In the same way the “make Finn a Jedi!” crowd was missing the point amid the newest Star Wars trilogy, I hope J.K. The film leans into the idea that Jacob is an open-hearted “no-maj” who nonetheless can’t ignore “the call” no matter his personal pain.

Things pick up when the film’s best new character (Jessica Williams’ Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks) is sent to fetch the franchise’s best returning character (Dan Fogler's Jacob Kowalski). Meanwhile, the brooding Credence (Ezra Miller) and the conflicted Queenie (Alison Sudol) look grim and serious. This allegedly lighter, frothier sequel continues with an attack on Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) which results in one of his animals dying a painful and bloody death, followed by that kidnapped animal having its throat cut by the diabolical Grindelwald. 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore' Jaap Buitendijk However, the film is paced like The Batman whereby everyone communicates with grim pauses, and what little clever or emotionally compelling dialogue exists was highlighted in the marketing. Dumbledore outright states that he was (is?) in love with the main baddie, and yes, it’s kinda cool that this $200 million blockbuster stars two out of three main characters who happen to be gay (with the other clearly on the Autism spectrum). Yes, we get a promising scene whereby Jude Law’s Dumbledore and Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald react the coffee shop scene from Heat, but the scene is painfully short with grim pauses taking the place of nuanced dialogue. Set a few months after the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald (and just over a year after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), things get off to a bumpy start from the get-go. It’s less about advancing the story than about clarifying certain plot points. Up until the last moments of the film, absolutely nothing of consequence happens in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. It’s quite another to be structured as such when the “episodes” are released years apart. It’s one thing to be “paced for the binge” when every episode is available at once. Rowling-crafted Wizarding World prequel personifies the worst of streaming television. If the MCU is the film equivalent of a network television show, then this J.K. Moreso than even the last installment, this third chapter in an allegedly five-part film franchise spends its run time running in place, waiting out the clock with a theoretical promise of bigger things and grander developments in the next two chapters. Opens theatrically overseas this weekend and in North America on April 15įantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is a film terrified of its own shadow. Cinematography by George Richmond, editing by Mark Day, score by James Newton Howard

Fantastic beasts secrets of dumbledore