Fifty Shades of Freed

First Hit:  Although not a good film, it was a good way to conclude the series.

I, for the most part, painfully waded through this series of films telling the story of sex, control and asking questions to discover what love is.

In this final of the trilogy, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) accepts Christian Grey’s (Jamie Dornan) proposal for marriage. Marrying shortly thereafter they settle into a life together and when there is a discussion about children, Christian balks and states that he’s not willing to discuss it now.

Although they bring up Grey’s past upbringing and his being adopted, if you didn’t see the prior films, you won’t really understand the impact of this and why he’s not willing to discuss children.

As an audience member, this plot device is obvious that this is what is going to separate the couple and then bring them back together. There are no surprises in this film or story.

They add elements from previous films including Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson) who was Anastasia’s boss until he tried to make an unwanted move on her. We’re led to believe that he really wants Anastasia but the film attempts to make it deeper by showing us that he and Grey were in the same foster home and he’s jealous of who Grey got adopted by.

The sex and bondage sex scenes were not erotic. This might be because, as I noticed in all three films and it is more pronounced here, there is virtually no chemistry between Dakota and Jamie. I was also put off by the obvious product placements, especially Audi.

Johnson is OK as Anastasia. Dornan is a poor actor. I simply cannot buy his character as someone real and there’s little in this film to tell me anything different. Eric Johnson is one of the better parts of the film as he’s sufficiently a bad man. Niall Leonard wrote an OK final film screenplay to this series. James Foley directed this final film with some great scenery and a fun car chase.

Overall: This is a weak storyline but it doesn’t make a mockery of the film series and lets it conclude with some integrity.

Fifty Shades Darker

First Hit:  Only at the very end did I sense/feel an actual connection between Anastasia and Christian, which told me that this film does not work.

There is a distance between Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) which might be reflective of “steel gray” or “gray steel”; they go together but one doesn’t necessarily mean the other and they aren’t necessarily connected.

Anyway, the set up of Grey isn't strong enough to make him realistic or believable. I didn't buy any of this characters strengths (smart and rich) and flaws (can’t touch his chest). This isn’t how one would act with his issues – it is too fabricated. However, the story wants us to believe that the superiorly damaged rich boy can’t have a relationship without out being sadist (his words not mine – “I’m not a dominate, I’m a sadist”).

One would think that this rich smart aware boy (and he’s more like a boy than a man) would seek out additional help to have him work through his maladjustment relationships with women. However, to make the film work, we are back for more of Steele’s naked body along with some submissive stuff and we're suppose to believe that she wants him, and wants to be the girl that saves him from himself.

This, of course, pisses off the woman who “taught him to fuck”, Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger) and past submissive Leila (Bella Heathcote). In fact, the scenes with these two characters are supposed to be very telling, but that don’t really add up to much. When Leila gets on her knees when ordered by Grey, like a dog, it is pathetic for both. When Steele has one-on-ones with Lincoln, they don’t work and I never felt the feeling or intensity of a deep desire or love as required by the script. Both characters, mostly Grey, were lifeless.

Lastly, there isn’t enough information or interest about each of the characters to care much. There are attempts to flesh-out Steele, but they mostly fall flat as there isn’t enough depth to her. The only scene that was really strong was her confrontation with her boss Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson – no relation to Dakota) who is seen at the end of the film signaling at least one more “Shades” film to come.

Johnson was the best part of this overall very weak film. She didn’t add much depth, but any and all the depth in this film comes from her. Dornan is lifeless for the most part. He’s not believable and lands on me the same way that Robert Pattinson lands on me; blank, with little emotion, and little projection of a real fully fleshed character. Basinger is horrible in this film. It is like the producers are using her sexuality from the long past 9 ½ weeks film to validate Grey’s weirdness. Heathcote is OK as the spurned sexual dilettante. Eric Johnson is OK as the jerk boss who uses his authority to get his way with staff at the publishing company. Niall Leonard wrote an OK screenplay but it was director James Foley and the actors’ execution that made this film lifeless and hard to watch, until the last 10 minutes, which was actually fairly good.

Overall:  Don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach the next one in this series.