Game:

Darker (1995)

Category:

Review

Duration: 16:07

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2

"Fifty Shades Darker" (2017) directed by James Foley is a surprisingly decent sequel but the first film wasn't that great to begin with and now the novelty and charm is lessened since it's round two. However this time around I was less blind to the obvious issues and I am straight up taking an entire point away for the stupid helicopter crash section in this (A little blood and he just walks it off like nothing ever happened, not to mention it would have been more clever / in-character for him to straight up stage the crash, but the fact it was genuine is extremely silly and unbelievable).

Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) has a new job and is trying to move on after her heart was broken. Christian (Jamie Dornan) is unable to let Ana go and attempts to prove his dedication to her, earning him a second chance as long as there are no rules, punishments, or contractual obligations this time. We learn more about Christian's traumatic past which provides additional context into understanding why he is the way that he is. Ana navigates her new complicated life in trying to prevent Christian's controlling tendencies and her creepy boss Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), as well as one of Christian's former subs stalking her.

In general I enjoyed my experience with this film but I will be focusing on the negatives in this review for the sake of new discussion rather than repeating what I already liked about the previous film which is also present here. Ana & Christian's relationship head in a good direction but I found the constant trademark sex scenes to actually seriously take away from the story and their development as a couple. Obviously every couple enjoys sex but it seems to be the primary thing connecting the two of them together which is not exactly powerful storytelling or a respectable message (And this statement is coming from a dude). They seem to ignore their issues by falling back on their primal lust for each other and it can be very frustrating to watch, when I should be enjoying these sensual scenes.

Christian was somewhat fixed as a character here after his overbearing neediness towards the end of the previous film, but he seriously needs to let go of his "mysterious" thing where he refuses to talk about his past or his problems because coming from first hand experience, it's not a long term solution nor does it make for a strong and lasting relationship. Jack was absolutely insufferable and it would be nice to see a single morally half decent male character in this series apart from Christian who is arguably not that decent to begin with. Ana continues to be an empowered self respecting woman who I admire but I would have appreciated the occasional clue-in to what she's thinking or truly feeling because I can't figure out whether she's naive or just doesn't care about the potential risks of trying to change Christian so drastically and quickly. Christian's reveal that he's actually a sadist rather than a dominant was interesting but still questionable since he's not exactly evil nor does he genuinely want to hurt Ana, and just like Ana, I would appreciate the occasional clue-in to what's going on in his mind because we never exactly learn what makes Ana "different," or, the "one," and while I can definitely infer the reasons, I would prefer to hear them from his own mouth.

I expected Fifty Shades Darker to be significantly worse than it's predecessor but it was only a little bit which is good. Sex can solve of your problems is the message of the film though which is pretty funny to me.

#rainynights #movies #fiftyshades

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