The Crimes of Grindelwald (spoiler alert..sort of)

[StillMedusa]

Or ..two hours and 20 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

Went with DS1 to see it tonight and was so disappointed. OK I knew it wasn't going to be as good as the HP films, but I had enjoyed Magical Beasts for the creatures last time. Not this time..I was actually bored

If you plan to take children.. the plot is long and multi stranded and vague with not a lot of action! And no resolution. And not enough creatures.
The next one had better be good!

I absolutely loved it. I found the first one hard going, but thought this one was fab (have to admit that Jude Law helped a little ).

I loved it! It's my favourite WW movie so far and is starting to explore all the background stories that are hinted at/mentioned in earlier stories.

It's much darker than the original movies but I feel like it's aimed at the adults who grew up with Potter rather than children.

I also loved Nicolas Flamel's appearance, that book of his was rather interesting, I wonder who the woman was. I also expect he'll be back again as they didn't do much with him.

😱😡 can't stop using f word even on film thread. Ignorant.

I loved it!! And Johnny Depp as gorgeous as ever!

I liked Jude Law and the scenes at Hogwarts, but otherwise I'm not that keen on this new series of films. They're diluting the pleasure of the original series for me, in the same way as the dragged-out Hobbit films detracted from The Lord of the Rings and the new Star Wars films sucked the joy from the original SW trilogy. Knowing where to stop is an underrated skill.

I thought Jude Law's performance was very good.

Eddie Redmayne was Guileless Lovable Fop. Handsome but I could not shake timnicebutdimtimnicebutdim....

Queenie is awful. Channelling Cameron Diaz's Mary in There's something about Mary

I just though as a self-contained film it was extremely poor as a piece of storytelling.

I loved it. DS13 thought it was a 'filler' for the next one, DS7 thought it was great and DH napped for an hour, woke and at the end asked 7 million questions about everything he'd seen.

If you know the HP stories well it'll help when you come to watch these ones. I thought they'd woven almost seamlessly til the McGonagall moment, and DS7 told me that at the scene where the children were in the windows at Hogwarts he thought he'd seen Tom Riddle. It was so fast I couldn't agree or disagree, but it definitely left us guessing what's coming next, especially Nagini.

We were disappointed. Really enjoyed the first one but this was very wtf. DH asked me halfway through why we were supposed to care who Credence was. I just didn't feel this had anything to do with the first film. Newt was almost redundant, Jacob was pointless in this film, there were hardly any creatures, too many stories going on at once, there was no real need for Tina either. What was the point? Did feel very sad for Nagini though.

If Tom Riddle is at the castle then that also fucks up the whole ‘who opened the chamber of secrets’ 50 years ago timeline. Tom isn’t supposed to be born until 1926. Mcgonagall being there was totally pointless.

Rockbird I agree. There were a lot of characters who could've been cut and their presence wouldn't have been missed: Credence, Yusuf, Nagini, Grimmson... and 2/4 of the main characters had almost no role in this film at all.

I like both Johnny Depp as Grindelwald and Jude Law as Dumbledore, though, and I wasn't sold on either of them beforehand.

I went to see it last night and loved it.

Possible spoiler

My only quibble would be the Dumbledore - Grindelwald relationship. I know there's a thing about Dumbledore possibly being gay, but I never got this from the HP books. The little flashback in this film suggested something going on there and I think this was perhaps trying too much to include something that's otherwise not there... not sure I'm making sense. May of course be completely overthinking this.

I thought it had elements of good commentary on Hitler but also o our times which seem to be sadly repeating history.

Didn't realise there are three films more to come.

It definitely implied Grindewald and Dumbledore were lovers.
I really liked Newt in the first film, in this he didn’t seem to really serve a purpose, and his simpering coquettish-ness was pretty irritating.
Liked Jude Law as young Dumbledore though, overall the film was too muddled and boring, I can’t see myself watching it on DVD.

I'm the biggest HP fan going (books+films) and also really enjoyed the first fantastic beasts film, but didn't enjoy this one as much and don't have the urge to watch it again, which feels awful as i'm a full-on obsessive die-hard fan!

It feels like they're tainting the books a bit too with certain things e.g. SPOILIER Dumbledore and Grindelwald having a blood pact, and that being partly why he doesn't go against him for years, rather than simply for emotional reasons which I felt made him more human and gave him more of a choice. Doesn't feel like it's definitely part of the HP universe. Was the same with Cursed Child, I felt like it shouldn't be part of the canon universe along with the original books due to some of the bizarre plot points and characterisation of the original characters. Great show, but just doesn't fit in well with the books.

@starkid I am hoping with the blood pact that Dumbledore is able to destroy it fairly quickly, but still doesn't go after Grindelwald because of the fears he spoke of in Deathly Hallows. Otherwise, I would agree with you about the blood pact not quite sitting right with the books.

I loved it. It's very dark. There were young children, in the row in front, and they were really scared in bits. It's definitely got a lot going on but I was drawn in. When it finished I couldn't believe it was finished. DP hates it but then he has no idea re HP.

SPOILERS.

I loved the first one. This one was meh. The end was shit.
I was then further disappointed when I told DP at least the next one should finish it properly, only to be told there are another 3!!!! Why? Just more filler?
Are they going to go into what happened to Dumbledore's sister?
Why didn't anyone else help leta's mum if they knew she was under spell?

I don't like depp.

I would rather they had started it with credence arriving in Europe and joining the circus/meeting Naghini. Give their bond a bit more weight.

Or Newt at a book signing for Fantastic Beasts in Diagon Alley.

Rowling did confirm that Dumbledore is gay and he fell in love with a young man in his youth. I assume Grindelwald!

I'm a huge Potter fan, but have found both the Fantastic Beasts films pretty dull. Nice to look at, but no substance to them. Not character-driven enough. Inconsistent and disjointed plot-wise. Meh. I really wanted to like them.

Yes, JK Rowling has confirmed that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were partners in their youth.

I loved it although a bit hard to follow, but then I find films to follow at the best of times and normally ask a million and one questions which of course you can't do at the cinema. Not sure I understood how Mcgonagall was there though

Contains spoilers!
My first love is the books, never gelled that well with the films, but at least they were a glimpse of the wizard of world.
I preferred this film to the first FB one, mainly because I loved going back to Hogwarts and meeting the ( hot ) young Dumbledore.
Am surprised at people thinking mcgonagal being a glitch. JK is the queen of complex plot and multiple characters, we just have to wait for it to unfold . Could be her aunt? Timeturner?
Obviously lots of setting up for the future , but I’m ok with that . just gives me a feeling of anticipation.

The character of queenie was always odd. I thought as she first appeared that she had learning difficulties, but had an unexplained improvement in mental capacity through the first film. her switching sides was well done, she thinks she will be able to marry her muggle under Grindlewald s rule, which my dd commented was very much how trump works.
I found it less dark than the first, with that death spell, and the One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest feel in several scenes.

Overall excited for the next one.

I know this thread is 3 weeks old, but I’ve only just seen the film.

Why on earth can’t Queenie marry Jacob, at least in Britain? We know that heaps of wizards are half blood - how the hell is that happening if inter-marrying is outlawed? McGonagall is the product of a witch-muggle marriage, amongst many others. So wtf?

Also, what did Grindelwald actually do that caused him to be a known Dark Wizard in the first place? Is that explained in the first Fantastic Beasts film (which I did see but it was a long time ago and I can’t remember details).

Why didn’t we see Tina’s response to Queenie’s defection?