Huge opportunity missed out on by Director and Cast

Rating: 2/10 (17 February 2015)

So first things first Mr Grey. He was cast completely wrong. He lacked in darkness and mystery which he is shrouded in in the book. He failed to portray the intensity that the character required and there was no real connection between him and Anastasia in the majority of the film. Parts he did well, was the wounded lost boy look he gave towards Anastasia near the end after a moment of rejection from her. He also managed to capture a bit of frustration in that section quite well too. Bad parts the rest really. He should have been much more dominant, in control, trying to maintain his cold demeanour whilst relenting bit by bit as his love and desire for Anastasia outweighed his broken past and need for distance from emotion. He needed to encapsulate Anastasia 100% taking in the audience with him from the start but this was not the case.
Anastasia definitely had the vulnerable look about her and portrayed that visually quite well a few times throughout by luck of her natural look as opposed to acting but the conversion from book to film script was poor and she lacked depth or believability in her desire for him or any emotion at all other than reading from a script in the majority of the film.
Taylor not great casting but not in it much anyway and Christians mum was OK ish, her mum was cast well and so was her dad. Her flat mate was cast badly and a bad actor in general so many female actresses could have got the flat mate so right it's confusing how they got it so wrong. Right sex scenes. Don't make something an 18 and advertise it as serious sex scenes when really it's pretty much all tame and romanticised up rather than being the hard raw lustful passionate sex it was supposed to be. The music during these scenes made me feel I was in church watching a coronation not a red room of pain. Also the punishment scene was just cringe-worthy and failed to actually deliver the message that she wanted him to feel the rejection after doing that to her that she felt about not being able to touch him. There was so much depth that could have been achieved in this area. They could have also got across why she was so willing to allow him to do these things to her. Also considering he never usually does romance that should have been clawed out of him or at least spontaneously given in a moment of passion or in order to stop her leaving to show that her power over him was strong too.
Basically I wanted to feel the chemistry, the pull they had for each other and the build up from her being introduced to something new and different but not necessarily bad and with rewards for her as well as him when done in the right way. Instead I got a virgin girl supposedly waiting for Mr right and that Mr right being someone who wants to hurt her and dominate her and punish her which is completely against what she wanted in a man and that is not what the book portrays in my opinion she should have felt it was completely wrong but went there anyway due to how he made her feel but the complete lack of chemistry failed to make that appear plausible throughout.
With the right cast, script, director and music it could have been an epic love story achieved through hard lustful sex whilst breaking down emotional barriers on one side and nativity and ignorance on the other to meet in the middle but it did not deliver anywhere close to achieving this in its current format.
I give it a 2/10