Review of Fifty Shades Darker (2017) by Michael C — 11 Feb 2017

What you have heard all the critics say is pretty much on the mark. Dakota Johnson and Jaimie Dornan have ZERO chemidtry. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman had better chemistry in the "Star Wars" movies.

Jamie Dornan's one note performance does not help either. He is about as wooden as a pine tree. To be fair this movie's source material isn't that great either so it's hard to make this movie work from the get go.

The poorly written dialogue and the unerotic love scenes don't make for a good book or a good movie. What helps make the movie at leats watcable is the terrific supporting cast. Academy Award winners Kim Bassinger and Marcia Gay-Harden help lift this movie out of the doldrums to a certain degree.

And yes, the movie is rather faithful to the novel. I have to at least give it that. Overall however this movie is not all that better than it's predecessor. The movie is a guaranteed success at the box office.

That goes without saying. However that does not make it a movie worth your time.