Honestly this is about as good as it could get, given the current situation this franchise finds itself in. It’s less messy than the last one and they smartly sidelined/ditched some of the more boring characters (like, where’s Nagini?), and in some ways it works in its favour. For example, I always found Tina a pretty annoying character and she’s barely in this one, while the new addition played by Jessica Williams is actually quite fun. The first 30 minutes are nothing but exposition dumps recapping the previous films. It’s inelegant and shows a lack of faith in the audience, but it’s also a necessary evil given what a mess Crimes of Grindelwald was. The story is fine, it’s still a little incoherent (the beasts and Grindelwald/Dumbledore stuff doesn’t really gel together), and you can tell it’s written by a novelist, but it’s also more fun and imaginative than some of the previous installments, as well as most franchise films in general. Some of the character arcs are once again very confusing though. The acting is solid for the most part (Dan Fogler steals the movie again, Ezra Miller sucks again) and the new additions are all good, if not great. I always liked the directing in these movies, and while the cinematography is still good, this one in particular has a lot of that fake Hollywood sheen that’s part of the reason why the majority of blockbusters suck now. So, not awful, but it’s also far from memorable or something I’d recommend. Watch it on streaming, they’re more than likely going to cancel this franchise anyway.
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2022-04-17T07:43:04Z— updated 2022-05-30T20:22:00Z
Honestly this is about as good as it could get, given the current situation this franchise finds itself in.
It’s less messy than the last one and they smartly sidelined/ditched some of the more boring characters (like, where’s Nagini?), and in some ways it works in its favour. For example, I always found Tina a pretty annoying character and she’s barely in this one, while the new addition played by Jessica Williams is actually quite fun.
The first 30 minutes are nothing but exposition dumps recapping the previous films.
It’s inelegant and shows a lack of faith in the audience, but it’s also a necessary evil given what a mess Crimes of Grindelwald was.
The story is fine, it’s still a little incoherent (the beasts and Grindelwald/Dumbledore stuff doesn’t really gel together), and you can tell it’s written by a novelist, but it’s also more fun and imaginative than some of the previous installments, as well as most franchise films in general.
Some of the character arcs are once again very confusing though.
The acting is solid for the most part (Dan Fogler steals the movie again, Ezra Miller sucks again) and the new additions are all good, if not great.
I always liked the directing in these movies, and while the cinematography is still good, this one in particular has a lot of that fake Hollywood sheen that’s part of the reason why the majority of blockbusters suck now.
So, not awful, but it’s also far from memorable or something I’d recommend.
Watch it on streaming, they’re more than likely going to cancel this franchise anyway.
4.5/10