Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

This movie has not been received kindly by many people, citing a confusing plot and a lack on interesting characters. While there is merit to that, I still quite enjoyed this film all the same.

The story is pretty complicated, so I won't deny that it can be confusing. It takes place about a year after the first film, and features the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, played by Johnny Depp, beginning to gather followers in Paris, specifically trying to gain the loyalty of the Obscurial known as Credence Barebone, played once again by Ezra Miller. To combat this, Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, sends Newt Scamander, played again by Eddie Redmayne, accompanied by the non-magical Jacob Kowalski, played once again by Dan Fogler, to find Credence before Grindelwald does.

There are also many other plotlines that go into this, such as romantic tension between Newt and Tina Goldstein, played once again by Katherine Waterston, and similarly, romantic tension between Jacob and Queenie Goldstein, played once again by Alison Sudol. And then there is a plotline involving Leta Lestrange, played by Zoe Kravitz, and her half brother, Yusuf Kama, played by William Nadylam. Yeah, there is a lot happening in this movie.

My biggest issue with this movie is the amount of subplots in it when the film is only two hours and fourteen minutes long. It kind of just moves from one plot point to another, and you don't get room to breathe, and then the movie is just done. Like, they could have explored these plotlines in three separate movies and just focused on Grindelwald, Credence, and Newt and his friends for this one.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, this movie is dark, and anyone who knows me knows that I like films with dark tones, although it still has moments of hope throughout. Johnny Depp's performance, showing Grindelwald as crazy yet charismatic, is amazing to witness, as is Zoe Kravitz as the tortured Leta Lestrange. Of course, Redmayne, Fogler, and Waterston are just fun to watch interacting with each other. I don't think they gave Sudol much to do, though.

In addition, the action and visuals are surprisingly good, especially the opening sequence when Grindelwald escapes from prison. It will never be on the level of the Harry Potter films, but it was still entertaining and fun to witness regardless.

Overall, this film is definitely messy and overstuffed. The plot feels way too crammed with information, and therefore it moves extremely fast. It is fun and entertaining despite this fact, with some fun action and performances, but it could have been so much better if they put more thought into the script.

Next time, we see the end of the...sequel trilogy of...Star Wars, I guess. It's...yeah, it's definitely going to be an interesting review. Keep an eye open for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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