I’ll start by saying that I liked this film, but I understand why so many critics didn’t. It’s a matter of pacing; there was simply too much story packed into the one film. It’s a great story that would have made for a great book, but some harsher cuts needed to be made in the editing room if they wanted it to be a great film. General audiences may have felt left behind at times, and the array of new characters would have been overwhelming for those who hadn’t already known they would be there. I know I’ve been watching all the cast interviews and promotional footage I could get my hands on over the past few months, but if you went straight from the first film into the second, I imagine you’d find the shift in scale pretty jarring. I knew what I was getting into but I still had to go back and watch the film a second time before writing this article, and there’s still so much to cover that I’ll probably leave many of my thoughts for more detailed follow-up articles.
I’m a big fan of Harry Potter, and I went into The Crimes of Grindelwald wanting so very much to love it. And, as much as I enjoyed the film, it doesn’t remotely compare to the emotional experience I had whilst watching the first Fantastic Beasts film. The first film was a fairly light-hearted self-contained narrative full to the brim with magic. In comparison, The Crimes of Grindelwald doesn’t feel like a whole entity. It’s too reliant on what’s still to come and it’s not light-hearted or magical enough to be forgiven for it. Similarly, many of my opinions on the decisions made in this film, entirely depend on where they lead in the following films. As a fan, I actually really enjoyed trying to piece together as much information as I could whilst watching. The pacing suited me just fine, but my parents with me struggled (despite being fans themselves.) There were just too many unnecessary subplots using up crucial screen time that was needed elsewhere.
Eddie Redmayne’s Newt was the perfect lovable hero in the first instalment of Fantastic Beasts. Now that the story has taken a turn for the darker, he doesn’t quite fit the feel of the story anymore. It still doesn’t make sense to me why Dumbledore picked Newt of all people for this journey. Apart from a few lines about Dumbledore’s admiration for Newt’s inherent ‘goodness,’ there isn’t enough backstory of their relationship for it to really make sense why Dumbledore sent Newt to New York in the first place. Perhaps if the ‘fantastic beasts’ were still playing a large part in the franchise, I wouldn’t be questioning Newt’s role in it so much. However, this film consistently struggles to balance its focus on its new and exciting magical creatures with its far darker focus on the upcoming war. The war certainly seems to be the franchise’s ongoing focus, and so the audience is left to wonder why there was so much emphasis on Newt and his beasts in the first place.
The highlight of The Crimes of Grindelwald is, without a doubt, Jude Law’s portrayal of the young Albus Dumbledore. He manages to perfectly embody all of Dumbledore’s wit and charm, whilst still retaining Dumbledore’s manipulative and cryptic tendencies. He has the unspoken power and boldness necessary of a man capable of bringing down a wizard like Grindelwald. He also has enough inner conflict, flaws and personal stakes in the situation to be the interesting and complex protagonist that this series needs. What he doesn’t have, however, is enough screen time and backstory (within this instalment of the franchise at least) to live up to the character’s true potential.
Another character suffering from unfulfilled potential is Zoë Kravitz’s Leta Lestrange. Leta had the potential to be a great character, with an interesting personal stake in events, and a close history with our main character. She’s also one of few positive depictions of Slytherins that we’ve seen in the Harry Potter Universe, but her character arc was far too rushed for the audience to establish any real connection with her. The sibling drama was one plot twist too many in my opinion, and Leta would have made a far more compelling character if she had been given time to explore her relationships with Newt and Theseus in more depth. We see small snippets of Newt and Leta at Hogwarts, yet we are given little indication of how the two grew apart or the extent of their current relationship – let alone any indication of how Leta and Theseus came to be involved. I know I would have liked to see more exploration of her character in the future, as she is one of the few compellingly multifaceted characters the franchise has to offer.
The character that surprised me most this film was Queenie. In the past, she has been insistently curious, naive at times and notably excited by the prospect of breaking the law, which actually sets her up perfectly for her arc in The Crimes of Grindelwald – I just wasn’t expecting it. I’ll admit I was initially confused by her willingness to manipulate Jacob, but I suppose it does make sense, given her history of using her powers to manipulate others. This also foreshadowed the possibility of Queenie finding herself on the opposing side of the conflicts to come. Queenie’s sympathies for the ‘dark side’ demonstrated Grindelwald’s aptitude for manipulation, also setting up Queenie for a complex character arc to come in future films. I am keen to see play out, as it may finally give our main characters a personal stake in the conflict. Whilst I was pleasantly surprised with Queenie’s journey throughout this film, I can’t help but feel that many of the other characters could have been put to better use.
I won’t get too deep into the Nagini debate, but she did feel like a fairly random addition to the film. She didn’t really… do much? I still can’t tell if she was there because she actually plays a part in the upcoming story, or if she was just there to say ‘look! Nagini used to be a woman! Surprise!’. Even she does play more of a part in future films, presumably to help break through to Credence, then they really needed to spend more time developing that relationship. As far as I can tell, Nagini’s part in this film doesn’t seem worth the drama. I’m still curious to know how she ended up serving Voldemort, and I can only hope that the next few films will give her an interesting story arc that somehow points her in that direction. Given how pressed they were for screen time in The Crimes of Grindelwald, it probably could have done without her. The same sadly goes for Nicolas Flamel. As much as it was fun to see him, he wasn’t a necessary addition to the film and his screen time could have definitely been allocated elsewhere.
The few breaks in The Crimes of Grindelwald’s non-stop action were usually devoted to an unnecessary side plot or a moment played off for laughs. What this film lacked was an emotional connection to its characters, and this could have been developed through some poignant moments of reflection – preferably from some of the newer additions to the crew like Dumbledore, Leta or even Theseus. The film could have also benefited from fleshing out the Dumbledore/Grindelwald connection, especially from Grindelwald’s side of the equation. For a film with his name in the title, we hardly delved into Grindelwald’s mindset and motivations at all. Fans of the original Potter books may already know his story, but there really should have been a more concrete depiction of exactly what he was rallying for, so that the casual viewers could keep up. If they don’t understand exactly what the protagonists are fighting against, why should they be invested in the film at all? I’m guessing we’ll see more of the Dumbledore/Grindelwald backstory in the next film when they attempt to destroy the blood pact (which really needed more explanation in this film, considering how much the film revolved around it).
All in all, there were too many decisions I can’t wholly judge yet because I’m still waiting to see if there’s a payoff in the later films. If they wanted The Crimes of Grindelwald to be received as a successful self-contained narrative, there needed to be more payoff and explanation for these decisions within this instalment of the franchise, instead of all the unnecessary side plots that just distracted from the essence of the film.
TheScreenReview 