Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp, Zoe Kravitz

Director: David Yates

Three months after criminal mastermind Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes custody, we find a frustrated Newt Scamander attempting to overturn his travel ban. The Ministry of Magic is willing to do so if Newt joins his Auror brother Theseus (Callum Turner) to track down Credence (Ezra Miller), who survived the New York attack and is searching for the truth about his family. Newt refuses. However, after a push from Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and finding out Tina (Katherine Waterston) is also in Paris, he as well as Jacob (Dan Fogler), he decides to head there to not only reunite with Tina, but to also save Credence. Unlike the first film, this sequel jumps right into the plot which is a good thing. I love Eddie Redmayne in the role despite the weird things he does with Newt. There is a lot happening and until closer to the end, doesn’t stop to explain much. When it does, it runs into problems. Big, big problems. One big problem is Johnny Depp. I would have loved to see the role recast after they decided to ditch Colin Farrell. Casting controversy aside, you’d think Depp would have at least tried. However he brings zero charisma or terror to a character we are supposed to fear. Ralph Fiennes was a great villain because of what he brought to the role. Depp doesn’t add much. The film also seems to rely heavily on Easter eggs for fans of the series. While these are nice to have occasionally, this film really packs them in. If this is all they have in their arsenal for three more movies it’s going to be rough sailing. Fans of the original series, like me, are going to hate this film. Without going into spoiler territory, a plot twist late in the film literally had me seething with anger. They have one more chance to keep me invested. I hate what direction the story is going in and I feel like characters are starting to make choices that aren’t organic to the story just to breed conflict. If you couldn’t tell, I’m still pretty angry about this film. Fandom or not, this is still not a great film and the twist would have made me angry anyways. JK Rowling needed to quit while she was ahead. Please stop destroying what fans enjoy about the series. D