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Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned previously but perhaps we are all too grown up to want to discuss Harry Potter.

It hasn't had stellar reviews. "More is less" was the verdict of the New York Times, I think.

I am taking the wife and daughter at the weekend. We all enjoyed part 1.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





I’m a big fan of the franchise but haven’t really been interested in the prequels. Part of why I liked the original films is that they could just tell the main story and let the books do the heavy lifting as far as the world building is concerned. From what I’ve seen the new films get bogged down with the latter.
   
Made in us
Neophyte undergoing Ritual of Detestation



Minnesota

Fantastic Beasts 2 was disappointing. Not bad, just not particularly good. It was a stereotypical 2nd movie of a trilogy, not any good on its own, just meant to be a bridge between 1 and 3.

The power scale of the world is definitely creeping up with each new movie.
Spoiler:
With no real preparation, Grindelwald casts a spell that kills all except those truly loyal to him. It even kills those who think they are loyal but aren't dedicated enough. The protagonists also apparently recognise the spell enough to know that it will expand to destroy the entire city if left unchecked (with no effort or direction from Grindelwald). All this in a world where a spell that kills one person is exceptional.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

Family loved the first one but this got a big "meh". Clearly the "padding" middle movie in a trilogy (or more), and Needs More Fantastic Beasts!
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






Why the hell they turned the great actor Collin Farrel into the gak Johnny Depp is beyond me.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in gb
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





UK

Saw this on release day, my takeaway is that it's a collection of absolutely excellent scenes, performances and visuals bound up in a plot that's about nine times more complicated than it needs to be. It definitely had the feeling of a film shuffling piece around to get them in place for the next one, and there are more than a few dead-end plots that end up ultimately meaningless (one scene in particular spends about 10 minutes explaining why the subplot it's concluding was entirely irrelevant).

But structural issues aside, there's a lot to like. Eddie Redmayne as Newt is every bit as likeable as he was last time round, and his banter with Kowalski is continually excellent. I had reservations about Jude Law as Dumbledore but they were entirely unfounded, he's got the charm of the Richard Harris version and the presence of Gambon's take, but never feels like he's just copying them. Hoping we see a lot more of him going forward. Depp as Grindelwald is also great, despite reservations about the man himself the performance he turns in is very compelling (though I do concur that Colin Farrell would have been brilliant too).

Lots of people are underused. Tina isn't in it nearly enough, Nagini is just there as fanservice and offers nothing to the plot, and one character related to the aforementioned sub-plot has plenty of screen time and still ends up contributing less to the narrative than one of the Nifflers...

I also have to say that the scenes in Hogwarts are wonderful. Perhaps it's simply nostalgia talking, but seeing those old classrooms and corridors and towers again is really pleasing. Even as the world moves towards an apocalypse, there's a step back to those simpler times, with some nice callbacks and references.

I do think they're hampered by the Fantastic Beasts naming convention as there's now a strange dichotomy: on one hand, there aren't enough Fantastic Beasts to live up to the title, and on the other, this clearly isn't a story that needs them in any great volume (consistently fun as those sequences are). Should've just ditched that title and called it The Crimes of Grindelwald. Given that things are clearly escalating, that's probably going to be even more of a dissonance if they keep the title going forward.


Speaking of escalation, BIIIIIG final scene spoilers:
Spoiler:

So it turns out Credence is actually a Dumbledore sibling, Aurelius. Now, I'm not convinced it's as straightforward as that given various hints/conjecture throughout the film, but it's certainly epitomises what this film is doing; setting things up for a future instalment so those can get straight to the action.

My guess is that somehow, the Obscurus within him is what's left of Ariana Dumbledore, so Credence wasn't born into the family (as the ages don't line up at all, both his mother and father were dead by the time Albus was 17 and Credence is way younger than Albus) but some element of Ariana exists inside him, two souls in one body. That fits with a few lines from the prophecy in the movie too: 'Despair of the daughter, rise Great Avenger'. Ariana 'dying' in the fight between Albus and Grindelwald, latching on to Credence and eventually coming back to take revenge on the one who 'killed' her.



Talinsin wrote:
Fantastic Beasts 2 was disappointing. Not bad, just not particularly good. It was a stereotypical 2nd movie of a trilogy, not any good on its own, just meant to be a bridge between 1 and 3.

