Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Mads Mikkelsen, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Jessica Williams, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, Richard Coyle, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Maja Bloom, Paul Low-Hang, William Nadylam, Victoria Yeates, Manuel Klein, Aleksander Kuznetsov, Oliver Masucci, Valerie Pachner, Dave Wong, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Lucas Englander, Fiona Glascott, Matthias Bremner, Peter Simonischek, Katherine Waterston.
The end is often foreshadowed, and so in cinema does film imitate life in all its guises, for on screen we see and feel the mirror of our emotions, the looks of love, the despairs of resentment, the heroic, the dastardly, the pain of failure, the highs of victory, and sadly sometimes we experience the unknown, the moment when we are unsure if our own story will continue thanks to circumstances brought forth by opinion; our own or another associated with us…opinion is the cruellest of ways to be cancelled and cut short.
It is perhaps only in the modern era, thanks to the presence of all the seeing judgemental eye of social media that such an act of panic can hit a film series, and whilst it is not for the critical eye of reviews to cast any finger on why a much loved series might come to an untimely end, it cannot be ignored that we are in a time when they have focused attention on the fight between women against feminist, the construct and battle of two opposing forces have produced a catalyst which could topple a behemoth.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore, the third film in the franchise, is beset by own problems, one in which few come out of the production unscathed. The cinematography is as always inspired, but the dialogue seems forced, unnaturally compounded by the number of faces on screen, and its allusion to one of 20th century’s historic failings, the unwillingness to stop a madman, a tyrant, a murderer, and a fanatic before they get started. Yes, it is a way for younger minds to understand the parallels of the dark days of Europe, but it seems to be produced and commented upon in a way that is unedifying, almost crass to the memories of those who lost their lives fighting such evil.
The other issue that announces itself is the heart of the film, the actors, seem for the most part not to want to be there, and save the excellent Dan Folger as Newt Scamander’s friend Jacob Kowalski and Jessica Williams as Eulalie ‘Lally’ Hicks, all is a matter of seeing the job through. Not even the impressive Richard Coyle can be seen to fulfilling the role in which would normally suit him to the ground.
This is not to say that there is no enjoyment to be found within the film, it just doesn’t have the essence that the first two productions managed with ease, and of the franchise stops here, then to be honest, you would not be surprised.
The might of artistic freedom and the weight of a franchise is the first to suffer under the dogma of political discourse, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore misses all that made the series entertaining.
Ian D. Hall