See The Movie For Yourself And Then Decide....

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2015)

I have read all three books and I thought the movie was not going to be as good as the book. But, I was completely wrong! I also thought Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson did not fit the part for Christian and Anna when I first heard they had been casted. But, boy was I also wrong. However, due to the nature of this book I did expect a lot of sex scenes, which encompassed about 20 minutes of the movie. But, I thought the sex scenes were tastefully done and left your imagination up to deciphering what was not seen on film.
I think many of us get distracted or cannot get past the (graphic) sex scenes in the movie, to actually understand the deeper meaning of this story. There is a REASON--a vital reason, why Christian is the way he is. The fact that he opened up to Anna about his personal life while she was sleeping portrays his vulnerability and I felt like he was being pulled between two worlds--the one he wants with Anna and the one he currently pursues with his singular tastes.
I feel like Dakota played Anna in a similar, but very different way than the Anna portrayed in the book. She was curious, awkward, naive like the book, yet towards the end she became more strong willed and confident in what she really wanted. I really enjoyed her performance. As women, I feel like we love to get inside a person's mind and try to change them. I think that is why Anna is so fixated on Christian, because he is tormented and scarred. He has secrets that Anna wants to heal. He is so complicated and confusing that it intrigues Anna to really get to know the person he is under the surface. For men, I know they see with their eyes and are not as emotional or desperate to uncover a person's real story. There is so much tension that can be felt between the two characters and once the movie ends it will certainly leave you wanting to see how the 2nd installment turns out.
This movie was very well done for a book based on BDSM and I think if you at least have read the books or if you can go into the film with an open mind you will thoroughly enjoy it, it might be a little awkward to see with a bunch of strangers, but the movie is well worth seeing and I cannot wait to see the next one.