Review of Fifty Shades Darker (2017) by Filipeneto — 20 Feb 2020

Worse is difficult...

This film is the more-than-announced continuation of the Fifty Shades trilogy, and I think it's the worst of the three films. Despite the great success of the box office, in my view largely based on the previous success of the books by E. L. James, the film was precisely booed by both the critics and the public who paid to see it. As I did in the critique of the first film, I emphasize here that I neither read nor intend to read the original books, so I will only speak about the film, although I know that many problems related to the story told already come from the original material.

After breaking up with Gray, Anastasia decides to resume with him, but under conditions. Her personality changed a lot from one film to the next. She is no longer that shy girl who is unable to break a plate that we saw in the first film. She discovered her own femininity, is more confident and dominates the situation with confidence, almost to the point of reversing sexual roles with Gray. This, in turn, seems lost and not quite sure where to step, in search of firm ground. This was what surprised me most in the story told by the film. The rest (the intrigues and jealousy involving Anastasia's boss and Gray's ex-lover, or even Leila's enigmatic appearance) does not have half the interest that this change in their personality had for me. And the film also has terrible dialogues and one of the most lurid lapses of continuity I have ever seen in cinema: the complicated lingerie that Anastasia takes to the Gray's charity party and that, already on the spot, in yet another sex scene, has mysteriously disappeared of her body, leaving only a simple lacy underwear. I almost burst out laughing. Is there anything good here? Yes, but little. The performance of the two central actors in the plot is noticeably less boring than in the first film, but, as seen earlier, the impersonality and the lack of passion and chemistry between them dominates; Marcia Gay Harden did a good performance as Christian's mother and Kim Basinger was also good at the little he had to do.

It goes without saying that this film is totally inappropriate for children and teenagers, given the heavy erotic material and the language used. The film had a good budget and, therefore, good production values, starting with good photography, good scene props, satisfactory editing work and a good soundtrack, composed by Danny Elfman.