In this "Fifty Shades of Grey" sequel, Anastasia Steele (Johnson) and Christian Grey (Dornan) take their relationship to the next level. And by next level, I don't mean new sexual heights, which I assume audiences were hoping for. Instead, Grey fights to win back Steele's affections by sacrificing his brutal sexual desires and engaging in a more "vanilla" relationship with her. For folks expecting an even more R-rated take on a modern BDSM relationship, they will be extremely disappointed in how boring this once-controversial couple has become. The only thing "darker" in this film is its dismal projected box office results.
Some new characters are introduced, including Anastasia's sleezy boss (Eric Johnson) and Christian's damaged ex-lover, Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger). Many dramatic moments in this film failed to entice any fear in its moviegoers, and instead, received chuckles.
But who said audiences were interested in plot points, anyway? After all, most fans of this erotic books will come for its promise of magical, gravity-defying sex scenes. Unfortunately for them, Johnson and Dornan's obvious lack of chemistry makes the overly choreographed bedroom scenes even harder to watch. Dakota Johnson explains that engaging in those intimate scenes are always the hardest to film, and we can tell. I will say, however, that considering how unnatural our characters' dialogues are, Johnson deserves a gold star for her efforts, though wasted in this franchise. And Dornan's unfortunate American accent is getting better each film. Hopefully by "Fifty Shades Freed," we'll almost be convinced that this American-born billionaire isn't actually an Irish breakout star regretting his career move.
This film tries to appeal to modern audiences by, at times, portraying Anastasia as a feminist. On the one hand, she tries to point out the flaws in her over-the-top relationship with Christian, by telling him to stop spending extraordinary amounts of money on her or to stop controlling her every move. Sometimes, we applaud Anastasia for being able to contest the most obvious signs of her abusive relationship. But at others, she falls prey to Christian's excessive wealth and fails to stand up for herself. "Fifty Shades" shamelessly glorifies materialism to the point that even my wildest wealthy desires would find Christian's statement about "making more than $24,000 every fifteen minutes" laughable.
The only artful contribution this commercialized hack job can boast about is its impressive soundtrack. Filled with beautifully arranged covers (Corinne Bailey Rae's "The Scientist") and new ballads (Sia's "Helium"), Fifty Shades Darker will at least treat your ears to a lovely score and barrage of contemporary hits. Especially during the disappointing bedroom scenes, the songs featured in the film do the heavy lifting in keeping the audience's interests. Expect any romantic scene to be paired with an original song at extra high volume— almost as if the filmmakers were doing anything they could to drown out the sounds of ridiculous interactions. Turning many pivotal scenes into make-shift music videos seemed to work for only so long, but there's only so much popular songs can do to fix a ludicrous concept.
Watch the trailer below:
Reach Staff Reporter Sonia Gumuchian here.
Annenberg Media