I can’t say I’ve had the privilege of reading the “50 Shades” books, but I honestly did go into the movie with an open mind. That being said, you can tell that an X-rated book has been turned into an R-rated movie, and even though most people have said the movie is better written than the book, they also say it’s not as steamy either. It’s like a porno mag turned into a J. Crew catalogue, sure it’s more respectable, but that also defeats the purpose.
What Works: I thought Jamie Dornan was blandly intense in the role but apparently that’s exactly how Christian Grey is in the book. You can tell the Irish Dornan struggles to keep his American accent from getting away from him, but since Grey is a control-freak constantly trying to keep himself on a tight leash this is the rare case where a slippery accent actually works for a performance. And Dakota Johnson is great in a subtly sly turn as virginal “princess” archetype who comes off as much sharper than the movie she’s in.
In all the hullabaloo, it’s easy to forget that these books started out as Twilight fan fiction—I had forgotten it myself until watching the movie, where I kept thinking how similar the characters were to Edward and Bella and their weirdly obsessive dynamic—and Johnson acts with a self-awareness Kristen Stewart may not be capable of; unlike Stewart, she’s able to actually have fun in a ridiculous scene. She wins you over so that when she laughs, you laugh, but in “Twilight” you laughed because Stewart wasn’t laughing.
What Doesn’t: The sex scenes aren’t hot. I know this sounds boorish to bring that up, but I think it’s pretty relevant to what is, essentially, a bondage erotic drama being forced into a more typical romantic movie mold. Whenever it comes time to “get down to business” the movie starts blasting songs by Beyonce or some such, but it’s edited and filmed in a glossed over way that feels about as dangerous as a Mercedes commercial. We hear no panting, no moaning, no groaning, and we see no sweating or scratching.
What’s even more numbing is all the talk of rules and contracts between them—honestly, there are corporate mergers that don’t have this much paperwork—and that feels like a deliberate move to let us know that Johnson’s Anastasia isn’t doing anything she doesn’t want to do. The movie is trying so hard to avoid being seen as demeaning or rough on women that it goes too far in the other direction, and the sex scenes lose primal attraction. When Christian is whipping Anastasia the scene is set-up and shot with all the kick and kink of a Starbucks Jazz CD.
What I Would Have Done Differently: With better dialogue, fewer goofy moments, a shorter runtime, and hotter sex scenes you might really have something here…of course, that would also be an entirely different movie.
I Think the producer cut out a lot from the movie to avoid a NC rating. I wonder if the plan to release and unedited version on dvd?
Katy I am with you on waiting on the directors cut. I haven’t read the books though.
AL. You hit the nail on the head. This is twilight all grown up. Location, clumsy heroine and choppy dialog. I think I feel asleep.
In my defense, I was forced to go. Pun intended.
Great review! Love the books, love the movie.
I wish they had stuck with their first choice for Christian Grey.