I must warn, before reading further, that there will be spoilers revealed.
After reading 50 Shades of Grey, cursing the entire time, I was both horrified and angered by this romanticized abusive relationship. The only logical thing to do after that was to watch the movies in theatres. The first movie lacked chemistry between the actors, and the dialogue was far from natural.
50 Shades Darker came out in theatres earlier this month for Valentine’s Day. And so, I found myself going with a friend to watch the movie sequel of a book I thought was far from well-written.
This movie was both hilarious and cringe-worthy. I found myself in a half empty room, and both my friend and I were giggling throughout the questionable plot. So much happened in a span of two hours, it was ridiculous. They painted Christian Grey in all his degrading, abusive ways perfectly. His demands were masked in questions and his one-liners made me flail my arms in aggravated disbelief as Anastasia Steele posed as a self-assured, empowered woman by allowing him to talk down to her.
Pointing out more than once that his actions are too domineering and possessive, Ana still accepts his marriage proposal…even after he admitted the big plot twist; he’s not a dominant, he’s a sadist. Yes, Christian Grey admitted to not only being a sadist, but enjoying inflicting pain on women who resemble his mother. If it were me, I wouldn’t accept his proposal, but instead check him in a psychiatric ward. But that’s just me.
The action did not begin or end there. After Ana is almost shot by a crazy ex-submissive out to kill, she’s almost sexually assaulted by her boss (who is oddly obsessed with Christian), and finally Christian’s helicopter randomly plummets in the forests. This whole last scene was done half-fast. Within less than ten minutes, Christian is said to be missing, then is found unharmed. He went to the hospital, and while the crash is announced on the news, elevator doors open to reveal none other than Christian Grey.
Action is always good, especially in this kind of movie to balance things out. But making what should be a romantic movie action-packed makes it overwhelming. It looks implausible and excessive, and ultimately make the audience laugh.