"I've chosen my side."
Hello everyone!
I promised you a review of the 2018 Robin Hood remake - and it's coming, I promise.
Unfortunately for our rob-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor chap, I was bored this last Sunday and stumbled across something I'd wanted to watch FOR AGES but didn't get the chance to catch it in cinemas back in November and December.
There was literally no time.
So when I saw the title pop out from the million of other things I was doing in that moment, everything screeched to a halt and nothing else mattered but watching it.
I even managed to time it so that the movie wrapped up just as I was called in to lunch.
How awesome was that timing, am I right?
Anyway, since seeing the first movie and hearing that there were going to be more of these, my side-focus has always been on it, even with the distractions.
Wands at the ready, everyone, because the sequel to Fantastic Beasts, The Crimes of Grindelwald, is up.
I've done a recap and review of the first movie in this new franchise right after it came out and my friends and I went to see it in cinemas, so I'll be linking that down below in case you've forgotten what it was all about (I know I've missed some details, I cheated and reread my own review to refresh my memory!). I won't really do much of a recap before we dive right into movie two, though, because it would take too long. Suffice to say that Newt Scamander went to New York, met Tina and Queenie Goldstein, Jacob Kowalski, chased after magical creatures that destroyed sections of the city, and tried to save Obscurial Credence while also helping to lock up the most notorious Dark Wizard of the time, Gellert Grindelwald.
Now as the second movie begins, this is our exposition:
MACUSA is transferring Grindelwald to the UK to be tried for his crimes in Europe, and because the guy has a silvery tongue, they've removed it. Of course that's never stopped any really good bad guy, nor would it be true, as is shown when Grindelwald is proven to be a supporter in disguise (conveniently one of his guards) and they orchestrate an escape even before they leave New York proper.
You'd think wizards would be better at security.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Newt is at the Ministry of Magic trying, for the fifth time I think, to get the officials to lift his international travelling ban (I mean, it's not HIS fault that the Obscurial destroyed half of New York, come on!). What isn't helping is the presence of his war hero brother Theseus, who, conveniently, is also engaged to marry one Leta Lestrange, who it was hinted Newt harboured feelings for.
Talk about awkward family dinners!
Anyway, Newt doesn't want to go hunt Credence down on behalf of the Ministry and tells them so (so they send someone else who's actually working for Grindelwald), also telling his brother he doesn't pick sides, he just does what he thinks is right. After this tense reunion, we get a glimpse of Newt's London home which is a bit like a mini zoo in a way, incredibly magical, full of creatures - AND HE HAS BABY NIFFLERS!
COME ON!
He also gets a surprise visit from Jacob and Queenie, who explains that they've always wanted to see London, but equally that Jacob wasn't exactly Obliviated at the end of their original adventure. The venom spell only took away the bad memories, but his were mostly good, so (it's a bit of a cop-out since it isn't exactly explained whether he regained these memories over time, or why he was so confused after the venom-soaked rain and such to begin with). Anyway, the more pressing matter is that Newt realizes Jacob is under some sort of spell, and once lifted, reveals that Queenie brought him here because rules about marriage between Muggles and wizards are laxer in Europe than in America. But Jacob doesn't want to put Queenie in harm's way, so it's an ongoing argument.
It also ends abruptly as she storms off to go to her sister in Paris - Tina, coincidentally, thinks Newt is engaged to Leta, after a mistake in a magazine which announced the engagement.
Now knowing where the girls are, however, Newt and Jacob pack their bags and head straight for Paris using a weird bucket Portkey, and I'm thrilled to see neither one of them hesitates - they just jump right aboard this ship together, come what may.
In Paris, Tina's a couple of steps ahead of them, searching for Credence, who's taken refuge with a Freak show Circus, or however you'd call it. Basically, magical oddities, among them a Maledictus - someone Harry Potter fans will instantly recognize - Nagini!
That's right, Voldemort's future pet and Horcrux is actually a woman who changes into a snake, under a curse to eventually be unable to change back. She also seems to be sweet on Credence and he on her, and when they've had enough, they orchestrate an escape from the freak show and disappear into the night, though not before letting some other magical creatures loose on Paris.
Oops?
Anyway, back to the Main Baddie, Grindelwald has also arrived in Paris, and is ALSO conveniently hunting for Credence, but he's going to lay a trail of breadcrumbs for the young man to come to him. Meanwhile, he does what Dark Wizards do best, which is to say gathers followers, kills unsuspecting occupants of a residence he wants, and arranges for a funeral carriage to come take them away, not necessarily in that order.
He also meets with an unsuspecting Queenie, who, overwhelmed because of her Legilimens status and unable to find either her sister or catch up with Jacob and Newt (who've now arrived as well), is picked up by one of Grindelwald's followers and taken to the residence. However, he shows her mercy, and tells her to leave because she's an innocent.
The trails are starting to converge, as Tina runs into a gentleman named Yusuf, who tells her he can lead her to Credence, and Newt realizes they need to find this same man after having his Niffler sniff out a feather, and they in turn follow that feather. Yusuf takes the lot of them captive, explaining he'd made an Unbreakable Vow to kill Credence, but he's sort of overcome by something digging around in his skull, which turns out to be a water parasite of some sort that Newt gets rid of.
He also takes the lot of them on a hunt for this big ass feline magical creature on the loose in Paris (a Zouwu I think?), and, in typical Newt fashion, entices the huge cat into his suitcase by waving a fluffy, ringing, toy-head wand at it.
Cats. Am I right?
