Fifty Shades Darker

This review may contain spoilers!

Let's be frank, this is a horror movie and not at all a romance film. I would give Fifty Shades Darker a 2.5/10.

Well I do have to give this film some props for acknowledging the really awful moments of the relationship between the two main characters, there's even an attempt to identify healthy behaviour and abusive behaviour but that's about as far as it gets. The cinematography is great, the way set pieces and lighting is captured looks enchanting and makes the cityscape really appealling. The soundtrack is really good; if there's one thing I've always been impressed by in this series it's how absolutely stunning their musical picks are.

Marcia Gay Harden, who played Grace Trevelyan Grey, makes for a compelling maternal figure in this film; her fierce loyalty to her children really comes to the forefront and is one of the more compassionate qualities of the film.

However the best performance came from Dakota Johnson, who played Anastasia Steele. Moving past the very forced fake giggles and sexy moans Johnson once again proves herself to be the most capable cast member of the film. I love how Johnson doesn't give an inch with her role, she refuses to be put in a corner with her character. Rather this is a role who demands her own rights and freedoms in her relationship, which is exciting in the few scenes where this comes through. I also enjoy seeing Johnson display anger and outrage towards some of the more over the top moments of the film yet I can appreciate how well she plays deep sadness when dealing with the Christian Grey backstory content.

So let's get right to the real problem of the film: the tone. In a film that is supposedly about love there is an awful feeling of horror. It does not help that Anastasia seems afraid of Christian for most of the film or that they talk about sex and touching one another as if it were torture. The main male character openly admits he engages in sex to hurt women for fun, what a wildly romantic dude that guy is! And just when you think it can't get any worse it's revealed he spies on the women he dates, he has DOSSIERS on all the women he dates and sleeps with and the main female protagonist MARRIES him at the end?! How did this get made? Okay back to neutral and unbiased reviewing. There are so many weird subplots in this film that come out of nowhere to push the couple closer together or to provide unnecessary tension; in particular Anastasia's boss becoming some weird rapist out of nowhere and one of Christian's crazy ex-girlfriend's stalking Anastasia. The film rushes it's final act, taking wild jumps from casual romance to the couple suddenly living together and marrying one another. Yet there's been no real lesson learnt from the last film, the characters have barely developed at all. The editing really didn't help that horror tone I mentioned either, with some cuts being quite sudden and messing with the tone of a scene.

Jamie Dornan, who played Christian Grey, is so unbelievably fake as the film's lead; Dornan neither knows how to portray emotion and it's clear he doesn't want to be playing this role at all. Eric Johnson, who played Jack Hyde, is such a flippant role; he's hastily established in this film and then out of nowhere becomes this creepy rapist character for very little reason at all. Eloise Mumford and Luke Grimes, who played Kate Kavanagh and Elliot Grey respectively, are pretty forgettable in this film; they're barely given screen time and are pretty poorly served with the amount of attention they get. Bella Heathcote, who played Leila, is even more of a fake performance than Dornan's; what makes it worse is that Heathcote is clearly trying (perhaps a little too hard). Rita Ora, who played Mia Grey, has no chemistry at all with the rest of her family; her upbeat socialite role feels off tone with the rest of the film. Victor Rasuk, who played Jose, is BACK! as Captain Friendzone again; it's just a tired subplot seeing Rasuk make doe eyes at Johnson all film long. Kim Basinger, who played Elena Lincoln, has to be the most artificial antagonist you'll ever see in a romance film; her motives were all over the place and there was just not a great attempt at establishing her character's place in the film. Amy Price-Francis and Ashleigh LaThrop, who played Liz and Hannah respectively, were very plain and forgettable performances in this film; it was a weak attempt at giving Johnson's role some new friend characters at her workplace setting.