Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

There will always be fantastic creatures to find and care for, but when a true beast is on the loose – one that stands on two legs, walks and talks among us and threatens to tear the Wizarding World in half, that’s when you truly have something to fear.

Picking up almost exactly where things ended in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) is in US custody, awaiting transportation to answer for his crimes in Europe.

Though he makes it to Europe, it’s not in the chains the authority intended, and it soon becomes a race as Grindelwald spears ahead to find a weapon to fulfill a prophecy; Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller). The Ministry wants Dumbledore (Jude Law) to help them fight Grindelwald but he refuses, much to their anger and disappointment.

Instead Dumbledore has someone else in mind, someone who he believes can, if not stop Grindelwald, then protect the boy he wishes to corrupt. Newt Scamander may not believe in himself but he’ll do what’s right.

If you were to read my 2016 review of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them you’d be surprised that I even paid to watch this sequel. However after reading through that review, I saw that my last words were that of a hopeful realist: I just hope for their sake and mine that they get it right next time around.

Spoiler Alert: They did.

Crimes of Grindelwald showed that the franchise finally began to come into its own. I was a lot more focused on the present situation; the troubles and tasks at hand instead of constantly making comparisons. This shows that the plot was strong enough to keep you engaged, as even though we get to spend time at Hogwarts, and come across well known names, I wasn’t sat thinking about the future to come.

Stand out actors and characters were Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. The former accurately portrayed all the calm and mysterious authority of the great wizard, and as an audience/fan it was interesting to get a peep behind the curtain at his youth and the vulnerability and pain that came with it.

Depp is a phenomenal actor and I think I often forget that, he played the cold and manipulative idealist Grindelwald well enough to give me chills. I also found that Zoe Kravitz was oddly fitting to the Wizarding World in her role as Leta Lestrange.

Also, and this is a bit of a strange one; I loved the strong tweed coats! Seriously. They wore some quality wool in this movie.

Though Crimes of Grindelwald wasn’t a bad movie, nor a boring one – I did watch most of it with indifferent curiosity. That state where you like what you’re watching well enough to keep your eyes on the screen, but it doesn’t effect you emotionally or in any other way. There was unfortunately not a lot in the story line that I deeply cared about.

I still don’t see what’s so special about Newt Scamander – I don’t dislike him as a character but in terms of story, there has never been a distinctive quality that he holds that helps me as an audience member to understand why he is chosen to help when no one else can.

Personally I felt that the movie went around in one big circle long windily drawing out the answer to a single question.

This may not have been so frustrating if this was the first movie in the franchise, but to be the second, and still be waiting to learn an answer to a question we were posed a whole movie ago? I felt cheated. At this stage I would have expected a little more shock, awe and progression, for the story as a whole.

I’m a movie goer. I go to movies. This movie specifically, though great in someways and terribly flawed in others, wasn’t bad enough that I’d refuse to watch any (potential) sequels. Mostly I just think it’s a shame that the franchise is finding it so hard to find its feet despite the credible crew behind the wheel.

I mean it’s getting there slowly but surely, yet I wonder; what is it that isn’t quite making these movies pop?