The power scale of the world is definitely creeping up with each new movie.
Spoiler:
With no real preparation, Grindelwald casts a spell that kills all except those truly loyal to him. It even kills those who think they are loyal but aren't dedicated enough. The protagonists also apparently recognise the spell enough to know that it will expand to destroy the entire city if left unchecked (with no effort or direction from Grindelwald). All this in a world where a spell that kills one person is exceptional.


Spoiler:

To be fair, this is Grindelwald, widely considered to have been more dangerous than Voldemort, using the Elder Wand, the most powerful weapon in existence. I agree, it's more powerful than anything we've seen before, but it was cast by a combination of the most powerful wizard and the most powerful wand. Preparation for spells hasn't really been a thing in the universe for a while, to be fair.

Though I do think it's time we got back to some good old-fashioned duelling, rather than one side flinging one colour and the other a different one, and they just sort of explode in the middle... More along the lines of the amazing fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix, where you can clearly see the different spells and types of magic on show, rather than just having wands as laser guns.

The 'unforgivable curse' thing always bugged me. So killing someone with Avada Kedavra is the worst thing you can ever do, forbidden knowledge ect, but using Incendio to burn someone to death or turning them to dust with Reducio is something that 4th years get taught... I get that AK is more direct, but still, it's not like magic is short on ways to kill people without using it. It makes more sense for the Cruciatus and Imperius curses, as those don't really have alternatives, but the Killing Curse is simply the most efficient way to kill someone, far from the only one.

Then again, we also have someone who's never held a wand before detonate the side of a mountain in the last scene, so yeah, there's definitely some level of power creep going on...


This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/11/28 11:45:25


 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

I was always confused by the Avada Kadavra thing. Wasn't Sirius supposedly in prison for killing 13 people with a single spell? Sounds like that spell should be the unforgivable one. Avada Kadavra is like a pistol in a world with concealable RPGs and flame throwers.

   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

Don't let's get into the lack of realism in the secret world of teenage wizards.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in us
Proud Triarch Praetorian





 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I was always confused by the Avada Kadavra thing. Wasn't Sirius supposedly in prison for killing 13 people with a single spell? Sounds like that spell should be the unforgivable one. Avada Kadavra is like a pistol in a world with concealable RPGs and flame throwers.


From my understanding, you can kill with other spells. It takes finesse, maneuvering, skill. They can be blocked and parried with other spells.

However, Avada Kadavra is a 1-Hit KO Straight to the Afterlife if it touches you.
   
Made in it
Waaagh! Ork Warboss




Italy

 Lance845 wrote:
Why the hell they turned the great actor Collin Farrel into the gak Johnny Depp is beyond me.


Because johnny depp is the ultimate clown. Colin Farrell was great in the first movie since his character was a disguise and as long as the plot needed an inflexible cold-blooded cop he was a good choice, but as a magical super villain in a cartoony universe? A buffoon like jack sparrow fits the character better.

Overall I liked the sequel but it lacked the chemistry between the two leading characters, which was amazing in the first movie.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/11/29 10:22:57


 
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





Dallas area, TX

 Dreadwinter wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I was always confused by the Avada Kadavra thing. Wasn't Sirius supposedly in prison for killing 13 people with a single spell? Sounds like that spell should be the unforgivable one. Avada Kadavra is like a pistol in a world with concealable RPGs and flame throwers.


From my understanding, you can kill with other spells. It takes finesse, maneuvering, skill. They can be blocked and parried with other spells.

However, Avada Kadavra is a 1-Hit KO Straight to the Afterlife if it touches you.
Yeah. that's been my understanding as well.
Like, all the other spells that are capable of killing aren't specifically meant to kill and as such can be defended against
AK has no other purpose but to kill, so using it is unforgivable because it shows the intent to kill.

Other spells could be used, to quote Dobe, "Maim or seriously injury" but not specifically to kill.
In video game terms, AK is OP

-

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/11/29 14:51:31


   
Made in us
Norn Queen






 Blackie wrote:
 Lance845 wrote:
Why the hell they turned the great actor Collin Farrel into the gak Johnny Depp is beyond me.


Because johnny depp is the ultimate clown. Colin Farrell was great in the first movie since his character was a disguise and as long as the plot needed an inflexible cold-blooded cop he was a good choice, but as a magical super villain in a cartoony universe? A buffoon like jack sparrow fits the character better.

Overall I liked the sequel but it lacked the chemistry between the two leading characters, which was amazing in the first movie.


From what i understand grindlewald is supposed to be a charasmatic smooth seducer and user of people. The reason he gets away with anything he historically gets away with is that charisma and charm.

J, Depp does not have that. Collin farrell absolutely does.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
 
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