Just an OK movie

Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2017)

Where do I begin? Lets start with the good stuff... Firstly there is the music score by Danny Elfman gets a big stamp of approval.(barely). Secondly, Cimentogrphy by Seamus McGarvey was fantastic and beautiful. And lastly, the over all Style of the film with production design was sleek. So what was the issue. It is in my opinion:
CONTROL: the author E.L. James massive ego killed it for me. It is very difficult to translate a book to film successfully but it can be done. Schindler's List, Gorilla's in the Mist, The Great Gatsby, Silence of the Lambs and Atonement to name a few. But with this film it's did not come across. And this is a prime example of the author, E.L. James having too much control on the source material. Whenever the film tries to be a movie because somethings in novels cannot be translated into a visual medium, E.L.James practically chokes it back to a novel format. Slap my forehead, Fifty Shades has the full symptoms of The Phantom Menace. We've seen this happen with George Lucas controlling influences and his team of "yes" people
CASTING: the two main leads Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornam; two good looking people who "should" have and can act. But in Fifty Shades of Grey they both look like this is their first acting job. There was no soul or believable in the characters of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. So it comes down to casting. If the leads are right..like Clarke Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind..the film can be good. And sometimes exception, for example, Lord Of the Ring trilogy.
WRITING (SCRIPT). The story is very simplistic. Boy meets girl. Fall in love and they go through the tribulations of a relationship. But likes kinky stuff, girl doesn't like it but she has hit the jackpot. She has successfully nabbed a billionaire. So she goes along with it. Script is so bad that a 5 year old could of written it better. And it has E.L. James in the writing credits. A middle age woman with no previous experience as a film writer. There are parts where you get the feeling something is right, or important information for the audience are glossed over. Scenes that need further exploration are abruptly ended. Dialogue is stiff and goes into the territory of...oh God help us...yep...Daytime television.
CHARACTERS:. Ana is poorly develops, weak and needs a man to rescue her. She has no ambitions a of a modern woman, no driving force that motivates her to follow her destiny. NOTHING!!! No interest, no hobbies, no backbone. Christian JUST is dull and boring. A handsome man with absolutely no real character arc. Is he arrogant? NO Is he an interesting person? NO Does he go through life changing events in the movie which affect him and Ana, he grows and become a different person. But do we get this on screen. NOPE the audience has been ripped off. Christain is the same person as he is in the beginning. Think about, what truly changed him as a character, what event categorically changed the fundamentally of this character. And there it is again, what were all the characters motivations in this movie? Sadly all the characters lacked connectivity with the audience and came across as fake.
I don't want to trash Fifty Shades of Grey like many critics and reviewers, because honestly, we've seen worst. I will say this is an OK movie not a masterpiece.