MOVIES REVIEWS

Fifty Shades Darker Movie Review 2

ByChiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Feb 13, 2017

Title: Fifty Shades Darker

Director: James Foley

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornana, Kim Basinger, Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Max Martini.

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ is the second installment in the trilogy by British author E. L. James. Just like in the erotic romance novel, James Foley’s screen adaptation traces the deepening relationship between college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and the young business magnate, Christian Grey.

The most eligible bachelor in Seattle tries to entice the cautious Miss Steele back into his life, as she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. Naturally, it doesn’t take him more than an inkling to win her back, and have her long for his carnal extravaganza. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, starring as Ana and Mr. Grey, are forced to act into a mawkish sequence of scenes. The non-sexual moments are the most absurd: the actors are given bad timing to deliver ridiculously preposterous and illogical lines. Along with the lead actors, Kim Basinger (who currently looks like Mickey Rourke), Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford and Max Martini in supporting roles, play the game in what feels like an overly melodramatic parody of a romantic drama.

Senseless suspense is built with situations that echo the way the ‘Scream’ movie-franchise mocked the cliffhangers of mainstream cinema. As a result, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ mirrors ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’ adding some touch of wannabe perverted sexual behaviour. However, what is defined as “kinky f**kery” is tamed down, possibly because Ana & Grey are switching to a “vanilla relationship.”

Throughout the entire film you laugh relentlessly as a consequence of the involuntary humour, therefore one could say that the distribution company instead of promoting it as a romantic drama, should have marketed it as a cringe comedy!

Technical: B-

Acting: C-

Story: F

Overall: C+ 

Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, is a film critic, culture and foreign affairs reporter, screenwriter, film-maker and visual artist. She studied in a British school in Milan, graduated in Political Sciences, got her Masters in screenwriting and film production and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Chiara’s “Material Puns” use wordplay to weld the title of the painting with the materials placed on canvas, through an ironic reinterpretation of Pop-Art, Dadaism and Ready Made. She exhibited her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, London, Oxford, Paris and Manhattan. Chiara works as a reporter for online, print, radio and television and also as a film festival PR/publicist. As a bi-lingual journalist (English and Italian), who is also fluent in French and Spanish, she is a member of the Foreign Press Association in New York, the Women Film Critics Circle in New York, the Italian Association of Journalists in Milan and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean. Chiara is also a Professor of Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at IED University in Milan.

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