Anyway, they are currently all safe at the safe house Newt was given directions to by none other than Albus Dumbledore (fans are delighted by what Jude Law did with the character, seeing a beloved persona on screen, and of course things aren't easy for him at this point: the Ministry is watching his every move, almost threatening him to force him to fight Grindelwald, to no avail, even when they place magical cuffs on him to know his every spell; fans also get to see just WHAT it is Dumbledore sees in the Mirror of Erised: himself and Grindelwald forming an Unbreakable Vow, and eventually simply Grindelwald as his reflection).
Side-note: didn't Dumbledore teach Transfiguration? I'll have to go back to the books, but I'm pretty sure that was what he taught before McGonagall took over, not DADA.
Still, things are moving apace: Grindelwald visits Credence and Nagini, and Credence is on a hunt for his birth mother. Meanwhile, Yusuf is out of commission for the moment while Tina and Newt want to find Credence before either of their Ministries does, but Theseus and Leta and the rest are already in Paris. And what's more, the officials think Credence may be Leta's long-lost brother, Corvus Lestrange.
After a rather awkward three-way reunion (current crush meets ex crush kind of thing), Leta, Tina and Newt hightail it to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery and the Lestrange family vault, there to meet up with none other but Credence himself.
The truth also comes out: Leta's father had an affair with Yusuf's mother, and she gave birth to Corvus, who was sent to America. But on the voyage, Leta switched her brother with baby Credence, and Corvus actually drowned as the ship went down. She doesn't, however, know who Credence was travelling with.
Not that it matters - Grindelwald chooses that moment to call and gather his followers and anyone willing to listen, an audience which ends up surrounded by Aurors led by Theseus Scamander.
And in a truly terrifying turn of events, Grindelwald explains his wish for dominance and mastery comes from visions of the future (the Second World War) and that he doesn't want to destroy Muggles, far from it; in his theory, he would save them from themselves, and allow Wizards to live in the open, something that many wish.
There's not a whiff of pure-blood scheming or oppresing No-Majs, which we as viewers know might happen; Grindelwald is a skillfull orator. Much like any great dictator before and after him, he knows how to couch his terms to make them appealing.
The crowd disperses after the death one Auror causes (bad move, Ministry), and Grindelwald sets up a flame around him not unlike the one Dumbledore makes in Goblet of Fire, to separate friend from foe; and everyone's heart breaks collectively when Queenie crosses over to the other side, wishing for a world in which she can marry Jacob openly without reprecussions, believing Grindelwald when he says Muggles won't be harmed (they won't, they'll be enslaved, DUH).
Jacob can't follow her, however, because he fought in WWI; neither can anyone else, and Leta chooses to sacrifice herself in defense of her friends instead of becoming a true Lestrange. Having never been accepted anywhere, this is a brave move, and she says 'I love you' in the direction of the Scamander brothers - but who did she mean?
Anyway, bigger problems: the flames are getting out of control and have to be contained, at which point enter the one and only Nicolas Flamel who is the owner of Newt's safehouse (and we see the Stone!). Together with his guidance, the wizards manage to quell the flames, and the defeated group land on Dumbledore's doorstep as the movie draws to a close (another note: you can Apparate THAT close to Hogwarts? I thought there was a wider perimeter).
Newt shows Dumbledore what he recovered: the phial we saw in the mirror with the Unbreakable Vow inside (merged blood, natch), which he correctly guesses is one that prevents Dumbledore from fighting Grindelwald (I need to brush up on this, actually; I honestly thought Dumbledore simply didn't want to fight him because he still loved the other guy and was afraid he might fail). Dumbledore, meanwhile, thinks it can be broken - and asks how it was taken anyway.
Me: well everyone might have been scowling at Grindelwald over that fallen woman, but I was there screaming YOU GO NIFFLER GO FIND THAT PHIAL YOU BEAUTIFUL THING YOU!
Ahem.
And to finish everything off, in a castle in Austria, a baby bird Credence has been nurturing bursts into flames to become a Phoenix, while Queenie (who I believe Grindelwald only wants because she can read minds) tells Grindelwald to be careful, and he gifts Credence with his first wand, to perform an awesome, avalanche-causing first spell.
And a birthright; a name.
Aurelius Dumbledore.
DUN DUN DUN!
This is where the movie leaves us until autumn 2020 when we can expect the third one. The board is now set and the pieces are moving, and while it was lovely to see a young McGonagall zipping a student's mouth with a spell (no turning into animals, of course), everyone and their mother is probably more interested in all the Harry Potter Easter Eggs in this movie - and of course, that last reveal.
Who is Aurelius Dumbledore? And is this new series meant to explore the Dumbledore family more than anything Scamander-related? We know the boat Leta and Credence were on went down in 1901, at which point it's much too late for the parents of Albus, Abeforth and Ariana to still be alive and around (one died, another was in Azkaban), so is it possible that the dad escaped somehow and fathered another child? Or is Aurelius cousin to our Dumbledores?
Forget about the Newt/Tina romance, or the fact that Jacob got to see Hogwarts, this is big stuff.
Big stuff is also Grindelwald with the Elder Wand but, you know.
Big stuff is also Grindelwald with the Elder Wand but, you know.
Hopefully not just lazy writing, because if Aurelius IS a fourth Dumbledore, we know already he doesn't survive, as it's clearly stated the Dumbledore line is finished in Harry's time. So it's either death or a massive cover-up for him, which would be kind of weird. And contradictory. And ...
Gah. My head hurts. Can 2020 come any faster???
xx
*images and video not mine
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