Filmtracks: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (James Newton Howard)

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Written 12/11/18

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Buy it... if you appreciate James Newton Howard's accomplished and mature fantasy sound regardless of its sometimes unfocused melodic attributions.

Avoid it... if you expect this score to feature the effervescent adventure, the breadth of style, and the satisfactory album situation of the previous entry in the franchise.

Howard

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: (James Newton Howard) For the prequels to the "Harry Potter" books and series of films, author J.K. Rowling envisioned five "Fantastic Beasts" movies, the first of which, 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a solid cinematic success. The same magic was lost with the first sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, in 2018, however, audiences and critics lamenting the movie's overly complicated backstory and excess of characters. The same group of magical heroes and villains returns for the second film, the wizarding world continuing to battle the rise of Grindelwald, a dangerous populist consolidating power to encourage the magical realm's emergence and control over the larger muggle population. It's a poignant message in the divisive contemporary times of the late 2010's, but some of its impact is lost with the introduction of too many new characters on which the plot dwells without lasting purpose. Still, the movie allows a glimpse into Hogwarts and its famed professors 60 years prior to the first Harry Potter story, and there are multitudes of nuggets devised by Rowling to keep concept enthusiasts busy with speculation. Director David Yates thankfully settled upon composer James Newton Howard for the "Fantastic Beasts" films, the best choice aside from John Williams himself to continue the music of the franchise into this different time. Starting with Lady in the Water and maturing completely in Maleficent, Howard's fantasy style of the time has established a voice unlike any peer, his exploration of this music becoming frequent enough for some spoiled listeners to take it for granted. One such related score with numerous highlights, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, would have been heralded to a far greater degree if composed ten years earlier. Undoubtedly, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has aged well as a score, its expansive and sometimes confusing thematic attributions becoming clearer with time and deserving of increased appreciation. Howard hit the sweet spot in his emulation of Williams' themes and mannerisms while developing his own fantasy style, yielding a remarkably effective sound for the concept that is satisfyingly distinctive but consistent with precedent.

Howard's formula for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald remains much the same, as do the positive and negative attributes that result. The symphonic, choral, and electronic ambience is pitch-perfect, the first two elements intelligently mixed with frequency and the electronics applied primarily as bass region enhancers at choice times of suspense. The composer is still not afraid to apply loud percussion as needed for brutal sequences, too. Solo piano continues to supply character warmth, as does cooing, higher choral tones that punctuate the score's inherent sadness. The primary derogatory criticism of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's score will involve Howard's thematic assignments. At the very least, the additional music in the concept illuminates his intentions in the prior film, but dissatisfaction will remain with Howard's overarching handling of these motific duties. Some of these issues must reside with Yates, but even Howard's new themes for the sequel aren't particularly memorable, compounding confusion carrying over from the prior entry. The direct infusion of John Williams music is sloppier in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald as well, the reference to Hedwig's theme over the opening logos acceptable, if not a tad faint, but the interpolations of that theme and the secondary one for Hogwarts not well handled in the introductory scene involving the castle. Hedwig's primary phrases are erroneously applied to the setting, and the castle's variation on the idea rushes into its concluding phrase awkwardly as Hogwarts is first witnessed. Later scenes at the castle don't even hint at the theme in subtle guises, which is an immense disappointment. Howard does better at reprising his own character themes, though spotting sessions must have revealed few opportunities to do so given the excess of characters in the story. The main theme from the prior film continues to represent both Newt and the wizarding world as a whole, and Howard applies it quite well in the sequel. It receives cultural and action variants this time while continuing to represent Newt's awkwardness in lighter moments. Howard includes this melody as one of three solo piano performances of the film's main themes; these tracks are included on the album (and were offered separately prior to the full album) but are not heard in the film.

