Skip to main content

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), PG-13, ★★


It is amazing that the Harry Potter universe is continuing on after the success of the movies and also with children still continuing to read books. When I was there in a set of Diagon Alley at Universal Studios at Orlando, people were gathering in different areas like it was a hangout near a university. And, I was impressed by the details going into the set of Diagon Alley that I felt like I was a wizard for a moment in that fantastical universe. The franchise is certainly a phenomenon. But, studios are hungry for squeezing some more money out of the franchise as the first Fantastic Beasts was fine. The sequel is visually magical but not narratively as there is so much exposition and plot underneath the characters and its story that the whole film becomes disjointed and a bit confusing. It is like going into a magical SAT exam after a teacher just gave you the book with solely the material and no practice exams with it.

Notorious dark wizard Gilbert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) has escaped from being put into prison in London. He is on a mission to find his followers. Meanwhile, back in London, Newt Scamander is given another chance to get his travel rights after the events of his beasts being loose in New York and Creedence Barebone (Ezra Miller) wreaked havoc. However, the Ministry gives a condition that he will work under Theseus (Callum Turner), Newt's brother, with whom Newt has a strained relationship with. Although Newt refuses to work with him, an Auror named Grimmson (Ingvar Edgar Sigurosson) volunteers but he is up to sinister deeds.

Later on, Newt apparates to meet with his former professor, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). Dumbledores appoints Newt to seek out Creedence as Grindelwald is also seeking him out, since he is in danger or a danger to others. Dumbledore leaves Newt with an address to a safe house since Dumbledore cannot move against Grindelwald. Newt re-teams with Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who now has a relationship with Queenie (Alison Sudol) to find Creedence. But, also, later on, Newt finds Tina (Katherine Waterston) who is also on a mission to find Creedence.


This movie is more underwhelming and more uneventful than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was my former least favorite film of the franchise. Here, this movie is like Rocky Balboa or later, trying to catch a chicken and would not catch it after two hours. I never got to the point as to the whole story feeling as completed in its contained movie before it is left off with a cliffhanger. The movie should have clipped off 30 minutes of the film as the middle portion felt dragged with Grindlewald's scenes and also flashbacks that felt unnecessary. It bounces all over the place.

I never seem to grasp Eddie Redmayne being Newt Scamander here than I did in the first one as he is a solid introductory character. Here, he annoyed a bit with him not looking at characters in the eye nor being as charismatic or memorable compared to other characters like Jacob played Dan Fogler, who is still great as the amicable sidekick. I liked Jude Law very much as he fit the role of a young Albus Dumbledore quite well, he is brilliant yet also fashionable compared to what his persona will become in future books and movies. Zoe Kravitz is ok as Leta and Katherine Waterston is still solid while working alongside Redmayne. Now, Johnny Depp felt like a scary Halloween distraction than a menacing villain because he feels like an icy guy that seems to spew out spells and dialogue that feels monotone. But, besides Jacob and Dumbledore, I could not connect to many of its characters.

David Yates returns to the director's chair as he made this film and I feel like his time has run out in the series and let someone else to take over because I felt that this latest installment was slow, filled with heavy exposition and plot that does not seem to intertwine and anticlimactic character decisions that felt contrived. The action is solid, the visual effects are fine (a few cheesy SFX moments) and some good performances but I think this is the first Harry Potter movie where I felt like that this was boring. I need to Obliviate myself to move on and to forget this experience.

**


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2015 Documentaries

I have only seen 6 documentaries this year which also includes Amy and I Am Chris Farley . But, I have to be honest, this has not been a particularly strong year for documentaries except for onethat got me emotionally and mentally as what I examine for when they uncover the truth or some facts from the people involved in these documentaries. But, here are the four I have seen this year: Listen To Me Marlon, Unrated, 4 stars This is the most insightful documentary of the year as we only hear Marlon Brando narrating his life and experiences what he has gone through regarding his family, his private life and his film experiences regarding The Godfather , Apocalypse Now , Last Tango in Paris , etc. It is like Marlon Brando came out of his grave to give us another profoundly moving movie only we hear his voice and scenery and nothing else. The Look of Silence, R, 3.5 stars Joshua Oppenheimer's follow-up documentary is a light-hearted but still-disturbing film regarding a ...

Daddy's Home 2 (2017), PG-13, ★1/2

The first Daddy's Home was surprisingly a financial success as I thought it was not as bad as many people thought. I thought it was a solid cable watch because it had enough laughs for that sort of mixed recommendation. I was not craving for a sequel for this movie because again, comedy sequels have a very bad record, however, the only difference is that it is not too late since the first movie came out a few years ago. But, this sequel is a reminder as to why we do not need a sequel to a hit comedy because this is a pretty much forgettable comedy, especially a holiday comedy...which I hade a guilty pleasure for. This did not work for me. Brad and Dusty (Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg) have become friends after the events of the first film and they set up a co-dad system where their two children, Megan and Dylan, spending time at each father's home. Dusty has re-married to writer Karen (Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio) and he is step-dad to Adrianna, Karen...

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), R, 4 stars

The stockbrokers worshipping Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) like a god. Wall Street. The clients, the adrenaline, the stocks, the money, the power, and the decadence. The former three pertains to the man's job, but the latter three pertains what any stockbroker wants in order to have the freedom to do whatever they want with the client's money. As Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) would say, "The name of the game is: move the money from your client's pocket into your pocket." We basically spend three hours seeing all of these Wall-Street scumbags steal the clients' money into their own pockets and spend it on booze, drugs, women, and other insane things in more insane activities. I have witnessed here is a great movie that I would not watch repetitively. The movie starts with Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) blowing cocaine onto a hooker's butt and he and his brokers throwing a little person onto a board with a dollar sign in the center. It'...