History Film / FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald

* StoryBreakerPower: The film demonstrates exactly how the power and skill that Dumbledore and Grindelwald has makes them such a class of their own that squads of other wizards and witches mean literately nothing before them and they can only be opposed by one another. Dumbledore is prevented from acting against Grindelwald due to their blood pact, but as Grindelwald flat out says, it doesn't matter much as Dumbledore can and may still hand out [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp Battles]] to any of his followers, as he is still a ''very'' credible threat, and the only one who even has a chance against Dumbledore are the likewise handicapped Grindelwald and the Obscurus Credence. The heroes are expectedly quite reluctant to face Grindelwald without Dumbledore's help, Theseus admitting himself that he would be no match for Grindelwald, Tina despairing over the idea of having to tangle with Grindelwald, and Newt trying to avoid a confrontation with Grindelwald and instead pursue Credence until Grindelwald makes it clear it's not going to happen and Newt has to focus more on surviving after he has summarily wiped the floor with all but him, Theseus, and Tina. The only reason those three are still alive is because Leta sacrifices herself, and they then seek out Dumbledore after having firmly realized Grindelwald is just too powerful for them.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: A possible interpretation of [[spoiler:Queenie's defection to Grindelwald's army]].

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: For Queenie over the course of the second movie. We see her change from a curly-haired strawberry blonde to a flat crimped bleached blonde as she's [[spoiler:brainwashed(?) by Grindelwald to turn into a magic!nazi]].

* NonindicativeTitle: The subtitle, "The Crimes of Grindelwald" give the audience the impression the film's focus will be on Grindelwald's ReignOfTerror. In truth, the main focus of the film is Credence and the various factions hunting him down for their own reasons - the wizarding governments of the world consider him too dangerous to live and all the Aurors in the world are looking him with orders to kill on sight, Dumbledore, Newt, and Tina believe he can be redeemed and want to save him, while Grindelwald wants him as a LivingWeapon for his cause. [[spoiler: In the end, Grindelwald is the winner.]]

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The ship that was boarded by Leta, Corvus, and their servant Irma sunk in 1901. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_1901 There are quite a few of shipwrecks at the time,]] but they avoided to mention which one in the film.
* NonindicativeTitle: The subtitle, "The Crimes of Grindelwald" give the audience the impression the film's focus will be on Grindelwald's ReignOfTerror. In truth, the main focus of the film is Credence and the various factions hunt him down for their own reasons - the wizarding governments of the world consider him too dangerous to live and all the aurors in the world are looking him with orders to kill on sight, Dumbledore, Newt, and Tina believe he can be redeemed and want to save him, while Grindelwald wants him as LivingWeapon for his cause. [[spoiler: In the end, Grindelwald is the winner.]]

* OhCrap: Jacob's quietly horrified reaction when Grindelwald shows what is to come: World War II.

* OpenSecret: Dumbledore and Grindelwald's teenaged relationship doesn't seem to be particularly well kept secret at this point in time, at least to high ranking officials. Travers explicitly asks if Dumbledore isn't fighting him due to lingering feelings and Dumbledore admits they were "closer than brothers" without much prodding. There's also a deleted scene that has Theseus and Leta talking about it.

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

* 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-defence), while ruthlessly killing the rest of the Aurors himself and attempting to destroy all of Paris later.

** Alternatively, it's quite possible that Grindelwald had acquired it during his youth after all, but before he disguised himself as Graves, Grindelwald, being the genius and great wizard that he is, used some kind of magic to ensure even if he were defeated, the Elder Wand would still remain under his control. Dumbledore had indicated that had he wanted to, he could keep his mastery over the Elder Wand intact upon his death in order to ensure it's power would break once Snape killed him rather than earning another master, so there must be some ways to tamper with the Elder Wand or at least bend some of it's rules in a way if you have studied it's lore well. As Grindelwald is someone who is very near Dumbledore's level in skill and they both knew the Hallows more than anyone else, he would have most likely knew how to tamper with the Elder Wand to ensure it remains his and made it so that losing while using Graves wand wouldn't affect his mastery of the Elder Wand.

* LoveDodecahedron: Newt formerly had a crush on Leta Lestrange, who is now engaged to his brother Theseus. He also has UnresolvedSexualTension with Tina and is the object of an unrequited crush from his assistant Bunty.

* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Queenie joins Grindelwald]] because he promises her a society that allows her to marry Jacob (never mind that No-Majs like Jacob would be persecuted under his rule).

* LuredIntoATrap: Grindelwald's rally at the mausoleum in Paris ends up being a trap. He goads the Aurors into violence, making them seem like the extremists. He's been manipulating Credence the entire time into being there and finally [[spoiler:wins him over with the prospect of his alleged birth name]]. He also manages to [[spoiler: sway Queenie to his side with the promise that when he takes over, she will be free from her status as an outsider in regards to her abilities and to marry Jacob]].

** The Lestrange family tree, [[spoiler: stolen from the French Ministry by Abernathy and Rosier, and placed in the Lestrange family crypt. It proves that Credence is not the lost Corvus Lestrange V (and lures the heroes to the tomb exactly as Grindelwald wants), but otherwise does not reveal who Credence really is]].

* CardboardPrison: The Ministry's attempts to contain Grindelwald prove to be less than effective; mainly because one of their trusted employees was actually on his side.

** The Scamander brothers, despite being very close. As a schoolboy Newt had unrequited feelings for Leta Lestrange, which ended with Newt taking the heat for something Leta did and being expelled from Hogwarts as a result. Now as an adult Leta is engaged to Newt's older brother Theseus.
** Leta, who was a little girl at the time, [[spoiler:exchanged her constantly crying baby brother for a baby in the neighboring room. Credence was the exchanged baby, while the real Corvus died.]]

