Dakota Johnson Shines in Fifty Shades of Grey

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2015)

Actors have always said that intimate scenes are the toughest, and as I read the trilogy, I kept thinking 'how are they going to do/say THAT?' The look of the trailers is what attracted me to this story, along with the great soundtrack.
Going in, I was focused on Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. It's a tough role only because of the hype and controversy that surrounds this film. I am not sure if it's because director Sam Taylor-Johnson is a woman, but I was happy that the camera was on Jamie so much of the time, esp. during the intimate scenes. His Christian is so true to what I had in mind yet he delivers much more than I could have ever imagined. Nothing is lacking; he is intense and strict, playful and also vulnerable. We see him struggling with his new feelings that being with Anna brings out inside of him.
I had doubts about Dakota Johnson as Anastasia; they were dissolved within the first ten minutes of the movie. Her Anna brings light and humor to a serious portrait of two people who are just beginning to work their way through a relationship. I had first noticed her in "The Social Network," and she has definitely changed physically for this part. Hardly any actress can go through their career without showing some skin, not even Meryl Streep (she flashed a coworker in Silkwood) and to show everything (almost, that trophy is still at Sharon Stone's house) in the manner that she does is quite brave.
Wonderful to see Jennifer Ehle and Marcia Gay-Harden as the mothers of Anna and Christian.
This film has artistic merit in the acting, directing, editing and soundtrack. I cannot call it pornography. Sex is all in the mind, so what is nothing to some is everything to others. Having said that, I am looking forward to the second movie, which will be made hopefully with all the same actors but with much less controversy.