Howard once again reveals a tendency to repeat phrases in his themes twice in The Crimes of Grindelwald, though in this outing he occasionally shifts the second performance to a different key or instrumental palette. Not surprisingly, the jazzy incarnations of the main theme, a representation of the New York setting of the prior movie, are gone. It takes a while in the narrative for the composer to state the main identity, its optimistic yet reserved performance at 1:51 into "Newt and Jacob Pack for Paris" leading the way. A French-laden interpretation of the idea for the arrival in Paris is Howard's continued method of introducing each Ministry of Magic setting with that theme, though don't expect to hear that cue on the album. The fascinating "Nagini" cue reminds us that this future Horcrux for Voldemort is herself a beast, as the main theme is twisted into a slithery, carnivalesque rendition at 3:24 that even strays towards Williams' Hedwig theme at 3:33. The main theme is spotlighted in upbeat variants again in "Traveling to Hogwarts," a cue partly replaced with the Williams material on screen. Another sneaky interpolation of the idea's structure is included at 0:15 into "Your Story is Our Story," and the theme is afforded dramatically subdued rhythmic duties at 0:22 into "Leta's Confession." The theme's melody is barely recognizable at the start of "Visions of War," a hint that Grindelwald's vision of the magical world is not too familiar. Two resounding symphonic and choral performances of the idea resonate solidly at the conclusion of the film, including the climactic moment of victory at 3:41 into "Wands into the Earth" and the redemptive dramatic moment at 3:55 into "Restoring Your Name." Newt's adventure theme from the prior score is reprised in both its main melody and in its associated buoyant ostinato rhythms. That ostinato bursts forth at 0:17 into "The Kelpie," albeit as a variation that leads to a singular beast-specific melody reminiscent of the first score's equivalents. That spirited ostinato is fully reprised and joined by its gorgeous choral and woodwind theme at the start of both "Newt and Jacob Pack for Paris" and the short end credits cue, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," the latter expanding upon the idea. More satisfying are the clear renditions of the adventure theme as heard at 0:03 into "Capturing the Zouwu," 1:15 into "Matagots," and 2:04 into "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."

Also explored expertly in The Crimes of Grindelwald is Howard's love theme for Newt and Tina, though don't expect this idea to soar to any degree close to the previous score's treatment of the melody, as the script here simply doesn't allow for it. Howard does use the theme to smartly pinpoint clues as Newt searches for Tina throughout the first half of the film. It first appears in fragments at 1:25 and 1:55 into "Newt Tracks Tina," expressing Newt's hopelessly romantic memories of her in the lovely orchestration and choral touch. The same technique continues briefly at 1:03 into "Capturing the Zouwu." As Newt finally confesses his feelings to Tina in the opening half of "Salamander Eyes," Howard returns to the full, heartful piano solo renditions of the idea from the first film. The most interesting statement of the theme is counter-intuitive but potentially brilliant. During the revealing scene of Nagini, which Tina witnesses, Howard twists her love theme into the realm of tragedy and awe with magnificent bravado at 2:42 into "Nagini," a highlight of the score. Meanwhile, each of the three themes Howard conjured for the Queenie and Jacob characters returns, but only briefly in every case. The affable tuba-led theme for Jacob is reduced to a short woodwind reference at 1:35 in "Newt and Jacob Pack for Paris" on the album, though the character has other interactions in which his material may have sneaked into the film. (No music recorded for the early Jacob and Queenie arrival scene is on the album.) Their love theme makes one very notable appearance on solo voice throughout "Queenie Searches for Jacob," featured at the forefront of the devastating scene and interrupted by the dissonance of Grindelwald's material. It's a lovely, heartbreaking cue of frustration and sadness. Queenie's own theme has always been more elusive, but Howard makes a very notable use of this identity at 2:45 into "Spread the Word," as she and Jacob are separated by philosophy and fire. This electronically-aided passage is, interestingly, related in tone to Alexandre Desplat's battle music from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The Obscurus material from the prior film is carried over primarily in "Irma and the Obscurus," where the Credence character receives a brief passage of this theme in lightly troubled strings at 0:36 as he feels brief hope at an answer about his past; echoes of this ascending melody fade away after the apocalyptic action sequence within that cue. The more typical, cyclical stewing of the idea returns at 2:59 into "Restoring Your Name" as the character is harvested by Grindelwald.