The cast includes Creator/EddieRedmayne, Creator/KatherineWaterston, Creator/AlisonSudol, Creator/EzraMiller, Creator/ZoeKravitz, Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/JudeLaw, Creator/CallumTurner, 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.

An extended cut was released with the film's digital release on February 15, 2019. A sequel, ''Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'' has wrapped principal photography and is due to be released on April 15, 2022.

** Throughout the film, Grindelwald is manipulating events for the sole purpose of driving the very powerful but emotionally lost Credence into his arms. [[spoiler:Grindelwald wins.]]

* CurbStompBattle: Grindelwald once again manages to deliver utterly one-sided defeats of any opponent he faces in the film, starting from nonchalantly taking down his captors during his escape to then casually annihilating all of the 50 or more so squad of Aurors sent to stop him during his rally, Leta's sacrifice being the only reason why those three are alive.
* CurbStompCushion: [[spoiler:While Grindelwald may have achieved all his objectives in this movie (see TheBadGuyWins) and defeated the good guys, Newt ends up preventing it all from being a complete loss: In addition to once again fending off Grindelwald and surviving while the Aurors didn't, Leta's sacrifice also allows Newt to save Theseus and he then along with Flamel, Kama, Tina, and his brother saves Paris from Grindelwald's spell that would have destroyed it. The most important victory that Newt was able to achieve, however, was that the blood pact phylactery preventing Dumbledore and Grindelwald from fighting each other is now in Dumbledore's hands thanks to Newt's [[ThievingMagpie niffler]], meaning he will eventually find a way to destroy it since he canonically wins his legendary duel with Grindelwald.]]

** Nagini will also survive and be unable to escape her fate of turning into a snake permanently.

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

* CurbStompBattle: Grindelwald once again manages to deliver utterly one-sided defeats of any opponent he faces in the film, starting from nonchalantly taking down his captors during his escape to then casually annihilating all but Newt, Tina, and Theseus out of the 50 or more so squad of Aurors sent to stop him during his rally, Leta's sacrifice being the only reason why those three are alive.
* CurbStompCushion: [[spoiler:Grindelwald may have stomped the heroes in battle and achieved all his objectives in this movie (see TheBadGuyWins), but there are a couple bright spots: The blood pact phylactery preventing Dumbledore and Grindelwald from fighting each other is now in Dumbledore's hands thanks to Newt's [[ThievingMagpie niffler]], and he will eventually find a way to destroy it since he canonically wins his legendary duel with Grindelwald. Newt and Tina resolve the misunderstanding that led to their falling-out as well.]]

* {{Gayngst}}: As WordofGod confirm, Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in fact in love with one another and used to be lovers. The film demonstrates that neither Dumbledore or Grindelwald have fully gotten over one another: Dumbledore sees Grindelwald as his most desperate desire and still remembers the times they had. Despite his desire to kill Dumbledore killed, Grindelwald also appears to still have lingering love for Dumbledore and is still bitter and even perhaps somewhat saddened over their failed romance, with how jealous he is of Newt being Dumbledore's favorite and how he speaks of his former lover not with resentment like Voldemort did, but with more of resignation and bitterness.

* {{Gayngst}}: Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald when they were young and his broken ties with Grindelwald is a clear source of sadness for him. His encounter with the Mirror of Erised implies that he might still be in love with Grindelwald, despite being under no illusions about what his beloved has become. Grindelwald himself despite his claims of wanting Dumbledore killed is also indicated to be still bitter and sad over their failed romance, with how he shows his jealousy of Newt being a favorite to Dumbledore.

* 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, and there is a scene of them holding hands as teenagers.

* 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 ''Wizarding World'' 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.

* DefensiveFailure: Queenie's first scene with Grindelwald follows this trope exactly. She immediately pulls her wand on him, but he slowly walks up to her and eventually takes the wand out of her hand.

* {{Gayngst}}: Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald when they were young and his broken ties with Grindelwald is a clear source of sadness for him. His encounter with the Mirror of Erised implies that he might still be in love with Grindelwald, despite being under no illusions about what his beloved has become.

* ExactWords: During his search for Credence, Grindelwald tells his inner circle of followers that Credence is the only entity alive that can kill Dumbledore. In part this is because of his incredible power as an adult Obscurial that he believes he can use to his own ends, but also because [[spoiler:Grindelwald and Dumbledore swore a magical blood oath not to fight each other when they were younger, meaning he couldn't face him directly even if he chose to.]]

* CurbStompCushion: [[spoiler:Grindelwald may have achieved all his objectives in this movie (see TheBadGuyWins), but there are a couple bright spots: The blood pact phylactery preventing Dumbledore and Grindelwald from fighting each other is now in Dumbledore's hands thanks to Newt's [[ThievingMagpie niffler]], and he will eventually find a way to destroy it since he canonically wins his legendary duel with Grindelwald. Newt and Tina resolve the misunderstanding that led to their falling-out as well.]]

* DeusExitMachina: Dumbledore is unable to move against Grindelwald himself [[spoiler: due to the two of them taking a blood oath to never fight each other]], and chooses to act through Newt and his allies instead.

An extended cut was released with the film's digital release on February 15, 2019. A currently untitled sequel has wrapped principal photography and is due to be released in July 2022.

An extended cut was released with the film's digital release on February 15, 2019. A currently untitled sequel has wrapped principal photography and is currently due to be released in July 2022.

* PlotArmor: When Grindelwald begins [[spoiler:unleashing hellfire on the main characters and the Aurors who've come to stop him]], the only people who appear to survive are the main characters and major allies introduced during the film.