Movie Review: Fifty Shades Darker

Movie review: Fifty Shades Darker, Yes/No Films

I saw the first Fifty Shades of Grey movie about two years ago, in February 2015, and I liked it, but didn't LOVE it - I gave it a Maybe review, and 3 out of 5 stars. This installment, however, was more entertaining, and I liked it better than the original film.

At the end of the first film, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) has driven away Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) because of certain ... preferences of his. This movie opens with Ana at a new job, as an assistant at a publishing house, and estranged from Christian. Inevitably, however, she runs into him, at a gallery opening, where she finds out that he's bought all the portraits of her that her friend Jose (Victor Rasuk) had photographed. Christian persuades Ana into having dinner with him, and she decides to take him back, on a trial basis, which is where the story really begins.

I've read all of the Fifty Shades books, admittedly a while ago, which helped with this film a bit - i.e., when Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger) appears on the scene, I immediately knew she was Christian's older ex, who basically seduced him when he was a teen (though the film later explains this). One big difference between this movie and the last is that Jamie Dornan is finally allowed to express himself more, as Christian - in the first movie, I found that he was rather robotic, although that's how the character's temperament is, for the most part. This film is also a lot more fun, although of course there's drama too - I'd classify it as a "chick flick," with more nudity than usual thrown in.

Yes, see this film, especially if you saw the last one or are a fan of the books. I read the books a while ago, so I can't vouch for how accurately the movie sticks to the book, but it's a film I enjoyed, and there's enough eye candy here for both women and men, in case your significant other drags you to see the film. Some of the lines are definitely cheesy (and that's unsurprising, considering how the book was written ...) but overall the movie kept my attention throughout its almost 2-hour runtime, and I'm curious to see what's next for Ana and Mr. Grey in the third installment.

Fifty Shades Darker is in theaters today, February 10th, and is rated R with a runtime of 118 minutes. 3.5 stars out of 5.


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