[Movie Review] Depp and Law deliver in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Okay.

Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Erm, if you’re really a Potterhead.

Score: 3.3/5

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 134 minutes (~2.25 hours)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Technically, there are several beasts, all of which are fantastic, in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Technically, Grindelwald commits more than one crime in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

The trouble is that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald doesn’t quite live up to the expectations that its title conjures. You’d expect lavish magical duels against Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), horrific but interestingly unique atrocities committed by the title character (the eponymous crimes), amazing monsters that take your breath away, and maybe just a bit more of that legendary friendship between Grindelwald and Dumbledore that we keep hearing about.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Small spoiler – you don’t really get all that in the film. Technically, you do… but it doesn’t satisfy, not as much as Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them did. A great novelist J.K. Rowling may be, but her screenplays definitely need more work and focus.

It’s incredibly apparent that Rowling wants to tell a story that’s unrelated to the main characters of the previous Fantastic Beasts film, but has no choice but to shoehorn those characters in, possibly due to contractual obligations. That’s not to say that the story being told isn’t an interesting one – it is an engaging tale of family drama and heartbreaking secrets – but it’s shackled by the constraints of having to force in unrelated characters. As a result, most of them (Newt, Tina, Queenie, Jacob) are really just bystanders watching events unfold to other characters. They don’t drive the story forward.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

In fact, it would probably have been a better film if the producers weren’t forced to use certain characters. It would have been a more focused story, more time could have been given to developing the drama and conflict, and a better payoff could have been created. More time could have been given to important exposition (you’ll be Googling who’s who by the climax, especially for all the new characters) that would have made the film’s plot clearer.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Despite this, the film manages to eke out some surprises, even if they may come out of left field, which is sure to stir up fan buzz until the next film. It is a bit of the Man of Steel strategy (where the most memorable scene, Superman’s murder of General Zod, felt like it was done for the shock factor and to generate buzz, rather than being a necessary part of the plot), and it works – you’ll be sure to hit Google once the film is done.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

The returning cast delivers a solid performance, and Depp is truly convincing as the cunning Grindelwald. He’s not the typical, over the top Depp that we’ve seen in recent films – instead, he portrays the charisma and manipulativeness of Grindelwald that we’ve heard so much about. It’s this uncharacteristic restraint of Depp that makes Grindelwald all the more compelling as a character – which makes us even more interested to find out what happened to him.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Jude Law’s Dumbledore also manages to exude that air of wisdom, without having to tack on the stereotypical aged look. What you’re really interested in, though, is seeing the Dumbledore and Grindelwald interact – which the film teases throughout, but doesn’t quite pay off on.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

However, the events of the film are hardly significant in the overall story of Fantastic Beasts, and it doesn’t quite flesh out the characters or deliver stunning revelations (it does have some, though). Characters talk about what they’ll do but don’t actually do it, which is presumably to stoke our interest in upcoming Fantastic Beasts films.

Bring your mobile phone, keep it charged, set it to silent, and make sure you have a solid Internet connection when you watch Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. You’ll be searching for all those references and character information, but you’ll probably be entertained, too.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a fantasy action drama that is the second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts series and tenth in the Harry Potter series.

The film sees the wizarding world gather to oppose Grindelwald, who has escaped imprisonment – while many others flock to his cause. At the centre of all this is the enigmatic and powerful Credence Barebones, who may be the key to saving – or destroying – everything.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is directed by David Yates and written by J.K Rowling. It stars Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski), Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein), Ezra Miller (Credence Barebone), Zoe Kravitz (Leta Lestrange), Callum Turner (Theseus Scamander), Claudia Kim (Nagini), William Nadylam (Yusuf Kama), Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore), and Johnny Depp (Gellert Grinelwald). It is rated PG.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. (Warner Bros Pictures)

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I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site

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