You're too good, Newt. You never met a monster you couldn't love. (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 2018)

 

 

 

221.
Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald

 

 

7/10

 

We are thrust back into the world of wizardry as the second movie in the Fantastic Beast franchise hits our screens. The Crimes of Grindelwald carries on from our last installment and once again looks a beautiful spectacle. I have heard some views that the movie actually doesn't move the story one in a significant way and is somewhat of a filler movie. There is only one way to find out that's by watching Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler and Johnny Depp back as their characters. Could this turn out to be just as magical as the Harry Potter series or are we really just looking at a money spinner here?
As we know, this is set in the past, 1927 to be exact and Grindelwald is straight on our screen, being transported ahead of being tried for his crimes and we know what's about to come.

 

 

 BINGO, he's escaped and now we will either spend our time looking for him or he won't return for a little while. We jump three months later and Newt, played by Redmayne, is in London bumping into his ex who is now engaged to his brother. He is being asked by the ministry to track down Credence, a character from the first story. He needs to be sent to Paris, which he rejects and another Auror is sent in his place. Not long after, Jude Law pops up as Dumbledore, persuading Newt to actually take the job in Paris because after all, he is the main reason as to why the events in the first movie transpired.
In Paris, Newt bumps into a couple of more characters from the first movie, Queenie and Jacob. We could tell from the ending of the first, that Jacob was receiving his memories back and this is confirmed straight away. The pair have followed Queenie's sister to Paris and Tina is also on the trail for Credence. Newt and Tina had a little touch of romance from the first and I wonder if the writers will decide to step this up a little in this movie. Credence is around, with a new friend name Nagini, as they search for his family and their new lead is killed by the Auror Grimmson who is secretly working for Grindelwald. Word is that he is part of the Lestrange family, with his own step-brother on his trail to kill him off.

 

 

As the movie progresses and tensions between the non-magic folk and wizards begin to grow, even making Queenie question her own loyalties as she is struggling to find her sister and is actually convinced to turn up at Grindelwald's hideout. He convinces her that he has the true power of freedom, one which means that she can marry Jacob in the future without it being frowned upon.
Back to Newt and Tina, who are breaking into the French Ministry in order to find out Credence's true identity and the reason that he is so popular for the wrong reasons. During this time, Newt feels that he needs to tell Tina that him and his ex, who is also a Lestrange, were never engaged to be married, which really falls short of the mark and isn't the true mission. They are lead to the Lestrange tomb with their new information but it turns out that Credence isn't this long lost kid as Newt's ex, Leta Lestrange killed that little bugger when she was only young. They are all led to this rally, including Credence, where Grindelwald is spouting some hate.

 

 

 Even Queenie is there, much to Jacob's surprise. Within the speech, Grindelwald shows some future images of World War II. This is until the Aurors turn up, led my Newt's brother but as they are ready to stop what's going on, Grindelwald sets up a diversion before sending his followers across Europe to spread his new message. He cast a blue flame to separate his followers from their enemies as Credence and Queenie step through the flame to join him, much to everyone's surprise. Leta sacrifices herself by attack Grindelwald, which allows everyone else to escape and as they do so, our remaining heroes link up to battle that blue flame, which has no become a massive dragon because why the hell not. Newt now realises that he needs to get involved in some capacity.

 

 

We end the movie looking at Hogwarts. Newt has gone to meet Dumbledore with a vial that he stole from Grindelwald which holds the bold of both the villain and Dumbledore. This is the reason that Dumbledore cannot move on the villain but trying to destroy it, may mean that this can happen. Meanwhile, In Austria, Grindelwald has set up a camp and it's revealed that Credence is actually a Dumbledore, he's the future Headmaster's long lost brother and the bird he is caring for is a Pheonix, the bird we have seen in the older movies with the Headmaster. This is the end of the movie that could be classified as a little bit of a cliffhanger.
I don't truly understand those that said nothing really happened in this movie. Did they just want it to fail? Characters switching sides, the Villains gaining his army, Newt finally stepping up and bringing Dumbledore into the fold along with the revelation fo who Credence really is. These are plenty of talking points and a lot more than other movies that have been around recently. The acting was once again top notch from certain people. Redmayne gives a great performance as a bumbling wizard but I really want to see his true potential if he does need to take more action. Depp does creepy so well. Between his look and mannerisms, who can truly take in his adaptation of a villain, which I've seen him play far from often. The plot was a mismatch and jumble at times, which did make some of this confusing, maybe even focusing too much on the CGI but as always in the Wizarding World, the special effects, settings and beasts that come along with this type of movie were truly beautiful. It may not have shown us the true crimes of Grindelwald and there may have only been a handful of fantastic beasts but I'm really looking forward to the third in the series.