Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Review

Posted by Jeff Labels: ,


The second film in the J.K. Rowlings Fantastic Beasts saga, Fantastics Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, is one the audience will either accept as pretty okay film or a fairly lousy movie.   I do not expect there to be much in the way middle ground or either extreme of a great cinematic feature or terrible waste of time at the theater.   

I am not a hardcore Potterhead even though I have some tendencies that lean that way. This knowledge gives me a basic understanding of the story and what is going supposedly going on.   That is an unfair advantage over any one who may have only seen a few of the movies in the Harry Potter series.

The Bad

Editing

Many critics will focus in some specific issues that in their eyes hinder the film as a whole.  The key two these other critics talk about is that there are too many characters or too many sub-plots in the movie.  In my opinion both concerns are very valid.   They may be valid but they are not actually the problem rather they are symptoms of the problem. 

The film is 2 hours 14 minutes long.   It is another film that creeps up against that time barrier of 2 hours and 17 minutes.   I am told that in most cinemas at 2 hours and 18 minutes you lose a showing per screen over the course of the day.    The lack of connective tissue between the meat of the various subplots is clearly a result of Studio mandate that the film can only be so long.  During the editing process David Yates, J.K. Rowling and Mark Day (the Film's Editor) clearly left a number of connective tie ins of the various sub-plots on the cutting room floor rather than eliminate one or more sub-plots and story lines.   

It is the difference between X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse.   In the former Bryan Singer and John Ottman cut the Rouge sub-plot from the film and in the latter the cut the connective tissue.   From an audience stand point the former earned 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and 75 on Metacritic; the later 48% on Rottentomatoes and 52 on Metacritic. 
  • There are at least three scenes that we the viewers saw in the trailers and or previews that have been greatly reduced and or eliminated in the final cut of the film.   From my viewing of the trailers I am not talking about scenes that I would have viewed as inconsequential.    The actors have indicated that there are several more scenes that were cut but as an audience we haven't seen them.
  • In looking at each of the sub-plots and character story arcs presented through out the film I would say we get the important aspects or the meat of each story, what is not present is the connective arcs of each story.   The audience if left to wonder how each of the sub-plots and story arcs connect with the main story.  Why is this important and why are you showing me?
  • J.K. Rowling has incredible creative control over the Fantastic Beasts (and Harry Potter) films.  Through out the Harry Potter books she had detailed stories and connection for even the most trivial characters.  J.K. Rowling commented that are very lines throughout the series that are not connected to something either previously mentioned or to be mentioned in the future.   

Newt Scamander

The other real problem for me is the lead character Newt Scamander.   In the entirety of  J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World is there a more one dimensional card board cutout of a character than Newt Scamander?  

This is not a critique of Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of the character, but rather of the character in general.  Newt is, I guess, supposed to be Autistic or on the Spectrum with the inclusion of Asperger's Syndrome. Another term used is Nerurodivergent, which means your brain does not function in the same way as others.   The symptoms for Asperger's Syndrome include social ineptitude or anxiety and and obsession on singular topics.      That's Newt.

Unlike any other developed character in the Wizarding World Newt exists in only one spot on the Moral Compass.   Eleven year old Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermine Granger have more internal turmoil and dilemma each than Newt. 

Add in Newt's dislike of his brother and other acts that lack human compassion and Newt is a jerk, an very much unlikeable one.  An unlikeable character is hard too emotionally attach yourself to throughout the course of the film.  You have no reason to cheer for them when they succeed or feel bad when they fail.   It is just a character on the screen.
It is possible that J.K. Rowling wants to clearly delineate Newt's growth as a character over the course of the films, starting Newt at stage 0 on the Kholberg Scale of morale development, but at the end of the second movie I would suggest he has regressed rather than grown. 

The Good

The bad in this movie well ultimately be more remembered than the good and drag down its box office.  That is not to say there isn't good aspects tot this film.  In many ways this is an exceptional film from a technical aspect not an artistic one.

Cinematography

Philippe Rousselot, as the Director of Photography, does an exceptional job with this film.   I would contend if the film was better edited this film would have an outside chance of being nominated for an Oscar is Cinematography.    Philippe Rousselot has previously won the Oscar for Cinematrography in 1992 for a River Runs Through It, and has several other nominations for his work in Interview with a Vampire, Henry and June, and Hope and Glory.   While the transitions can be jarring and interrupt the flow of the film, as a whole this film is beautifully shot.   The angles, lighting, and choices of lenses are exceptional.

Special Effects

Having rewatched the entire Harry Potter saga and the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them over the two weeks it was interesting to watch the maturation of the special effects, VX, used throughout the 10 films.   The VX in Crimes of Gindelwald are substeacially better than even Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Film 6, let alone looking back at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.   The effects are simply beautiful and believable. 

Score

Another beautifully scored film in the series. 

The Opening Sequence

I will not be the only person talking about the opening sequence to the film.   It is about 5 minutes of epic film making, the Cinematography, Score, Special Effects, Acting, Script, and immersion of the audience that film makers dream about.  

Direction

This film is not going to win an Oscar for director by any means, however the Direction of this film by David Yates is without argument his best work, hands down.   Much like the VX David Yates has clearly matured as he has mastered his craft working on the Harry Potter films.   From his debut in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix through Crimes of Grindelwald it is a clear improvement.  The transgressions of this film clearly are not his fault.   Yet I fear he will be the most likely victim of the "failure" of this movie.

Johnny Depp 

He is not the actor he once was but his presence in this film is a good thing.   His ability to assume the role of Gellert Grindelwald is so amazing as he brings the character to life.   Much in the same way he brought a pirate to life in Pirates of the Carribeean saga he does so here.   Viewers have a hard time taking their eyes off him while he is on screen.

Conclusion

I wanted to really like this film, it has so many positives and well done attributes.  From a technical standpoint this is one of the best films in years; by technical I am talking Cinematography, Directing, Score, Special Effects, Sound Effects...  Where this film fails is in Editing and Script.   I am not sure it is the lack of oversight on the part of Warner Brothers with J.K. Rowling or its a meddling by Warner Brothers at the end forcing J.K. Rowling to pair down the film (script) by 30 minutes, but either way it has horrible consequences.  This film is a mess, and for the those who are not as deep in to the Wizarding World as say even I am, this film is unwatchable.  
I really hope there is an extended edition of this film available on Blu-Ray as the extra thirty minutes of film could transform this film into something much better than what we got in the theater.  

0 comments

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)