Two years have passed since the last time the ‘shade’ was upon us, that though seems like a long time ago. Since then a lot of things have happened to the point I kind of forgot there was a another film even coming out. You know who didn’t forget though? The fans of E.L. James novels have had this date circled. Fans that were left unsatisfied with the first film, mostly because of the choice of the actor who would play Christian Grey. I had my own problems with him, that being the fact he couldn’t act very well. Now that the cast has a film under their belt, things can only get better right? Finding their groove? Really giving it to us? Okay, I’ll stop.
Well for our couple of the hour, things have not started off well. Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) does not want to see Christian (Jamie Dornan) at all. She is moving on with her life, she has a new job, and is doing just find with out Christian. The same cannot be said about him, as he sends her flowers, and does things like buy a bunch of portraits of her. Once you get past the creepiness of that, especially after you hear the reason why, I guess it could be a little romantic. It doesn’t take long for Anastasia to give it another try, but this time she has rules as well. Together they try and become what the other person wants and needs, but will it be enough to save the relationship?
I asked the question earlier about how things can only get better; well to answer my own question, no it does not. I want to come at this as a fan of the novels, but since I am not, I can’t. Instead all I can judge this film on it’s own merits, and let’s just say, there is not a whole lot of nice things to say. The acting, by both Dornan and Johnson seemed to have digressed. While Dornan is as wooden as ever, Johnson’s performance seems to just consist of noises she makes. The acting though isn’t the only problem, the screenplay from Niall Leonard doesn’t move very well either, and has very little plot.If that wasn’t enough, this is a story about a seemingly heightened sexual lifestyle, that while there is lots of sex, its very ‘PG’ sex. Almost like they don’t really know what the ‘s’ and ‘m’ in S&M stands for. I am not going to lie, it was hard sitting through this, and the only saving grace was the soundtrack, which like the first film is pretty good. Music though is not enough to save this lifeless film, and it didn’t take long for me to wish for it all just to end. Let’s face it though, this movie is not for me, and I am fine with that. So take this with a grain of salt if you are a fan of the books and make up your own mind. For me all I can think of is that’s there still another one of these to go?
