Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

DISCLAIMER:  This movie is R-rated.  It contains adult themes that are not appropriate for all students.

For 124 minutes Fifty Shades of Grey, the film adaptation of the best-selling novel by E. L. James, is a captivating and erotic tale of affection, desire and abuse.

Predicted to earn over $60 million in its opening weekend, Fifty follows college student Anastasia Steele who finds herself in a less-than conventional relationship with billionaire Christian Grey. Rather than a typical romance, Mr. Grey prefers to have a Dominant-Submissive one in which he practically owns Miss Steele. With a contract that would grant him control over her diet, living habits, body care, and general lifestyle Mr. Grey also requires a certain physical demand.

BDSM is a phrase used to describe sexual practices involving power exchange, bondage and sadomasochism. These sexual practices are what Christian craves and what causes strife for the pair.

As for the film, it stars Jamie Dornan as Grey and Dakota Johnson as Steele with Sam Taylor-Johnson at the helm as the film’s director.

Fifty Shades of Grey begins awkwardly, like its female protagonist, including an uncomfortable scene between the romantic leads – a scene that feels  forced and one that lacks any chemistry. As the film progresses though, so does the quality.

Longing looks, endless lip-biting, piercing eyes, and tousled hair all culminate to a passionate affair that matched the book’s intensity without being as graphic. Although the film certainly earned its R rating, it is tame in all aspects compared to the book that sold over  100 million copies worldwide.

The language and sexual situations are toned down for the film as well as the disturbing nature of their relationship. The book, which is often criticized for its inaccurate portrayal of a BDSM relationship, fetishizes domestic abuse. Christian isolates Anna, controls her, patronizes her, threatens her, blames her, stalks her, and in the end is painted as the ideal man.

While the film mentions these attributes, it glosses over these characteristics and instead focuses on his enigmatic behavior, only hinting at Christian’s past.

Both lead actors handled their characters professionally and seriously, a task that must have been quite difficult considering the amount of humor and intimacy the film demands. Steele and Grey, in the novel, were archetypes used to tell a story while the film adaptations infuses life within these characters allowing their presence and relationship to take precedent over the narrative.

The aesthetic was clean, simple and pleasing due to director Taylor-Johnson who masterfully grasped the sexual tension needed to please fans while adding a tenderness and wide-range appeal to invite audience members who had yet to read the books.

The soundtrack is the most redeeming aspect of this movie with engaging tracks featuring Beyoncé, Frank Sinatra, Sia and Ellie Goulding. Each and every moment was elevated by these tunes, turning a sweet scene into a steamy one.

While the film is problematic and logically decent at best, it is able to entice and intrigue. It is absolutely ridiculous and undeniably alluring, so much so that I was moved to watch the film twice in one sitting.

Fifty Shades of Grey is not necessarily appropriate for a high school audience though be forewarned those who do venture out to theaters that it features explicit sexual material, nudity and crude language.

All in all, the film lives up to its Twilight origins; it is based on a massively successful and critically panned novel, features a roster of beautiful and talented actors who are stifled by the ludicrous story, and will probably cement itself as a pop culture giant with the sequels surely on the way.

“Laters, baby,” -Christian Grey.

The Hilights

Release Date: 02/13/2015

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars