Review:
*Originally written November 17th, 2018*
There's a lot to take on here. The second in the series of five Harry Potter prequels tells a far more interesting story than the first one, while managing to make a few very misguided and questionable decisions. It also has that annoying thing of setting up a lot of things that they're planning to resolve in future films rather than just work with what they've got. Now, I've not got a huge problem with this, as I know this will all play better once all five films have been released and will flow better, but it's still a little frustrating.
Tonally, this is far more darker than the first Fantastic Beasts. There is a lot of harsh stuff in here for a kids film. For a sequel to a film that played it pretty lighthearted, it's a bit jarring. I'd only rewatched the first film a day ago, so it was odd to see thing go from Newt making animal noises and gestures to a fantastical animal to full blown child murder and mass murder within the space of two hours. They really try and go for an Empire Strikes Back vibe here as all the characters are split up and left in a much worse place by the time the credits roll.
I much preferred this tone and it is far close to the later Harry Potter films in terms of style rather than the earlier ones and the First Fantastic Beasts. The transition is far from perfect though, for a film that takes itself so seriously, it's weird that they shove in these strange moments of comedy between Newt and his creatures right in the middle of things for brief scenes that feel tacked in and have no flow the overall story. It reeked of re-shoots added in for "More comedy". I'm sure that wasn't the case, but that's honestly how these scenes played to me.
I was extremely worried that these five Fantastic Beasts films would play like the Hobbit films compared to the Lord of the Rings, a hollow CGI fest that lacked the charm of any of the films that came before it. And while it can be argued that this is true, I still feel more connected to this than I had any of the Hobbit films. Despite feeling like the middle film in a series, I was constantly engaged by the story and was really into it, even with a lot of the issues the film had, and there are a lot.
There's a lot of odd moments that feel out of place and overlooked. The return of Dan Fogley as Jacob and Alison Sudol's Queenie is much appreciated and welcome, their return is a bumpy ride that did not sit right with me at all. Their first scene back it's revealed that Queenie is using basically the Wizarding World equivalent of a date rape drug to keep Jacob from leaving her. It's not said how long she's been using it, but that's gotta be rape right? He's hypnotised and doing whatever she says without any free will of his own? But this is played for laughs, it's odd and a bit sickening.
Either way, once that stuff is brushed off as a misguided attempt at humour, Jacob and Queenie have surprising character arcs that really left me surprised at how this is going to go in the series. It's probably one of the few things I actually understood in the final act as the film juggles so much and delivers so much exposition that it leaves things as a bit of a confusing mess.
That's marginally where some of my problems come from. The final thirty minutes are a bit of a mess with such confusing editing and mix of far too many things being juggled. I know a lot of this will make sense to huge Potterheads, but as someone who grew up watching the Harry Potter films, I was left muddled and not sure what the hell and just happened aside from a few key beats.
I'm also confused as to why this film is called "Fantastic Beasts" too. That title made sense for the first film, as it was actually about Newt and his creatures, but here they are merely background devices used to remind audiences that "Oh, yeah. Newt loves animals". Don't get more wrong, I'm much more interested in the plot of Grindelwald and Dumbledore than a series of films about Newt going country to country finding creatures. I just don't know why they haven't dropped this title. Oh, the Marvelization of the Harry Potter series was pretty rampant from the giant "WIZARDING WORLD" logo that opens the film, which honestly would have made more sense as the title.
I did at least appreciate the Harry Potter universe references that I understood based on my knowledge of the films. There's some fun name drops, locations and characters involved that I'm sure Potterheads will be creaming over. While his screen-time was brief, Jude Law made for a fantastic young Dumbledore and I can't wait to see him more in future films, I just hope they actually have the balls to explore his sexuality rather than just tease it like they do in this one.
Eddie Redmayne is still interesting as the lead of this series. I saw an article before seeing this saying that Newt might be autistic, and once I had that in my head, it was all I could see. The mannerisms, social awkwardness and obsession with animals was all there. I do not have a problem with this at all, in fact if they reveal he is autistic, then I'll love it even more. It's a ballsy and rare move to have an autistic character as the lead of a huge franchise.
There was a lot of controversy over the casting of Johnny Depp after his abuse allegations and while his reveal in the first Fantastic Beasts is laughable and off-putting, there was a lot of work put in here to undo a lot of that damage. Depp actually plays it pretty sinister and intimidating, it actually feels like he's trying again after a decade of embarrassing roles where plays a bunch of zany, over the top characters. He's responsible for some of the most violent and disturbing acts so far in the Harry Potter franchise, from the opening escape to the finale, he's pretty damn good and not overused at all.
So that's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, a darker and more compelling sequel that suffers from a few tonal issues and a convoluted final act as it tries to juggle far too much for one film, but overall it's definitely a step in the right direction for the series and I really hope it continues to improve with each film.
7/10 Dans
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is out now in cinemas in the UK, with a 4K UHD Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV
Watch the trailer below:
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