History Film / FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald

An extended cut was released with the film's digital release on February 15, 2019.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The film is a lot darker and more violent than [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem the previous instalment]], and is easily one of the darkest films in the series as a whole. It revolves around trying to stop Grindelwald, who's basically a wizard fascist leader, and involves multiple onscreen deaths in the plot.

The cast includes Creator/EddieRedmayne, Creator/KatherineWaterston, Creator/AlisonSudol, Creator/EzraMiller, Creator/ZoeKravitz, Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/JudeLaw, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, David Sakurai, Carmen Ejogo, Dan Fogler, Ingvar Sigurdsson, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Derek Riddell, Creator/BrontisJodorowsky, and Creator/PoppyCorbyTuech, among others. The film was released on November 16, 2018.

* VillainyDiscretionShot: When the members of Grindelwald's inner circle murder a French family [[CensoredChildDeath including their little child]] to take over their home, only the green flashes of the killing curse are shown.

** Adding from the previous series, it turns out the Dumbledores are even ''more'' screwed up than once thought. In addition to the family drama of Albus and Aberforth and the death of Ariana, [[spoiler:Grindelwald claims that Credence is actually Aurelius Dumbledore by birth, making him a long lost relative of Albus's. It is yet to be revealed if this is true, or just more manipulation by Grindelwald]].

* ButNotTooGay: The film studiously dances around the specifics of the past relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. While J.K. Rowling made a WordOfGay statement in 2007 that the two were lovers when they were young men, people unfamiliar with the RealLife controversy would likely assume that they were just BloodBrothers in-universe.

* HomoeroticSubtext: The movie never explicitly says Dumbledore and Grindelwald's past relationship was romantic, though hints at it. Dumbledore says they were "closer than brothers" and later sees Grindelwald in the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer their greatest desire.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The reason [[spoiler: Queenie joins Grindelwald is because Tina refuses to support her relationship with Jacob. ]]

* SequelGoesForeign: Relative to the first ''Fantastic Beasts'' film, which was set in America. In the larger ''Potter'' franchise, it's the first film to take place primarily in a non-Anglophone country, namely France.

* SequelGoesForeign: Relative to the first ''Fantastic Beasts'' film, which was set in America. However, the majority of the franchise is set in Europe (Britain in particular). Even then, this is still the first time that France specifically has been seen onscreen (or onpage) in the ''Potter'' canon.[[note]]Unless, that is, you count the video game ''VideoGame/HarryPotterQuidditchWorldCup'' as canon.[[/note]]

* SequelGoesForeign: Relative to the first ''Fantastic Beasts'' film, which was set in America. However, the majority of the franchise is set in Europe (England in particular).

* HistoryRepeats: In a retroactive example, [[http://www.mugglenet.com/2018/08/meet-the-new-faces-of-the-crimes-of-grindelwald/ a set report]] confirms that some of Grindelwald's followers have familiar surnames like Carrow and Rosier, whose descendants became Death Eaters.

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Inverted in that this film is a prequel. But Grindelwald behaves in a completely different fashion than Voldemort later would. Grindelwald relies heavily on persuasion to woo his followers, converses with them in a civilized fashion and only seems to (openly) punish those who are disloyal. Voldemort will be a classic BadBoss who bullies even his closest followers. Also, Grindelwald is very stylish and creative in his use of magic, and tends to do more things himself, whereas Voldemort favoured blunt displays of power on the rare occasions he actually did his own dirty work.

* GivenNameReveal: Double subverted with Credence. The audience is initially set up to believe that he is Corvus Lestrange, but Leta reveals later that [[spoiler:the real Corvus is dead. At the end of the film, Grindelwald reveals Credence's true name to him: Aurelius Dumbledore.]]

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:Just before she dies,]] Leta turns around and says "I love you" to either Newt or Theseus, who are standing right next to each other. The audience will never know which of the two she was talking to.

** Theseus Scamander has to watch his wife-to-be Leta Lestrange [[spoiler: sacrifices herself defending him from Grindelwald. This could also apply to Newt as well as he used to be in love with her, and Leta's DyingDeclarationOfLove is ambiguous to who she's referring to as she's looking at both Theseus and Newt at the same time.]]

* RealityEnsues: Even if Newt ''did'' help catch Grindelwald in New York, as well as figure out it was an Obscurial and not a beast causing the trouble, his association with the chaos that happened there (only in small part by some of his own beasts getting loose) means that the Ministry has banned him from leaving the country; they try to bribe him into locating and killing Credence for them in exchange for travel papers but he refuses. When he decides to go to Paris anyway he has to use an illegal portkey to do it.

''Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' is the sequel to ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThe'', the second film in the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' series and the tenth film overall in ''Creator/JKRowling's [[Franchise/HarryPotter Wizarding World]]''. It is directed once again by Creator/DavidYates. Rowling herself returned to write the screenplay.

''Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' is the sequel to ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'', the second film in the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' series and the tenth film overall in ''Creator/JKRowling's [[Franchise/HarryPotter Wizarding World]]''. It is directed once again by Creator/DavidYates. Rowling herself returned to write the screenplay.

* PersonalHorror: Leta is dealing with this [[spoiler:after swapping her brother for a baby that wasn't crying so she could get some sleep. The ship sunk directly afterwards and she continued to clutch the quiet baby while watching her brother end up in another lifeboat, which capsized. Her brother drowned as the quiet baby's caretaker plunged into the icy water trying to save him, with the very young Leta, frozen in horror, never saying a word.]]

