Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald Final Trailer Reaction: 8 Ups & 2 Downs
The Wizarding World goes to war...
It's strange how muted the hype seems to be for the forthcoming sequel to Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, but a couple of months out from the film's release, The Crimes Of Grindelwald doesn't feel like it's being treated (or received) like any other billion dollar franchise movie (which it surely needs to consider itself?)
It's not like it doesn't deserve the hype though. The trailers have all been great, the story sells itself and it bridges the worlds of Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter really effectively. Now we have a final trailer, all of those selling points shout even louder, and it would be a travesty if a production of this obvious quality doesn't make as big a splash as it deserves to.
That said, not everything in the trailer is perfect and it's absolutely worth assessing what works in it and what doesn't quite...
First the negatives...
Downs
2. There's A Logic Gap
This is not so much a wholly negative point rather an intrigued point for consideration and JK Rowling is currently talking about it specifically on her Twitter, but that doesn't abate concerns exactly.
The issue is why Dumbledore would choose Newt to be his champion against Grindelwald. Obviously, it's going to be a key narrative point that Dumbledore himself can't take Grindelwald on, but the idea that he would charge Newt with not just defeating the dark wizard but KILLING him doesn't quite mesh.
The problem here is not that the narrative hasn't filled in the gaps yet, it's that the trailer seems to be provocatively working against that logic. We hear Newt being exhalted for always knowing what's right, but at the same time he says he never takes sides and is gently ribbed for never meeting a monster he didn't fall in love with.
There is no way Newt would ever be able to complete that mission: it's almost like he's being set up to fail (and we know he DOES fail) and all his choice seems to be is make Dumbledore look both like a reckless endangerer (where have we heard that before) and a rash misjudger of appropriate solutions. An idiot, in other words, and that's really not a good look.