It’s a cycle that repeats almost endlessly throughout the film’s slow-moving first hour. Yet life without Ana just won’t do, and Christian agrees to “renegotiate terms” to satisfy his lady (no actual business meetings and signed contracts required this time).Īna’s newfound liberation, frequently punctuated by Christian choosing to pleasure her first (in the world of “Fifty Shades,” oral sex is the most reliable barometer of the state of a relationship), never feels fully realized, thanks to a screenplay dominated by scenes comprised of actual nonsense where whole stretches pass with nothing of substance or believability takes place.Īna will demand to not be locked up in Christian’s spacious apartment, a kept thing, and mere seconds later, she’ll readily be agreeing to move in. But what Ana wants is something much more simple and respectable (in BDSM parlance, something “vanilla”), something that may never fully satisfy the more complicated parts of Christian’s sexuality.
READ MORE: ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ Trailer: Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan Rekindle Their Steamy Love Affairĭesperate to win back Ana, Christian goes to the usual over-the-top ends to impress her, from giant bouquets of delivered roses to the purchase of an entire set of large-scale portraits shot by Ana’s other obsessive devotee, the ever-maligned Jose (Victor Rasuk, friend-zoned as ever).
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Picking up mere days after the events of Sam Taylor-Johnson’s 2015 “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Foley’s film quickly shifts gears away from the doom and gloom of the first film to give audiences something sexier, sillier and a fair bit soapier. After gliding through a series of literally tattered childhood memories that serve to illuminate just why Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) is - as he so memorably puts it - “fifty shades of fucked up” and a sad-faced opening credits sequence that shows the sorry state of Anastasia Steele ( Dakota Johnson) post-breakup, “Darker” starts to have a lot more fun.
James’ wildly popular novels was always going to be the films’ biggest problem, and while director James Foley might not quite nail it, wily injections of humor prove to be an unexpectedly helpful addition to the kinky franchise. Whipping up a proper tone for the big screen versions of E.L. Don’t let that title fool you: The second entry in the “Fifty Shades of Grey” cinematic trilogy is by no means a darker outing than its predecessor, and the franchise (already set to wrap up with a third feature in 2018) is all the better for it.