Fifty Shades Darker Review by Ally Adnan
Zero (0) out of Five (5) Stars
At one point in Fifty Shades Darker, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) refers to her billionaire lover’s sexual proclivities as “kinky fuckery.” This is a good omen for viewers looking to enjoy rough sex on screen but seems to be a phrase entirely lost on director James Foley who shoots sex scenes with the insight, skill and knowledge of a frustrated young virgin. He has no ability to bring eroticism and kink to screen; at best, he creates beautiful scenes, replete with painstakingly choreographed lovemaking, that are painfully dull and insipid. One would have thought that making a worse movie about Anastasia and Christian, the uninteresting couple featured in four of E. L. James’ books, would be impossible but one would be wrong. The sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker is a worse film – a much worse film, to be accurate – than the original and is an assault on the intelligence, intellect and sensibility of viewers. A young billionaire, Christian runs a highly successful company that seems to requires little of his time and attention. He inhabits highly sanitized, bland and tastelessly decorated spaces. He also enjoys a highly sanitized, bland and tastelessly accessorized variety of rough sex. Anastasia Steele does not necessarily share his sexual interests, being more interested in literature, love and romance, but is curiously drawn to Grey. After an unlikely but heady romance, the two part ways dramatically at the end of Fifty Shades of Grey, setting the stage for a sequel.
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In Fifty Shades Darker, Anna has graduated from school and secured a job at venerable publishing house, Seattle Independent Press. She returns to Grey, after he rescues her from a sexually abusive boss, Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), and promises to no longer force rough sex on her. It, of course, does not take long – and apparently
just a fancy dinner and a generous sexual favor – for Anna to agree to return to Grey’s world. The film focuses, ever so superficially, on the abuse Grey suffered as a child and that continues to haunt him. Grey’s childhood trauma, explored with reckless ignorance yet embarrassingly grave seriousness, becomes funny, and at times totally hilarious, in the hands of Foley. It is difficult to take Grey’s problems seriously while he uses lip gloss to mark areas on his body that Anna is allowed to touch! E. L. James used her considerable influence to oust the screenwriter of Fifty Shades of Grey, Kelly Marcel, and bring in her husband, Niall Leonard, for Fifty Shades Darker. Leonard, unfortunately, bests Marcel’s ability to take all energy, intelligence and sensuality out of a story dealing primarily with sex. He also seems to have a problem writing dialog. Anna, who loves literature, works for a publisher, read Austen and Brontë, responds with the word “beautiful” when she sees Grey’s mansion, the word “beautiful” when she sees his boat, and the word “beautiful” when she sees his 2
mother’s gown. Vocabulary clearly was not something that she picked up while reading books. The film, very ambitiously, targets people looking for psychological drama, fiery eroticism, and romantic tension and will, very obviously, looking to see sensuality, nudity and sex on screen. Unfortunately, both segments of viewers will be disappointed; the former because the film lacks drama, eroticism and romance, and the latter because it fails to effectively provide and cheap thrills because Foley does not have the ability to bring eroticism to screen. More importantly, Fifty Shades Darker lacks intelligence, authenticity and believability. Tiresome, foolish and awkward, Fifty Shades Darker has a bigger, more serious problem. The film is deeply sexist. It has no problem disrobing Fanning but is sheepish about showing male nudity. It gives Anna a choice between two troubled men, Jack and Grey, and makes her pick the one with more money. And, most reprehensibly, it casually legitimizes sexual violence against women giving it a veneer of consensual rough sex. This, more than anything else, is truly reprehensible. And, of course, not making good on its promise of showing some “kinky fuckery” is unforgivable!
Ally Adnan lives in Dallas, Texas, and writes about culture, history and the arts. He tweets @allyadnan and can be reached at
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