Keep It Reel: 'Fifty Shades Darker'
By Marc Woodfork
"I'm not a dominate, I'm a sadist."
That's one line of script from the second installment of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' book-to-film franchise. It's actually code for "I'm a sociopath without the murder."
That's the vibe lead character Christian Grey, played by actor Jamie Dornan, gives the audience through out the film. By now most people know the story. Dornan plays a tormented billionaire businessman with a passion (or illness depending on your perspective) with the world of BDSM or sadomachism. His current and most fascinating "subject", as he calls them, is a naive yet curious young woman named Anastasia played by Dakota Johnson.
This film, or book two, picks up after Anastasia has broken off her relationship and is trying to move on with her life but Christian continues to pursue her. This film should have been titled 'Fifty Shades Dumber'. It's awful. Everyone who goes to watch this film is going for one reason, the graphically depicted and over the top sex scenes that they loved
This film should have been titled 'Fifty Shades Dumber'. It's awful. Everyone who goes to watch this film is going for one reason: the graphically depicted, over-the-top sex scenes that they loved from the book series. Nothing else.
But this film doesn't deliver. Instead, we get soft porn that you can watch any Friday or Saturday night on Cinemax squeezed and forced between a poor script -- incredibly bad acting and void of any passion.
Not at any point is this film interesting, sexy or romantic. It's borderline creepy. The dialogue is forced and unrealistic. Jamie Dornan is actually a good actor in other roles, but Dakota Johnson has outgrown her cute girl-next-door appeal and adds little spark. We still don't know what Christian finds so appealing in her. Surely a billionaire could find someone with more pulse and excitement. In the many sexual interludes, the actors don't look comfortable or believable in the scenes. They feel strangely disconnected especially for a film about bondage. Film two of the franchise did exactly what you don't want from a sequel, it managed to be worse than the first.
There are literally 50 other films you should watch instead.