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One additional theme of importance carries over from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in the sequel, and its presence carries with it the greatest debate about this score: Grindelwald's theme. All three or four of them, actually. In the prior movie, Howard's conspiracy theme had a commanding presence, adapted to the title sequence after the composer tried applying all the other ideas to that placement to Yates' disapproval. It was a bit odd to hear a brightly powerful version of the conspiracy theme over the title, but the director got his wish and it really works beautifully. An even better title performance of that theme graces The Crimes of Grindelwald at 7:13 of "The Thestral Chase" as the villain completes his escape and the title card is seen. Howard had already revealed that theme with immense force earlier in the cue, at 5:43, when the conspiracy involving Grindelwald's disguises re-emerges with clarity. Less obviously, Howard perpetuates the conspiracy theme in brief snippets later in the score, including at 3:07 into "Nagini," in the chords of "Wands Into the Earth" at 1:54, and in the subtle, underlying string figures at 2:59 into "Restoring Your Name." There was speculation that Howard intended for this to actually serve as Grindelwald's theme in the previous film, but that was not the case. The composer originally wrote a new theme for the reveal of the character at 1:49 into "Relieve Him of His Wand" (as heard on album), but an overlay of the conspiracy theme was supplied to that moment of Johnny Depp's appearance on screen. At the time, this choice was a logical and applauded move, but it turns out that Howard was planting his true Grindelwald theme in that scene for use in future films, and its replacement with the conspiracy theme, while satisfying in the short term, messed with the plan. Interestingly, although Howard does revisit this intended Grindelwald theme powerfully in "The Thestral Chase," first at 2:40 on softer horns and then in full, John Williams-like glory at 4:23, the theme is not a major factor thereafter. Instead, Howard plays with two Grindelwald-related motifs that also have difficulty asserting themselves. One comes muscularly at 2:24 into "The Thestral Chase" and informs the underlying bass line at 3:17 into that cue and at 2:25 into "Your Story is Our Story." The other is a twisted variant of the two above melodies as heard at 1:09 into "The Thestral Chase;" it noodles around early in "Blood Pact," develops into a rhythm at 1:01 into "Spread the Word," expands its melodic line at 1:13 in "Wands Into the Earth" for twenty seconds of high drama, and turns almost yearning on high strings at 2:12 into "Restoring Your Name."

The frustrating aspect of Grindelwald's thematic development in The Crimes of Grindelwald is its lack of focus. The most frequently developed of the three motifs for the character is the weakest, and how these ideas mingle with the conspiracy theme (or, more vitally, don't) is unsatisfying. Almost all the best Grindelwald motific statements in the score exist in "The Thestral Chase," though of notable absence from the album release is the music recorded for the ominously grand beginning of Grindelwald's gathering in the story's final third. Complicating matters is the mingling of villain-appropriate material with a choral motif that ties together the Barebone family mystery subplot that guides many of the secondary characters in the story. This frequently two or three-note descending phrase for angelic choir succeeds the Hedwig theme at 0:19 into "The Thestral Chase" and persists throughout the score, even altering course to address the Dumbledore/Grindelwald connection late in "Blood Pact." As tied to the new character of Leta, this motif haunts her own theme a few times, such as at 2:58 into "Leta's Flashback" and on woodwinds at 2:06 into "Salamander Eyes." It opens "Wands Into the Earth" and is reduced to puffs of two notes as it directly influences Leta's own theme. Both Leta and Dumbledore receive obvious new themes in The Crimes of Grindelwald, obvious if only because Howard recorded piano solos of each for the album as well. Leta's theme is somewhat nebulous, perhaps by design given her insecurity of heritage and heart. Listeners will mostly remember the beautiful rendering of her material rather than the actual melody associated with it. That theme debuts on piano at 1:04 into "Newt and Leta" and is faintly heard on harp at 0:19 into "Leta's Flashback" before Howard uses that cue to launch into an innocently melancholy love theme variation for Newt and Leta as related to their days at Hogwarts. (The melody's application at 0:44 into the cue has a phenomenal presence in the film.) The mystery choral motif is reduced to two notes as it supports Leta's theme, and it magnificently segues into her material at 1:06 into "Salamander Eyes" as she searches archives for informantion about her lineage. Her theme agonizingly accompanies the family and ship sequence in "Leta's Confession," the image of a drowned baby utilizing Leta's choral theme with extremely spooky mourning. Howard leaves one last reminder of Leta at 0:35 into "Restoring Your Name," her theme reduced to fragments. Together, Leta's cues contain the emotional punch of the score on screen and album, and they largely remain tonally accessible.

