst the fairies, which sends them frantically searching for cover.

As the battle rages, Aurora finds a way to get to Philip.  She tells him that Maleficent didn't cause his father's curse.  His mother did.  They go to the King and find the spindle mark on his arm.   Philip now tries to stop the battle.

After being nearly killed by the poison, the blue fairy decides to take matters into her own hands.  She flies directly into the organ pipes.  When the poison hits her, she turns into flowers, which clog the pipes, ensuring no more fairy deaths occur in the chapel.  When Gerda tries to remove the flowers, the other two fairies cause her to lose her balance and fall to her death.

Maleficent comes to the battle when it is at its most fervent.  She goes to confront Queen Ingrith, but is stopped by Aurora who begs her not to kill her.  As Ingrith takes a crossbow and points her arrow at Aurora, Maleficent quickly switches places with her, and is mortally wounded, turning into a pile of ash.

Moments later, as Ingrith is proclaiming her death, Maleficent rises as a phoenix from the ashes.  Ingrith hurtles Aurora off the roof of the castle, and Maleficent rushes to save her.

Philip and his general manage to bring the war to a halt.  Maleficent turns to her normal form once she and Aurora are safely on the ground.

Maleficent is brought the spindle she cursed long ago.  She's told that curses aren't ended, they are broken.  With that, she destroys the spindle and the King awakens.

Philip and Aurora announce plans to go ahead with the wedding that day, joining their kingdoms in a peaceful union.  As they do, Queen Ingrith starts to make a fuss again.  Maleficent turns her into a goat.

As Aurora is walking down the aisle with Maleficent, the pink and green fairies debate the color of her dress.  Eventually, their magic crosses and the color becomes a pale blue, which they think perfect to honor the memory of the blue fairy.

Maleficent smiles at the end of the wedding, signaling her happiness.  Later, and with a twinkle in her eye, she tells Aurora and Philip that she'll seem them at the christening.  She goes to teach flying to the young Dark Fae who are venturing out into the world for the first time.

Cast rundown:

   Angelina Jolie.............................Maleficent

   Elle Fanning...............................Queen Aurora

   Harris Dickinson..........................Prince Philip

   Michelle Pfeiffer...........................Queen Ingrith

   Sam Riley...................................Diaval

   Chiwetel Ejiofor...........................Conall

   Ed Skrein...................................Borra

   Robert Lindsay............................King John

   David Gyasi................................Percival

   Jenn Murray................................Gerda

   Juno Temple...............................Thistlewit

   Lesley Manville............................Flittle

   Imelda Staunton.........................Knotgrass

And that's all for Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, a very worthy sequel to its earlier installment.  The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, but I think it excelled in the costume department, especially Queen Ingrith's clothes.

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