Jones suggested on Twitter that there were "too many cooks" on the first film.
We all (well, most of us) had high hopes for Duncan Jones' Warcraft movie
hopes that were dashed on the rocks of reality when it came out. It's far from
the worst movie ever but it was definitely disappointing, as we dug into here.
Despite all that, and the overlong process of actually getting the thing onto the
screen, director Duncan Jones said on Twitter that he'd "love to do another one,
" but only "under the right conditions."
And what would those conditions be?
Jones doesn't elaborate any more than that, but even so it's a revealing tweet.
Licensed films are inherently collaborative efforts, and a property as big (and as
valuable) as Warcraft is bound to have many hands on the wheel—clearly more
than Jones would have liked. The comment also echoes statements made in
2013 by Sam Raimi, who was signed to direct the film prior to Jones taking over.
"Only once Robert [Rodat] was done [writing an original screenplay] did we
realize that Blizzard had veto power, and we didn't know that," Raimi said at the
time. But Blizzard had "reservations" about their story, so after nine months of
scripting, they "basically had to start over. And Robert did start over, but it was
taking too long for the people at Blizzard, and their patience ran out. Honestly, I
think it was mismanagement on their behalf."
Sounds like Jones' experience was a little bumpy too.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has more stories to tell about her
Wizarding World, and like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings before
her, she’s doing a prequel story (and her first screenplay) that takes
place decades before The Boy Who Lived took on You-Know-Who. Set in 1926
New York City, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them follows
soft-spoken, awkward magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he
attempts to return all of the escaped magical creatures to the zoo
inside his briefcase. While the beasts are indeed fantastic, watching
Newt and his new group of friends round them up just isn’t as
entertaining or compelling as Harry, Ron and Hermione running around
Hogwarts.
Newt has been sent with Dumbledore’s blessing to research a textbook
he’s writing about different fantastic beasts. He’s introverted and a
bit clumsy, but he has an earnest passion for weird and potentially
dangerous creatures, not unlike Hagrid. After running into disgraced,
former auror/wizard cop Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and
no-maj/muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a series of daffy events
forces them to stick together. A much-too-late addition to the group is
mind-reading sister Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), the highlight of
the quartet with her bright attitude, sugary voice, and a habit of
poking into people’s thoughts.
That the group never quite clicks together in the right way is a huge reason the rest of the movie doesn’t find its footing.
Newt and company get into increasingly large amounts of trouble with
the American magical authority known as the MACUSA while trying to round
up the beasts, and all the while a much darker, more dreary plot
unfolds as esteemed auror Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) looks into a
magic-hating, no-maj family that includes a particularly troubled young
man named Credence (Ezra Miller).
This causes the movie to suffer from tonal whiplash, as one moment
Newt is performing a ridiculous mating dance to lure a rhino with a
bulbous head full of lava back into his briefcase and the next we
witness child abuse, psychological trauma, and murder. Yes, the Harry
Potter saga was rich with tragedy and black humor, but it was delivered
seamlessly, whereas Fantastic Beasts compartmentalizes the contrasting
tones until trying to haphazardly bring them together.
The blame doesn’t fall on the actors or the script as much as it does
the direction of four-time Harry Potter director David Yates. The
Potter films gained a sense of visual stiffness when he entered the
franchise with Order of the Phoenix, and although he did manage to find
his rhythm for the final two Deathly Hallows installments, he’s now
fallen back a step, filling Fantastic Beasts with static shots, dead
air, and obvious use of green screen.
One scene inside the Goldstein apartment sees Queenie use magic so
dinner prepares itself mid-air before settling down on the table. Being
the no-maj in the group, Jacob is understandably astounded by what he’s
seeing, yet he does nothing more than look on in awe. Flying plates.
Jacob’s wide-eyed face. Soaring napkins. Jacob’s face. Floating strudel.
Jacob still making that same face, not even adding in an exclamation of
disbelief. We’re not impressed much by special effects we’ve seen
plenty of in the Potter films, and he’s not exactly selling it, so the
scene falls flat instead of feeling like a wondrous, charming step into
the world of magic.
Getting to see the magical side of New York City has its high points,
but it also feels like the setting wasn’t mined enough. We do get to
traverse some strange places inside the MACUSA headquarters, magically
veiled inside the Woolworth Building, and there is a pitstop to a
goblin’s (Ron Perlman) speakeasy where a performer sings a song while
conjuring her own stage effects. All new and intriguing sights, to be
sure, but the movie doesn’t embrace the rich culture and diverse people
that makes the Big Apple what it is.
The film does make good on its selling point by introducing a wide
array of delightfully strange magical creatures. The best scene sees
Newt giving Jacob a tour of the makeshift menagerie inside his enchanted
suitcase. Everything from the snake-birds to the blowfish-tigers are
exquisitely rendered and teeming with majestic wonder. Really, anytime
the fantastic beasts are on screen -- especially the thieving,
too-cute-for-words Niffler -- the movie comes alive, the music swells,
and you get that little kick of magic you expect from Rowling’s
Wizarding World.
Sadly, when attention switches back to the characters, things go back to feeling a bit dull.
The two disparate plotlines eventually clunk together, but the movie
never establishes any real stakes -- certainly nothing as frightful as
the Dark Lord returning to power and killing the likable protagonist --
so even though a magical threat endangers the city, it’s hard to get
caught up in it all. By the time the movie ends, a few threads pique
enough interest to want to see what happens next, but could we just
spend a couple hours inside the briefcase instead?.
