Review: 50 Shades of Grey
May. 19th, 2015 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miryoWelp, here it is.
I was bored enough to watch 50 Shades of Grey. And because I was curious to know what was so alluring about the movie. The book too, by default I suppose. I'll begin with a summary of the movie before delving into any scathing commentary of the plot.
50 Shades is about a young college-aged girl, Anastasia Steele, who interviews a young billionaire, Christian Grey, in place of her roommate, Kate. At their first meeting, sparks clearly fly and Christian takes a liking to her, so much that he somehow tracks her down and sends gifts to her home. He shows her his "BDSM" fetish. They eventually have sex and Anastasia becomes enamored with Christian. Then he gives her a nondisclosure agreement for her to consider becoming his "submissive".
Note that the summary isn't clear and concise, and the usage of quotation marks around the controversial words that have ignited many heated discussions over the relationship portrayed between Anastasia and Christian.
First off, let me just say that I adore romantic comedies. Not all, but those starring my favorites. I've seen plenty: the good, the bad and the ugly. 50SoG is the worst of any romantic comedies I've ever seen even though it's clearly lacking in the comedy aspect. I'm aware that romcoms in general require you to suspend your disblief... but 50SoG, well, practically mandates that you leave your disbelief at the door because nothing in the movie makes much sense.
Let's talk about character, starting with the female lead. In the beginning, Anastasia is shown to be an awkward, mousy girl, who wears "geeky chic" clothing, then she miraculously gains fashion sense after sleeping with a rich guy. She sees nothing wrong with a stranger coming into her workplace, demanding she leave a club after she drunk dials him, giving her a helicopter ride to his bachelor's pad after strapping her tightly in her seat (so she won't escape) -- essentially she encourages his attempts to control her. Now, there is nothing wrong with a girl feeling confident and sexy after having sex. But Ana teeters between timid and headstrong in certain situations. Don't get me wrong. Ana asks some good questions and makes her own fair share of demands yet she can't seem to understand that Christian manipulates her at any chance he gets. He stares her in the eye and declares his inability to get romantic, yet she still decides that she can change him.
Onto Christian now. He's your typical mysterious, brooding male lead with an angsty, tragic past to boot. Is his obvious sadism his way of dealing with his childhood trauma? Maybe. That doesn't excuse him from controling Ana though. Before she knows anything about him, he's already discovered where she lives, where she works... He even knew which club to find her drunk ass at, with technology that could rival a CSI (I'm assuming). There's nothing to like about him unless you're into controlling and abusive men.
Together, they're mind-bogglingly stupid. Granted, Ana is much younger than he is so her naivety and ignorance can be attributed to her lack of life experience. Christian very clearly takes and is taking advantage of her yet no one around them seems to question or mind their relationship. His mother drops by unexpectedly after the morning following their first night together... and she immediately loves Ana. Christian shows up in Georgia after being "inexplicably mad" that Ana doesn't tell him about her visiting her mother, and her mother doesn't bat an eye. Just to be clear... he is an established 27-year-old and she is likely 21 at most. This is supposed to be an acceptable norm in their world.
Later in the movie, it's clear that Christian has issues stemming from his childhood, and a near obsession with pain, violence and punishment. For some reason, his parents are in the dark, though vaguely aware of his sexual nature, and therapy isn't a proposed solution to his problems. To be fair, Ana, despite her delusions about Christian, is strong-willed enough to realize that his nondisclosure contract is bullshit and his sadism is something she will not stand for. However, she claims to be in love with him. And there, I think, is where the problem lies. He has repeatedly said that he doesn't do romance ("it's not the sort of relationship I have"), and any prolonged physical contact they have is purely sexual. Isn't this, then, purely lust she feels for him? Where is the love coming from?
Jamie Dornan isn't too bad as Christian Grey, except that his presence leaves little to be desired. Although his chemistry with Dakota Johnson is not an eyesore, his solo charisma needs a lot of work. Then again, given the ridiculous plot, it's not surprising he would struggle with any intensity. Dakota Johnson was excellent in the role in spite of Ana's strange personality switches, but that obviously wasn't within the actress' control. Had the character itself been better, Dakota would've pulled it off flawlessly.
The movie ends with Ana finally pulling herself out of Christian's reach, but we all know she returns into his arms not too long after. Mainly because there are two more books to write movie screenplays for. The cinematography for the movie is incredible. I'm not sure what the rating was while it was in theaters but the most nudity was courtesy of Dakota Johnson's breasts. Everything else was tastefully cut away and rejoined. While I'm for anything sleek and streamlined, not much else in the movie impressed me.
