Director: David Yates
Cast Headliners: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, too many attempted others
Original Release Date: November 16th, 2018
Get ready for many more of these since it's another 2 years and the first sequel , next installment of the Fantastic Beasts saga (with many more to go...) Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald continues this prequel Harry Potter tale by fully unleashing the villian and taking things to darker, more complicated places while introducing further. It's got the staples fans of the magic will like but it also strongly asks the question “did we need 5 films?”. Prepare for a lot of set up but also a lot of meandering in its own plot.
A
semi-exciting opening sequence(more on this below but action is rare)
shows the escape of the titular evil overlord Gellert Grindelwald
(Johnny Depp) in 1927 from his confines, lieu-of disguised identity,
He flees to Paris, France to begin building his evil army. Meanwhile
in Britain the plight of protagonist and creature collector Newt
Scamander(Eddie Redmayne) is followed as he faces the consequences of
the first film. A larger cast is met as his serious , devoted Auror
government agent older brother Theseus (Callum Turner) is met along
his fiancee (and Newt's former crush) Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz).
Elsewhere familiar heroes have their adventures such as Queenie
Goldstein (Alison Sudol) re-uniting with normal, Muggle “No-Maj”
love Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) and the investigations of Newt's
deuteragonist and possible love Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston)
into the location of the surviving Credence Barbone (Ezra Miller).
There's yet even more characters of some note (which wouldn't be a
problem as the Harry Potter films always did it well but were aided
by a more straightforward plot than here which is to its moderate
detriment) in cursed to be a snake (eventually Voldemort's),
were-wolf -style, “Maledictus” Nagini (Claudia Kim) and the
mysterious vigilante wildcard Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) among-st
others not even worth mentioning.
These
are many names but little impact is felt from them or most things in
general. Somehow Redmayne's Newt is even less inspiring or charming
in this movie and is perhaps even forgotten with the ruckus of
everything else going on around him further than the first film
although he has his moments of problem-solving and awkward charm.
This “middling and forgotten” nature rubs off on his co-stars in
Waterston's Tina and Sudol's Queenie even more with the crew mostly
just walking between the expository events of others with only seldom
effort gone into making them franchise-defining. Fogler's Jacob is
once again a comedic highlight although it's not much we haven't seen
before (how many times does he need to yell “AHA!”...it worked in
2016 more..) but although his presence wasn't technically needed due
to circumstances it seems he's along for the ride now. Miller's
Credence faces even further revelations and personal stake into
things but at the same time does even less aside a tense moment or
two. He's one of the only ones to really do things with Kim's Nagini
as they're from a (visually neat) magical circus. She is a just as
and even more tortured outcast but she really doesn't do much either.
It's
amongst the other newcomers that “don't really do much” happens
the most. Turner's Theseus may be hinted to set up some family drama
but as many things it's never really delivered upon. This happens
slightly moreso with Kravitz's Leta who actually is a big part of
what the movie ends up being about but it has some cheese in its
writing that makes one question where Rowling's golden talent has
gone in the past few years. It's a lot of explanations and plot holes
for things that happened in the past and the audience is attempted to
feel sorrow or inspiration but due to the delivery in plot structure
it comes across as confusing or dull more than anything. This is not
the epic prophecy of the Boy Who Lived, at least not yet with much
work to be done to make its saga worthy.
The
two highlight performances and aspects are the “big bad” in
Grindelwald and the “big good” in the exciting return of a
younger Albus Dumbledore(Jude Law). These two characters are so
connected in lore and to what this prequel saga will end up being it
makes since extra effort was placed into them. Law's Albus may remind
viewers of Jude Law being Jude Law but that's not a bad thing as he
brings a charming wise presence with some more youthful swagger
(reminder that he's got to get 70 years older by the time of Harry
Potter). There's a touch of the old man's slow tone to him but
otherwise he's a bit of something new but that works. Unfortunately,
he's not really involved that much in the plot of this film besides
some check-ins. Those check-ins and flashbacks to Hogwarts castle
(including with the classic music) will bring much warm feelings of
nostalgia and perhaps there could be more of that ahead...or should
have been more here either. Depp's Grindelwald himself doesn't have
enough screentime either for a movie with his name. However he's
another standout being absolutely evil, vile, and as the best
villains are he kind of has a speck of a point to him. It's only at
times he appears but it's usually a good thing especially when he
performs ...crimes. Get ready for that showdown where, like the last
and most Potter films, things ramp up in the climax. If he continues
like this he may give Voldemort a run for icon status although now
it's too hard to say.
While
the characters, writing, and plot is all over the place and slightly
half-baked the sights, sounds, and fantasy nature mostly deliver on
what fans would want. Director David Yate's camera work is solid
(although perhaps less so than his Potter peak) and there's some nice
production design for the Parisian aesthetic although the fact that
it's set there doesn't make much of a difference apart from accents
on henchmen and citizens . It's visually an even darker movie than
the last one at times being too much so. This is a movie that's a bit
less about the “fantastic beast” mythological animals themselves
but there is some cool designs and excitement with them. As with many
things here there's not enough of them or action in general. At times
however the CGI can feel like an overload and to a hollower quality
than both the Potter Wizarding World before it and other blockbusters
today. This may be due to its handling of entirely greenscreen
sets(such as Newt's magical creature box which still is conceptually
cool) with it working better with the use of actual sets. Composer
James Newton Howard's music fits the magical Potter stereotype
although there's an occasional great memorable line to add to the
melodrama (even moreso than the first Beasts film). For fans just
wanting more wizard adventures it does that for feel and tone even if
what's happening in that world can hurt one's mind from trying to
comprehend.
As
a whole this film takes some steps back or stands its ground for
every one that it does upward. It's neat to see the saga go to bigger
and darker places but perhaps its trying to be too big at once or
instead it's that the places its going so far have mixed landing for
excitement. It's a very slow and complex burner of a mystery perhaps
taking too much influence from JK Rowling's recent detective novels
than her fantasy best. However those small bits of action, humor,
and characters make things a bit worth it for fans invested in the
Potterverse. Especially those invested in this prequel epoch.
Hopefully the future can learn from the mistakes and deliver on the
setup done for the REAL crimes next time as there's surely more to be
done...and stopped. Don't commit this one again. 7.35 out of 10
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