What, you thought I wouldn't recognise you??!

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2015)

In a way, I didn't really recognise it since I read all three books, in the Fifty Shades trilogy, in one weekend. Now, the movie had obviously been something I was dying to see. But it did take me quite a long time to take the opportunity to watch "the year's most talked about movie!"
Originally I had even bought tickets to see the premier but the wife ended up being ill that day and so we got a refund. We never bothered to re-purchase them though, partly because of the reviews we'd read, and so it's only now, having ordered the DVD, that I got to watch it. Also with it being the disc containing the unseen ending I decided to watch that instead. This means I haven't actually seen the theatre version. Having heard a few views online, and thinking it was probably somehow censored for the intended audience, I decided it was more likely to be how the ending should have been.
The start, though, was a horrible disappointment. One of the things I loved about reading the book was getting into the mind of Ana, her chatty style and how I had connected with the character. To find this was not there was hard to take. As I remembered it, I was hooked on her way before Mr. Grey was introduced so to skip through in some kind of simultaneous introduction felt like being cheated. Especially when the fall through Christian's office door was awfully fake and just highlighted how the depth of the book's beginning had been skipped.
However, there is a big but here. OK, so the start seemed bad, BUT I was already invested in the story and the characters having read the book. I quickly found myself reacting to events, enjoying and living what was going on. And that's without even getting to a single sex scene. Perhaps there was always going to be difficult choices to make as to what to cut from the book, and what not to, and so at times it did feel like something was missing. Like how it suddenly skipped to Ana receiving copies of a book from Christian as a gift, like an RKO, out of nowhere.
As for the actors, Christian was suitably intense if not slightly less bold than I had previously pictured. Ana, unfortunately, was styled with a fringe which is pretty much my number one pet hate what it comes to a woman's appearance. I don't think I've seen anyone look good with a fringe, or bangs as some people may call it. Especially not on Mia, by the way, who was nothing like I imagined. On the other hand Christian's brother was probably just right. Ana's role was overall played pretty well as I rarely found myself thinking about how she was acting and lived along with her emotions instead. She still wasn't what I had pictured though. There is an early drawing/art idea somewhere for Ana online that is exactly what I'd pictured so it's a shame that wasn't followed up on, for me anyway.
Before I started to write this review I was undecided should I give it 7 or 8 out of 10. I think from the above it sadly has to be the 7. It's close though, as while the movie progressed I realised the beauty in not having Ana's thoughts transferred, from the book, to the screen. That was, that I found myself hearing those thoughts in my head whilst watching. It was a bit like the director had assumed the majority of people watching this would have read the book already and have preconceptions of how it was going to be. So a bit like in the book, you had to picture for yourself what it was like. In the movie you had to imagine what Ana was thinking for yourself.
As a movie overall it was a typically decent Hollywood production that flew by as you easily experienced the show without really seeing a masterpiece. This probably justifies the rating and highlights why many seem to have been disappointed with it. Obviously a lot of the explicit description found in the book was left out of the movie as quite simply they wouldn't have been allowed to broadcast it in mainstream cinemas otherwise. I can't help feeling, that in the right hands, an adult film production, of this story, could have been better and broken boundaries on both sides of the line.
Although, it wasn't quite the constant arousal inducing spectacle of the book, it certainly got the juices flowing, so to speak, and was certainly worth watching. Even if it was a bit like trying to watch yourself roll your own eyes in the mirror, I will want to see the theatrical ending at some point, not to forget the next movie. Also something I've been wanting to do, but haven't so as to give this film a chance, is read the book again. That way I'll be able to check, did I really fail to recognise the characters I enjoyed so much when reading it a few years ago? Or should the director be the one deserving of punishment, now, instead of the adorable Ana?!