Last Saturday my best friend and I took a trip to Chattanooga for a movie marathon. We saw the Newsies reboot and 50 Shades Darker. Newsies was obviously perfect in every way, so there’s no point in reviewing that. 50 Shades, however, was a bit more bumpy.
The trilogy got a new director with 50 Shades Darker. This had its ups and downs. Obviously the plot was never going to top notch, but it was at least slightly better in the first one than in the second. I felt like the events were jumping around so much; the screen writers obviously wanted to fit so much in that it didn’t flow well. One thing would be happening and then BOOM new plot twist. It went beyond the creepy girl with a gun and plane crash that were shown in the trailer. *Spoiler alert* There was also a marriage proposal and an attempted rape. With that many huge plot points, it’s hard for a movie to not seem choppy. There’s a reason you can’t fit an entire book into one movie.
The upside of the new director is that the filming was so much better. 50 Shades Darker had a much more Sundance movie feel than the first one. The camera angles were all side shots and dark lighting. I absolutely ate it up because I love that type of thing. My favorite movies to watch are sh@#%y Sundance films that go straight to Netflix. And the soundtrack. I could go on forever about the soundtrack for this movie. I absolutely loved it. For me a good soundtrack can make any movie bearable, and this one was straight fire. They got Danny Elfman to be the composer, and for those who don’t know, he’s a big deal. He worked on Corpse Bride, Silver Linings Playbook, Good Will Hunting, Desperate Housewives, and the Simpsons (and that’s just naming a few). Basically, Danny Elfman is a music department god. Below is the tracklist for the soundtrack, which I will definitely be buying.
On to the acting. Most people say that Jamie Dornan is too boring to be Christian and Dakota Johnson is the bright spot, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Not saying that he’s necessarily a good actor in this, but he’s definitely not worse than Johnson. Dakota Johnson plays Ana as awkward beyond the point of human ability. While I understand that Ana is supposed to be an awkward and ungainly character, Johnson just takes it too far for me. There are too many uncomfortable lip bites and long pauses. In real life, even the most awkward person doesn’t act the way Dakota Johnson does as Anastasia Steele.
All in all, I give it 2/10 for plot, 8/10 for Jamie Dornan’s abs (I would’ve liked to see them more), and 10/10 for Danny Elfman and his legendary musical skills. Below are a couple of trailers for it. They give you a good idea of the music and camera work that I love so much.