HalBanksy

A monumental piece of cinema.

Paced to perfection, uniquely beautiful, thought-provoking, beyond thrilling, with unbelievable cinematography and flawless worldbuilding. Backed up by the best ensemble performance in a blockbuster since Fellowship of the Ring. An entire production on their A-Game.. it's an incredible technical achievement. Everyone on set was clearly aware they were working on something special. Denis Villeneuve's love for 'Dune' shines through every stunning frame. Part 1 of his adaptation was wonderful, but here he improves on it in every way. It just doesn't get better than this.

Well this was a slight improvement on the truly awful 'Crimes of Grindelwald' (mercifully this time the audience is not forced to endure that ghoul Johnny Depp trying to act) - but the praise stops there. I know this series is supposed to be aimed at more mature viewers, but was there really any need to make it so oppressively bleak? The movie starts with the titular "Fantastic Beast" being ripped from it's mother's corpse and having it's throat slit.. and somehow manages to get even more gloomy from there.

The plot is simultaneously far too simple, while unravelling in the most convoluted way possible. The shame is that Jude Law makes a wonderful wizard - but I cannot force myself to care about these other characters. I was genuinely fighting to stay awake for the final scene - and sadly I LOST that battle! I'm still not sure what Dumbledore's secret is supposed to be. And I doubt I will ever find out - because there's no way this series is getting a 4th instatement.