By Brett Blake There’s really no getting around this, so here it is right up front -- FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD is not great. It is not even particularly good. It features a shockingly jumbled screenplay and uninspired direction, though these are partially offset by some game performances and strong opening and closing passages. Picking up from the events of the previous movie, THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD finds the title character (Johnny Depp), a dark wizard bent on subjugating non-magical and mixed-blood people, on the loose in Europe (after a fairly effective and thrilling opening escape sequence) and gathering followers to his cause. He particularly seeks Credence (Ezra Miller), an angry and vulnerable young man of great potential and power, and - knowing this - Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is recruited by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to intercept Credence before Grindelwald can get his hooks into him. Dumbledore and Grindelwald have a close history, and since Dumbledore cannot directly enter into conflict with him (for mysterious reasons!), Newt becomes a bit of a pawn in matters which have the future of humanity itself at stake. There’s FAR more to the story than that, and it focuses on FAR more characters, but that cursory synopsis should be enough to indicate just how involved -- less charitable people might say convoluted -- the plotting is here.... to the overall movie’s detriment. This might be more forgivable if the story actually took us somewhere dynamic and fresh by the time the credits rolled, but that’s not really the case here (more on that below). For writer J.K. Rowling -- whose Harry Potter novels are so intricately plotted and feature such nuanced characterization -- to produce a screenplay with a plot both this flimsy and this overstuffed with characters and narrative detours is actually kind of baffling. It is by far the messiest piece of writing in her career so far. There is so much maneuvering and so much complicated Wizarding World jargon (even diehards may be lost at points, to say nothing of an average audience member) which all ultimately feel like a big fuss over not very much. It looks more and more like the FANTASTIC BEASTS series was fundamentally flawed from its very conception. In tying this would-be five film run so intrinsically to established Potter mythology, Rowling has actually backed herself into a corner; by attempting to make everything related to the Dumbledore/Grindelwald story, the eventual climax of which is locked in stone as happening at a certain period in world history, Rowling can only tread water until we eventually get there another three movies down the line. So to tread said water, Rowling has to concoct an overly-convoluted plot that, paradoxically, ends up amounting to almost nothing at all; the “state of play,” as it were, in the Wizarding World at the end of the movie is not terribly different from where things are in the first act. True, the conclusion does foretell some potentially rich avenues going forward, but there’s no reason we should have been made to slog through this film’s plot to get there. The original pitch for these movies, which was something along the lines of “A wizard adventurer/biologist travels the globe in search of all kinds of amazing creatures,” suggests a much lighter, less-weighed-down-by-Potter-mythology sort of story that first movie, in fairness, did achieve in fits and starts. Most of that “stand-alone adventure” element is gone now, and Rowling has instead taken us into full-blown Potter prequel territory, complete with familiar characters, locations, Easter Egg references, and even some truly bizarre (and possibly angering for longtime fans!) twists that - as of now - don’t mesh at all with established Harry Potter canon. I’m sure Rowling has a plan to (attempt to) make these revelations fit in with the lore, but for now, it’s a lot of contrived, melodramatic stuff. So... what in the movie is good? Well, James Newton Howard’s grand and sweeping score is terrific, for a start. Also, despite director David Yates’ rather lackluster staging, the film looks great for the most part. A good deal of fairly moody imagery is on display, though at times it’s perhaps a touch too grim to really sit well with the pretty whimsical nature of the “Fantastic Beasts” in the film’s title. The creatures are a lot of fun, though, and the movie does come alive quite a bit when these strange animals take the spotlight. It also comes alive whenever Johnny Depp’s Grindelwald and Jude Law’s Dumbledore are on the screen (which isn’t enough, but we have to take what we can get). Depp, particularly, really tries to portray Grindelwald with some degree of grounded nuance and without silly affectations; it’s a shame, then, that the script doesn’t seem interested in exploring that nuance to any degree, and Rowling seems content (at least in this movie) to keep Grindelwald more a plot-mover than an actual character with much depth. The ending of this film positions both these characters as the primary focus going forward, but again, as stated above, their ultimate confrontation is still likely multiple movies away. So THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD is a disappointment, though not without a share of redeeming qualities, and the cinematic Wizarding World does still hold enough charm and appeal that I’ll happily come back for the next installment... but it needs to be quite a bit better than this one.
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By Brett Blake
We are are back to break down all the big movie releases coming to theaters over the next two months. Breanne Brennan and Brenton Thom join me for an extensive discussion of the most notable movies to look forward to (or perhaps not look forward to!), preceded by a brief review of the Summer Movie Season. On the agenda (click on the titles to view the trailers): November 2nd - THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS 2nd - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY 2nd - SUSPIRIA 9th - THE GRINCH 9th - THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB 9th - OVERLORD 16th - FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD 21st - CREED II 21st - RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET 21st - ROBIN HOOD December 14th - MORTAL ENGINES 14th - THE MULE 14th - SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE 19th - MARY POPPINS RETURNS 21st - BUMBLEBEE 21st - AQUAMAN Take a listen! |
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