So, I have a confession to make. This past Valentine’s Day, I saw Fifty Shades of Grey with Julia, numerous groups of women, and elderly couples.
Reviews for this movie were awful, with a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.1 out of 10 on IMDB. Reviewers even said that there wasn’t a lot of sex in the movie, which is odd for a movie that is, for all intents and purposes, a movie about sex. Needless to say, I walked into this movie with very low expectations, and perhaps that benefited the movie.
Fifty Shades is not a good movie, but it is not the garbage that many people said it was. It’s mediocre. For starters, there is more “sex” than reviewers let on. The lead actress, Dakota Johnson, is shown nude for a large portion of the movie, and her counterpart, Jamie Dornan, is shirtless for a large portion as well. As for actual sexual acts? Well, there’s not as much as fans or curious viewers were probably hoping for. The earlier sex scenes, are treated with more care, and are a little more fleshed out. Once the BDSM aspect is brought into the mix, however, the scenes become more rushed. It’s as if the director just threw those scenes into the movie just for the sake of staying true to the source material.
Julia’s read the trilogy and had this to say:
All around, it’s what you’d expect if you’ve read the books. We all knew there couldn’t possibly be as much graphic detail as in the books for it to premier as an R rated movie, but it does a good job of capturing the spirit of their relationship. Considering how this story was modeled after Twilight, I was worried the main character, Anna, would be the same plain and ordinary type as Bella in order for you to imagine yourself in her place, but that wasn’t the case. Dakota Johnson was fantastic, and Anna’s personality and development was my favorite part of the movie. Jamie Dornan wasn’t enirely what I expected, but Christian Grey is a lot to live up to. This interview he did with Jimmie Fallon was hilarious if you haven’t seen it.
Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele was by far the highlight of the movie, but I admit it took me a little bit to determine whether she was talented or not. In the end, I concluded that she is actually pretty talented, and did a great job portraying a women who transforms from a shy, nerdy girl, into a confident and empowering young woman.
Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, on the other hand, didn’t really bring anything game changing to the table, and I feel like they could’ve casted any guy with abs to play his role.
The movie looks great visually, as every scene and environment pops off the screen and has a great clean, crisp feel to it.
The soundtrack is also a highlight of the movie, headlined by artists like Ellie Goulding, Beyonce, and The Weekend.
The biggest problem with this movie is the boring story. Most people will see this movie for the sex, but people who are going in the hopes of finding a compelling, thought-provoking story will be very disappointed. Not once did I feel an attachment to the story, or any of the characters in it.
Also, the ending was poorly done, and was just another cliched cliffhanger that is, for some reason, required for the first movie of an inevitable trilogy.
2/5 grey, but somewhat juicy apples.
You Like Them Apples 