Fifty Shades of Gray Review: Cold

As if “Fifty Shades of Grey” needed any help drawing audiences, releasing the film on Valentines Day weekend was pure genius. Fifty Shades seems to be the perfect date night movie, with plenty in it to please both men and women, however the anticipation and buildup turned out to be anti-climatic.

Fans of the best selling series “Fifty Shades of Grey” have been waiting with baited breath since the announcement that the trilogy would come to movie screens.

Bored housewives living out secret fantasies, existing in the pages of the book, and young girls captivated by this side of sex, that most of them had never even given a thought up until reading about it, found themselves marking down February 13, 2015 on their calendars.

Unfortunately the hot-blooded romance is anything but. Fueled by poor casting decisions and an abrupt ending, “Fifty Shades of Gray” is a pretty black and white attempt at the multifaceted tale of sex and dominance.

The film starts out with a cover song by Annie Lenox that makes you want to like this movie before it even begins.

It quickly becomes obvious, there is not much chemistry between Jamie Dornan who plays Christian Grey, and Dakota Johnson who plays Anastasia Steele, however the first meeting between these two on screen is cute enough to keep the audience interested.

Johnson’s portrayal of Anastasia was enjoyable to watch. She manages to take the innocence of this shy and sheltered girl and turn it into curiosity and a desire to please this man that she has just met, making her role as the submissive in this relationship believable. The turn around in this character is so quick that it would have been easy as a viewer to dismiss her, but Dakota walks the line between holding onto what she knows and giving into what she wants in such a way that she makes Anastasia relatable.

Dornan doesn’t fare so well as Christian Grey. His portrayal of this character is lackluster. Christian is supposed to be the dominant in this relationship, but he somehow doesn’t seem manly enough to take on this role. There was more than one occasion where Christian, while speaking to Anastasia was supposed to come across as sexy, however it was nothing but awkward, leaving the audience laughing instead of hanging on his every word. He’s also fixated on making Anastasia his, which makes him come across as obsessive and creepy leaving the viewer almost afraid for her safety at times.

Although he does have a few shining moments where the viewer can see why Anastasia would become so enamored with him, most times you are left wondering why she would feel so strongly for this man.

The soundtrack is like a third character, and is just as important as the storyline. Songs were placed perfectly, pulsating through the scenes, adding dimension and emotion to moments that would otherwise have left the audience unsatisfied.

For a movie that is supposed to be mainly about sex it certainly takes long enough to get there. Almost as if the first quarter of the movie is some sort of foreplay for the audience, the first sex scene doesn’t happen until about the 40-minute mark. Because of the lack of on screen chemistry between these two, surprisingly, as a viewer expecting a lot of sex you really don’t mind the wait. Once these two do have sex however it seems that it becomes all they do.

The first few times these two have sex its nothing special, it’s the first time Christian takes Anastasia into his play room that they seem to find the sweet spot that carries the rest of the movies steamier scenes. With a slower version of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” playing, this is the scene most audience members will remember.

With all the sex, whipping, spanking and teasing that goes on it’s easy to miss the fact that at its core, this is a fairly traditional, love story. There are some sincere moments between Christian and Anastasia, moments that make you want to see these two very different people find a way to make it work. The courtship between them is the real fantasy. The moments that we see a normally closed off Christian open himself up to Anastasia before pushing her away again becomes like a dance that pulls the audience in, making them want to see what happens next.

The film seems to take its time in every aspect, except with the ending which comes across as premature. There’s a moment when the screen goes black and you could tell everyone in the audience is thinking that’s it? However, after it sinks in that the film is indeed over you come to realize this ending is the perfect set up for the sequel, leaving the audience curious and wanting more.

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