* LongLostRelative: Yusuf Kama and Leta Lestrange are maternal half-siblings. Credence's birth name is [[spoiler:Aurelius Dumbledore]], though the specifics of his relationship with the others remains unknown.

** Credence's identity is a double whammy: [[spoiler: No, not Corvus Lestrange, Aurelius Dumbledore.]]

* WasOnceAMan: It is revealed that [[spoiler:Voldemort's pet snake Nagini]] was once a human witch -- a Maledictus, born with a hereditary curse passed down through women, that will lead to her eventual permanent transformation into a snake.

** A phoenix bursting to flame ''on Grindelwald's command'' and flying to [[spoiler: Credence as proof of his identity as a Dumbledore.]]

** Near the beginning, during a conversation with Newt, Dumbledore casually casts a spell that covers the surrounding London skyline in fog. This foreshadows that [[spoiler:wizards at the level of Dumbledore and Grindelwald can cast city-spanning spells. Indeed, Grindelwald does much the same at the climax, only [[{{Hellfire}} with fire from Protego Diabolica]] instead of fog, and almost destroys all of Paris]].

** Adding from the previous series, it turns out the Dumbledores are even ''more'' screwed up than once thought. In addition to the family drama of Albus and Aberforth and the death of Ariana, [[spoiler:Grindelwald claims that Credence is actually Aurelius Dumbledore by birth, making him a long lost relative of Albus's. It is yet to be revealed if this is true, or just more manipulation by Grindelwald]]

** And as a follow-up to the above, one of the very last lines of the film, with a reveal ''no one'' saw coming:
---> '''Grindelwald:''' [[spoiler:I give you back your true name. Aurelius... Aurelius '''[[ThereIsAnother Dumbledore]]'''.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Although the term "Indonesia" has existed since 1850, the territory of the modern-day country was still commonly known as the Dutch East Indies in 1927.

** Also during his rally, [[spoiler: Grindelwald acts as if the Ministry are the evil murderers and not his followers, but one of his followers tries to attack the Aurors who enter, and said Auror fires back in self-defense. Grindelwald even paints her as a victim of the "evil of the Ministry", when the follower in question was told not to harm them, yet did so anyway.]]

* PlayingTheVictimCard: Grindelwald consistently portrays all wizards and witches, but followers of his especially, as victims of Muggle persecution. However, most Muggles no longer even know they exist, and so aren't persecuting anyone. He, meanwhile, murders some Muggles simply to take their house, and implies Muggles will be slaves under his rule. When the Aurors come, he tells his followers not to resist in a manner that is sure to goad someone into attacking instead, and paints a follower who is killed (after going for her wand to make a first strike against the Aurors) as a victim of the Auror who killed her (in self-defense), while ruthlessly killing the rest of the Aurors himself and attempting to destroy all of Paris later.

* TheFreakShow: Nagini is first seen in a traveling freak show along with other outcasts and creatures considered odd even by the wizarding world before she escapes with Credence.

* ArtifactTitle: ''Fantastic Beasts'' is clearly a {{Prequel}} series tackling the PredecessorVillain of the ''Harry Potter'' books and films, even though it does include fantastic beasts (there are less of them this time around, and they're less center stage). Although it has been revealed that the Maledictus is Nagini, who qualifies as a "fantastic beast".

* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Inverted in that this film is a prequel. But Grindelwald behaves in a completely different fashion than Voldemort later would. Grindelwald relies heavily on persuasion to woo his followers, converses with them in a civilized fashion and only seems to (openly) punish those who are disloyal. Voldemort will be a classic BadBoss who bullies even his closest followers. Also, Grindelwald is very stylish and creative in his use of magic, and tends to do more things himself, whereas Voldemort favored blunt displays of power on the rare occasions he actually did his own dirty work.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The film is a lot darker and more violent than [[Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem the previous installment]], and is easily one of the darkest films in the series as a whole. It revolves around trying to stop Grindelwald, who's basically a wizard fascist leader, and involves multiple onscreen deaths in the plot.

* DarkSecret: Leta blames herself for the death of [[spoiler: her little brother Corvus. When he was a baby and she a little girl, they traveled to America on a ship. Corvus kept crying the whole time, so Leta, being just a little girl herself, exchanged him for the quietly sleeping baby next door so she could get some sleep. Directly afterward the ship sunk however. The exchanged baby survived with Leta, while the real Corvus drowned.]]

* SplashOfColor: When Grindelwald is calling his followers and then at Grindelwald's rally, [[spoiler:the witch the Auror kills has bright red hair. Downplayed, as the scenes aren't completely monochrome, just heavily grey and black.]]

* KudzuPlot: One of the main criticisms of the film. There are too many subplots running around simultaneously for the audience to follow and for some, the inclusion of the deleted scenes just made things ''even more convoluted''. According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zccnq-VvEx4 Filmento]], it is implied that this was due to was having Creator/JKRowling write the movie's '''screenplay''' like a '''book'''. The result was many important details being left to a non-existent narration, leaving viewers lost. The film’s runtime of 2 hours and 15 minutes is rather truncated for a big blockbuster franchise (most are about 15 minutes longer than that) and was mandated by WB. There’s reason to believe that the film was originally longer (and therefore more coherent) than this (the existence of many deleted scenes and scenes with completed CGI that didn’t make the official extended cut) and the mandate came late in the process. See the trivia page for details.