Review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) by Mrmoviebuff — 21 Nov 2018

Nothing happens in this movie. I do not think that should require a spoiler warning, this is one of the most uneventful films to be released in any franchise, and that is saying something. 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' is a movie that focuses so heavily on building a franchise for future sequels, that it forgets to tell its own story and let this particular chapter stand on its own.

The movie opens with our antagonist/title character, Gellart Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escaping prison and threatening the world with his crimes to get rid of all muggle-born wizards. The first action scene is darkly lit, features plenty of rain and lightning, so you are not able to properly see what is going on.

We then return to meeting Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who is banned from travelling across the globe, despite the fact that travelling is something he is fond of doing. The Ministry however, doesn't think he can correct any of his mistakes.

He is reunited with Jacob (Dan Fogler) and Queenie (Alison Sudol), but Tina (Katherine Waterston) appears to be missing. She is in Paris, where Credence (Ezra Miller) is still on the loose, and is about to cause trouble if he does not find what he wants, which is answers to where he comes from.

Newt is then recruited by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to travel and find answers for his quest, even though he has been forbidden by the Ministry of Magic. The movie plods along for its 2 hour and 14 minute run-time to lead to nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Yes, there is a plot-twist here and there, but all that gets found out literally minutes before the movie is over, until then, you have to sit through characters just wandering around endlessly looking for other characters, or other clues.

There are no words to describe this movie other than just filler. The screenplay is written by a very talented J.K. Rowling, who is best known for writing those "Harry Potter" books, but unfortunately, books and screenplays are completely different forms of fictional writing, and she was definitely out of her comfort zone here, as is director David Yates who directed the last four "Harry Potter" films, as well as the previous "Fantastic Beasts" film in 2016.

For some reason, they appeared to have been lost in building a franchise, they forgot how to tell an individual story.