Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Review
A step back in the Fantastic Beasts saga, which entertains but is an overlong film. Whether or not you are fans of the Harry Potter saga, you’re sure to know that this weekend premiered around the world Fantastic Beasts 2, the sequel to the spin off prequel to the original saga. And that it has offered us a film that seems half done, halfway between an epic magical adventure and a telenovela. No, I do not mean to offend when I say these words. But whoever has seen the film will not deny me that there are a couple of moments in which to follow the genealogical trees of the characters (almost all of them) is more complicated than guessing the number of the lottery this week …
The film takes us on this occasion to a story halfway between London, Paris and Hogwarts, where Grindelwald has finally shown up (excellent Johnny Depp without being histrionic, which is scary for the seriousness with which he plays the villain) and his followers begin to grow in number, making it a great threat to magicians and Muggles, many would say that even greater than the one that should not be named. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has to travel to Paris to avoid that Credence (Ezra Miller) falls into the hands of the villain, following the request of Albus Dumbledore himself (Jude Law) and with the intention also to find Tina (Katherine Waterston), which will start a new adventure unexpected for all of them…
There are very interesting elements in this sequel. It is still much darker than the Harry Potter films (that family in Paris …), it is still destined for a more adult audience because it knows that its fans have grown to become adults, visually it has sensational moments because David Yates knows very well his job and what he is doing, and Rowling’s script offers very interesting ideas about racism, fear, the walls we build… and it does it without turning the villain into a madman who shouts litanies of hate … No, he’s a thorough guy who knows how to convince people, with a message of freedom, hope, understanding … The film, again, talks about very, very current issues, the rise of fanaticism in our world, those «enlightened» leaders of seductive and terribly dangerous message that are so successful.
But at the same time her script is wrecked because, definitely, she does not know what to do with the characters he presented in the first film. Newt and most of his companions (with the exception of Queenie) seem completely out of place. It is not that they are heroes by accident, it is that they are heroes because the script demands it, thus limiting the magic and chemistry that we saw in the first installment. They are puppets of the script, they appear and disappear sometimes without rhyme or reason, causing the rhythm to suffer and leaving us with a bittersweet feeling. The one of a good entertainment, but that takes a step back in what the previous film offered. A film maybe burdened by the fact that it is the second of five, and not three as originally planned …
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