Maybe watch it if you're bored/drunk/high though never seriously sit down and watch it. It's two hours long and not worth your time. 1/5
I was bored enough to watch 50 Shades of Grey. And because I was curious to know what was so alluring about the movie. The book too, by default I suppose. I'll begin with a summary of the movie before delving into any scathing commentary of the plot.
50 Shades is about a young college-aged girl, Anastasia Steele, who interviews a young billionaire, Christian Grey, in place of her roommate, Kate. At their first meeting, sparks clearly fly and Christian takes a liking to her, so much that he somehow tracks her down and sends gifts to her home. He shows her his "BDSM" fetish. They eventually have sex and Anastasia becomes enamored with Christian. Then he gives her a nondisclosure agreement for her to consider becoming his "submissive".
Note that the summary isn't clear and concise, and the usage of quotation marks around the controversial words that have ignited many heated discussions over the relationship portrayed between Anastasia and Christian.
First off, let me just say that I adore romantic comedies. Not all, but those starring my favorites. I've seen plenty: the good, the bad and the ugly. 50SoG is the worst of any romantic comedies I've ever seen even though it's clearly lacking in the comedy aspect. I'm aware that romcoms in general require you to suspend your disblief... but 50SoG, well, practically mandates that you leave your disbelief at the door because nothing in the movie makes much sense.
Let's talk about character, starting with the female lead. In the beginning, Anastasia is shown to be an awkward, mousy girl, who wears "geeky chic" clothing, then she miraculously gains fashion sense after sleeping with a rich guy. She sees nothing wrong with a stranger coming into her workplace, demanding she leave a club after she drunk dials him, giving her a helicopter ride to his bachelor's pad after strapping her tightly in her seat (so she won't escape) -- essentially she encourages his attempts to control her. Now, there is nothing wrong with a girl feeling confident and sexy after having sex. But Ana teeters between timid and headstrong in certain situations. Don't get me wrong. Ana asks some good questions and makes her own fair share of demands yet she can't seem to understand that Christian manipulates her at any chance he gets. He stares her in the eye and declares his inability to get romantic, yet she still decides that she can change him.
Onto Christian now. He's your typical mysterious, brooding male lead with an angsty, tragic past to boot. Is his obvious sadism his way of dealing with his childhood trauma? Maybe. That doesn't excuse him from controling Ana though. Before she knows anything about him, he's already discovered where she lives, where she works... He even knew which club to find her drunk ass at, with technology that could rival a CSI (I'm assuming). There's nothing to like about him unless you're into controlling and abusive men.
Together, they're mind-bogglingly stupid. Granted, Ana is much younger than he is so her naivety and ignorance can be attributed to her lack of life experience. Christian very clearly takes and is taking advantage of her yet no one around them seems to question or mind their relationship. His mother drops by unexpectedly after the morning following their first night together... and she immediately loves Ana. Christian shows up in Georgia after being "inexplicably mad" that Ana doesn't tell him about her visiting her mother, and her mother doesn't bat an eye. Just to be clear... he is an established 27-year-old and she is likely 21 at most. This is supposed to be an acceptable norm in their world.
Later in the movie, it's clear that Christian has issues stemming from his childhood, and a near obsession with pain, violence and punishment. For some reason, his parents are in the dark, though vaguely aware of his sexual nature, and therapy isn't a proposed solution to his problems. To be fair, Ana, despite her delusions about Christian, is strong-willed enough to realize that his nondisclosure contract is bullshit and his sadism is something she will not stand for. However, she claims to be in love with him. And there, I think, is where the problem lies. He has repeatedly said that he doesn't do romance ("it's not the sort of relationship I have"), and any prolonged physical contact they have is purely sexual. Isn't this, then, purely lust she feels for him? Where is the love coming from?
Jamie Dornan isn't too bad as Christian Grey, except that his presence leaves little to be desired. Although his chemistry with Dakota Johnson is not an eyesore, his solo charisma needs a lot of work. Then again, given the ridiculous plot, it's not surprising he would struggle with any intensity. Dakota Johnson was excellent in the role in spite of Ana's strange personality switches, but that obviously wasn't within the actress' control. Had the character itself been better, Dakota would've pulled it off flawlessly.
The movie ends with Ana finally pulling herself out of Christian's reach, but we all know she returns into his arms not too long after. Mainly because there are two more books to write movie screenplays for. The cinematography for the movie is incredible. I'm not sure what the rating was while it was in theaters but the most nudity was courtesy of Dakota Johnson's breasts. Everything else was tastefully cut away and rejoined. While I'm for anything sleek and streamlined, not much else in the movie impressed me.
Maybe watch it if you're bored/drunk/high though never seriously sit down and watch it. It's two hours long and not worth your time. 1/5
