(Cert 12A, 134mins)
Family trees bear poisonous fruit and their roots run deeper than any ardent fan of the wizard world of JK Rowling might have dared to dream in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald.
Written for the screen by the best-selling author, David Yates’ frequently thrilling sequel continues to expand and enrich mythologies beyond the wonder years of Harry Potter and his Hogwarts alumni.
In an exhilarating opening setpiece, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) stages a breathless escape from the custody of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).
The dark wizard sets in motion his convoluted scheme, which focuses on emotionally disturbed outcast Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), who is a prisoner of Circus Arcanus along with shape-shifting companion Nagini (Claudia Kim).
In London, Torquil Travers (Derek Riddell), head of Magical Law Enforcement, implores magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to join the fight against Grindelwald and serve the Ministry of Magic alongside his older brother, Theseus (Callum Turner).
Instead, the magizoologist secretly answers a call from Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), professor of Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts, who refuses to publicly oppose Grindelwald.
Newt’s covert mission exposes a tangled web, which ensnares MACUSA agent Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her mind-reading sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and non-magical beau Jacob (Dan Fogler), plus Newt’s former sweetheart Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz).
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald builds robustly and stylishly on the first film to test the frayed resolves of flawed characters, some of whom have already lost so much.
As she proved in the two-part stage production Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Rowling knows how to satisfy fans without shamelessly pandering to them.
Redmayne endears us even more to his socially awkward loner as he brandishes a wand in the name of creatures great and monstrous.
Production design and costumes are a heaving banquet for the eyes, garnished throughout with special effects conjured by an unseen army of digital wizards.
Yates’s prelude to all-out-war is spellbinding.
Damon Smith
To think of Claire Foy is to think of the Queen. She has become as closely associated with the monarch as corgis and handbags. Indeed it seems likely that she is one of those stars that will forever be associated with the role that made her famous, in this case playing a young Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s big budget drama The Crown.
Even though Olivia Colman will soon pick up the mantle when the show makes a time jump, Foy’s performance looms so large in the public consciousness that it gave her pause when it came to choosing her next part.
She will next be seen as shaven-headed, heavily tattooed and pierced vigilante hacker Lisbeth Salander in the latest instalment of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.
“I was a bit worried everyone would think it was a bit obvious,” the British star (34) says with a chuckle. “Or they would say I’ve gone, ‘No, I throw off the shackles of being the Queen and want to shave my head!’ but that wasn’t it at all. If anything I thought this could be a bit extreme but I loved it so couldn’t not do it.
“I’m not like that. If it’s in front of me I am like, ‘That is what I will do’ but other than that, I can’t think a day ahead really.”
It isn’t the first time that playing Queen Elizabeth II has given her pause about another role that followed.
“When I did Breathe, it was in my head it was too similar but I did it anyway because I loved it,” she says, referring to her turn as the wife of Robin Cavendish, who was paralysed from the neck down by polio at the age of 28.
“That is the same sort of thing. If something else like that had come along, I wouldn’t have turned it down purely because I didn’t want to repeat the same thing.
“If I love something, I’m doomed. I’m like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to do it’ and it was sort of the same with this.”
In The Girl In The Spider’s Web, based on the first novel in the series not penned by late author Stieg Larsson, Stockport-born Foy takes over the role of Salander from Rooney Mara, who was nominated for an Oscar
❝ I ‘ve learned lots of fight moves for the movie ... but it’s not very good in everyday life
for her performance in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in 2012.
It’s not just Mara who has played the role before though — Noomi Rapace has also donned black leather to take on the part in the Swedish-language films.
“It’s not ideal, is it?” Foy laughs. “Hopefully at some point, I will be able to meet both of them and say, ‘I think you’re amazing and great’ but it’s a weird thing, isn’t it?
“I feel very, very honoured