Review of Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) by Aakash G — 16 Sep 2015

The erotic romance novel that took the world by storm has now been transformed for the big screenâ?¦ or in other words, people that arenâ??t bothered to read the novel can feast their eyes on moving pictures. Yes, this transition generated even more hype than the novel for fans are now able to actually vividly witness the erotic fantasies that tickled their fancy in the first place. E.L. Jamesâ?? novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, topped best-seller lists around the world, has been translated into 52 languages and has defeated the negative feedback of critics and reached global popularity thanks to the people, and this is essentially down to its controversial topic of BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism). But, the real question is could the film adaptation replicate the same controversial sexual depictions on a visually, less discreet level? Unfortunately, Fifty Shades of Grey is the biggest disappointment of the year, and considering it is only February, that is saying a lot. There seems to be a shortage of the eroticism that made the novel popular, perhaps Taylor-Johnson wanted to retain some female dignity despite the awful treatment of women, but all in all this adaptation flops on every single level.

Fifty Shades of Grey revolves around Anastasia Steele, a 21-year old undergraduate at Washington State University near Vancouver, Washington. Due to her roommateâ??s inability to interview a wealthy 27-year old entrepreneur, Anastasia agrees to help her out, but as soon as Christian lays his eyes on her, her life changes completely. Christian seeks her out intently, arousing the curious Anastasia in the process. But, as they grow closer, Christian reveals that he cannot ever be in love, as he prefers controlled bondage. Anastasia is more curious than disturbed, but how long can she really live this fantasy and not experience the true darkness of Christianâ??s cravings.

Christianâ??s interest in a subculture relationship where he can be the dominant and Ana the submissive, allows the film to explore the territories of controlled bondage. However, the lack of bondage is alarming for a film that sold itself on the disbelief of its perverse love story. Ana and Christian actually make love at first, straight after revealing that he only â??fucks,â?? and at this point you wonder if youâ??re watching the right film! After this rather unexpected moment, there are only a handful of bondage scenes to choose from, and then again they are so unrevealing and brief, that just because sexual tools are being used doesnâ??t mean it will heighten the sexual intensity. By what Fifty Shades tells us, bondage is simply tying a person up with whatever you can find and punishing them like a child. It is pretty sad viewing because there is no meaning behind the story; sexual fiends like Grey should not be allowed a place in cinema. If Fifty Shades were sexually gratuitous then it possibly would have been fine because its fame is indebted to that, but because Taylor-Johnson attempts to find the love in something so unloving makes Fifty Shades of Grey such a confused film that doesnâ??t know how to express itself. There is hardly anything for us to call the film a sexual thriller as even the music is used at wrong moments, especially the sexual ones. The song â??Earned Itâ?? by The Weeknd is perhaps the only song that deserves its place within the movie for its sexual overtones are immense, but it is used for a car journey! Fifty Shades of Grey is so unsexual that you can describe Basic Instinct as a whole lot worse, but Last Tango in Paris puts this film to shame.

Dakota Johnson stars as Anastasia Steele, the literature student whose sexual life takes a whirlwind evolution. First of all, Johnson deserves kudos for even wanting to be shown to the world as a sex slave, and secondly, she is the best thing about the film. She captures the vulnerable innocence of Ana at the beginning, but as she is enlightened to this whole new world, she develops a tough side under that susceptibility of hers that makes the story far more interesting than it should really be. Jamie Dornanâ??s erotically extreme Christian Grey is perhaps the most depraved character to appear on screen in the past few years. Dornan may have the physical appeal to fill the role, but he seems too robotic to play the desirable pervert as he fails to offer any sort of dimension to his personality. Everyone else donâ??t matter because no one really knows what their relationship is about. But, the shocking cameo from Rita Ora requires a mention for she now has two films to her name with Fast and Furious 6 already as cringe-worthy as you can get. She wasnâ??t even a singer until a few years ago, how dare she think she can be an actress too!

Fifty Shades of Grey suffers terribly from the awfulness of its script. Characters are introduced but we donâ??t really care about them or anything they do. The relationship between Ana and Christian is irritating because it needs more moments of conversation. They hardly speak and this forces us to deduce their relationship based on the acting, and the acting isnâ??t that good so weâ??re hopeless passengers that are unable to identify with the story. Scenes are also overlong and fruitless in grabbing our attention. All we want is to see and be shocked by the eroticism that has gripped the world, but Fifty Shades of Grey promises to deliver only 20% of your wildest expectations. You begin to question what is the point of this film as Christian just wants someone beneath him so he can smack her and do all sorts, whilst she falls in love with his ways, but at the end he smacks her one smack too far and then that is it, at the close of an elevatorâ??s door it endsâ?¦ the film is a complete waste of time nobody should bother seeing unless you want to be dissatisfied.

Just because Fifty Shades of Grey tells an intensely sexual tale doesnâ??t mean the tale is worth telling. It goes to show that our society desires a sexual edge to everything! Fifty Shades of Grey the novel may have been seriously steamy to generate a global hoo-hah, but the film has destroyed any sort of popularity the book had, as it was too unsexual to not disappoint. Grossing over $527 million just a few weeks since its release demonstrates how its popularity has attracted peopleâ??s curiosity, yet it also discloses the tonnes of people the film has let down. This is down to the fact that the director and author clashed a lot on how the film should be executed. Taylor-Johnson has proven that she was not up to the task as she poorly utilises the source material, causing her to end up with something that lacks any sort of sexual bite to have an impact. Fifty Shades of Grey is the most hyped up film of the decade, and boy did it let everyone down!

The Verdict:

Utterly underwhelming to say the least, Fifty Shades of Grey is a droning sexual affair that has failed to live up to its overhyped build-up.

â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â?? 2/10.