Not quite as expected

Rating: 5/10 (14 March 2015)

I know that usually, when you've first read the book, that the characters in the movie don't always add up to what you've already envisaged in your head. So, when I first started watching this movie, I tried to approach it with an open mind.
Even so, the characters on screen were difficult to come to terms with, mainly because Christian Grey comes across as neither 'hot' or 'intriguing', though he certainly has an element of cold mastery about him. Anastasia does have many of the elements required for a virginal girl who becomes seduced by the dark side of sex, but is she really beautiful enough to have engaged the attention of Mr Grey? I didn't think so.
What saves the movie is the direction which is sympathetically in tune with the original story even though the screenplay has to chop out much of the story's development because of lack of time. Anastasia's apparent 'plight' comes across well, and is superbly acted, even though I did feel that much of the tension implicit in their burgeoning love affair is short-circuited as a result of the restrictions of film time. Even the sex scenes lack tension - while eroticism is at a low ebb, perhaps because the backing music is both unnecessary and so intrusive as to cover up the actor's vocalizations of pleasure.
I suppose the real trouble is that most viewers of this film will be hoping for a visual representation of the book and, because of the severe cuts (I'd love to know what ended up on the cutting room floor) it doesn't match up. Also I doubt that Mr Christian Grey will be anything like they imagined.