It's interesting to ponder that Albus Dumbledore has never enjoyed a proper melodic identity in any of these "Harry Potter"-related films, and Howard finally rectifies this issue in The Crimes of Grindelwald. Certainly, both the austere and comforting theme and its playful introduction in "Dumbledore" are tributes to Williams' style of writing. The actual theme at 0:48 in that cue is the score's most redeeming new idea, one that will hopefully carry over to future entries. A secondary motif at 1:30 into "Dumbledore" continues in "Blood Pact" and suggests the character's troubled past as involving Grindelwald; this melody marginally informs the strings at 2:04 into "Restoring Your Name" as Newt frees Dumbledore from his obligation to Grindelwald. The performance of Dumbledore's theme on horns at 1:30 into "Restoring Your Name" is a brief moment of absolute nobility and optimism in an otherwise bleak conclusion to the film, and the continuation of the theme at 3:25 brackets the possible connection between Dumbledore and Credence. There are other singular motifs in The Crimes of Grindelwald that may or may not extend to future films, and fortunately they are all of high quality and generate some of this score's memorable passages. The slithering bass woodwind and choral Nagini motif at 1:00 into "Nagini" combines with the two-note mystery motif for a tragic crescendo. This two-note motif evolves into its own magnificent melody later in "Wands Into the Earth" with The Last Airbender intensity, and Howard launches these figures into something of a new "alliance theme" at 3:25 for the momentary auror victory over Grindelwald's dragon. Then, at the end of "Restoring Your Name" (6:02), the composer accompanies Credence's mass-destruction of a mountain landscape (sorry, environmentalistsâ€¦ you lose!) with an immense consolation of perhaps a new theme of evil to close out the film. While undoubtedly effective in tone, the "Restoring Your Name" cue is a hit and miss entry, serving well in parts but missing the opportunity to obviously combine (whether rightfully or not) the Credence and Dumbledore themes into one and then mingle that performance with a consolidated Grindelwald identity. The final cue presents more mysteries than it solves, perhaps due to the fact that the film's story is clearly meant as a cliffhanger in anticipation of the next entry in 2020, but there is dissatisfaction in the listening experience as it concludes in this work. A clearer adaptation of the Obscurus motif into a emotional form would have been merited here at the very least.

In the end, there are countless questions to be raised about the continuity and thematic identity issues of the score for The Crimes of Grindelwald. The plot didn't do Howard many favors, though it's also easy to get the feeling that the composer has not managed to map out the entirety of his ideas for the concept in the way Howard Shore achieved for his famed The Lord of the Rings trilogy of music. There was reporting that J.K. Rowling had not even assembled the plot of the third film prior to The Crimes of Grindelwald being produced, so perhaps Howard is simply writing to the moment as best he can. If you can set aside these larger issues of scope and connectivity, then you'll be able to appreciate this score as a very fine entry in the fantasy genre, one with more than enough individual highlights to recommend wholeheartedly. The original album was not complete, and that is a significant point of dissatisfaction after the immediate "Deluxe" version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them offered outstanding additional material from the film and in specially-recorded suites. While it is nice to have Howard's own piano performances at the conclusion of this album, that time would have been better spent with the cues for the Parisian ministry, the arrival at Hogwarts, and the congregation of Grindelwald's crowd, among others. There is technically no end credits cue aside from "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," as the editors pieced together other cues from the score to assemble a rather unremarkable suite for the scroll. Listeners seeking the major fantasy highlights of the score will be best served by the rowdy Grindelwald and conspiracy material in "The Thestral Chase," the suspenseful tragedy of "Nagini," the heartbreaking vocals of "Queenie Searches for Jacob," the overwhelming choral sensitivity of "Leta's Flashback" and "Salamander Eyes," and the climactic high drama of "Spread the Word" and "Wands Into the Earth." Only in the abrasive unpleasantness of "Matagots," the underplayed rhythmic stance of "Vision of War," and the wasted nothingness of "Newt and Leta" do you find cues not worthy of the whole work. Otherwise, The Crimes of Grindelwald contains outstanding Howard fantasy material throughout and succeeds in addressing the basic melodic needs of all but the villains in the story. Superior to the concurrent The Nutcracker and the Four Realms but a step behind the original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this entry will sit comfortably with Howard's accomplished genre works and will compete favorably for a place amongst 2018's best scores in a year. No substitute for Howard should be considered in the continuation of this franchise. **** @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4 (in 70 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.36 (in 86,530 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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