Based off of a New York Times bestselling novel of the same name; which in turn was based off of a Twilight fan fiction, the film adaptation of 50 shades of Grey leave very little to the imagination and yet so much to be desired. With clichéd scenes, a terrible ending and pacing that just dragged and dragged and dragged…
…to the point that there is no denying, that this soft core theatrical porn is a travesty of modern cinema.
The characters are all extremely dull and so massively uninteresting, that you’ll more than likely find yourself longing after their Twilight counterparts. At least they had a supernatural flare to them that kept their story somewhat engaging.
The film stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele, a virginal woman who is in her last few weeks before graduating college and Jamie Dornan as Christen Grey, a 27 year old Billionaire with a secret obsession with bondage and sexual dominance.
From the very beginning of the film you are hit square in the face with horrible dialogue and very weak acting from our lead characters. The complete lack of subtext or overlaying subplot throughout are only a precursor to the abusive, possessive, and downright stalkish characteristics of Mr. Grey.
The only saving graces for this train wreck of a movie was the score (composed by Danny Elfman), the music selection, the impressive camera work and the superb lighting. The latter two would make sense considering that the Director of Photography, Seamus McGarvey, was also the DP for The Avengers and the (2014) Godzilla.
The Final Nail in the Coffin:
This film was clearly intended for a certain demographic and seeing as how it made over $94 million its opening weekend, it obviously appealed to the right audience. Even so, the film shows very dangerous and highly flawed stereotypes of BDSM and dominant/submissive relationships, so please don’t use it as a how to guide.
BDSM is defined as consensual sex practices involving Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism and Masochism. Key word there being consensual, something that Mr. Grey clearly knows nothing about, seeing as how he decided to break into Anastasia’s home to confront her and then proceeded to show her how nice his company is.
The fact that this is what passes as a leading role for women is disheartening and downright sad. A character with no discernible personality what so ever and is so dependent upon having a man to take care of her in order to be happy, is just deplorable. One can only imagine how different the story would have been if Anastasia would have been replaced with a strong, confident, and independent woman who decided to not put up with Christian’s abusive ways.
RATING: 1/10 Neckties.
