"The Worldwide Phenomenon comes to life."
Well, was Fifty Shades of Grey everything it was built up to be?
Having read all three books twice I knew I was going to be seeing this movie, I just didn't know when I'd get to see it. Long story short - I got to see Fifty Shades of Grey today. In my head there was always going to be a 50/50 divide as to whether the movie displayed too much sex and nudity, or not enough. Frankly, I was rather indifferent to this aspect of the movie. I don't think it's going to be as effective sexually as some people hope for.
I will surmise that Dakota Johnson's flesh - aka Miss Anastasia Steele - outweighed Jamie Dornan's - aka Mr Christian Grey. There is no full frontal nudity where you see Jamie or Dakota's more personal body parts. I write that in such a way in attempt not to offend people. The most flesh the audience get to see is Dakota and Jamie's pubic hair and that's it. I thought at one particular scene Jamie was going to be displaying a little more whilst he unzipped his hanging blue jeans but the camera shot changed, so, that didn't happen.
For the actual sex scenes themselves I found them rather tasteful. I believe if I remember correctly, there were either five to seven sex scenes? Feel free to tell me if that isn't correct. When the movie ended, there was a very unhappy gentleman near me with his female partner who loudly proclaimed;
"That was rubbish. And to think I thought this would get us humping tonight."
It must be said... I raised my eyebrows and my eyes popped at this.
That's what I was explaining at the beginning of this post, there was always going to be a 50/50 divide on how graphic this movie was for the audience. For me I was definitely happy with what was portrayed in the sexual scenes department. It wasn't too much to make it heavily pornographic as such but it wasn't so little it wasn't "Fifty Shades of Grey".
Dakota and Jamie's acting... That's where this gets funny. Albeit I'm about to get a little bit critical, I must stress how much this movie is basically a two man cast. Yes there is the odd face of Kate, Jose, Ana's mum, Elliot and so on. But really, it's only Dakota and Jamie. So to hold a movie (I think it's 125mins exactly) for the length it goes on for is actually not bad at all. I've seen worse and I'd go as far to say it was impressive from that perspective.
Days ago I saw a movie clip where I thought Dakota Johnson's acting was a bit cringeworthy. I can't really explain it, I just thought it didn't look good and I had to look away from the screen. This scene - the Clayton's hardware store scene - was pretty early on into the movie so it got out the way quickly. And yes, it made me cringe again. So from this scene I expected to not really take to Dakota. However... It was the complete opposite. I found she portrayed Anastasia Steele perfectly. Prior to the movie release, there has been many times I've sat doubting if she was the best casting choice and let me tell you, those thoughts have left the building. From her classiness whilst laying nude, to the portrayal of Ana's dry, embarrassed humour and to the emotionally confused moments surrounding and involving Christian Grey, Dakota was perfect. I really don't have one bad word to say about her performance as Ana. Her best moments were when she challenged Christian towards the end of the movie;
"Why do you want to hurt me?"
The emotion on Dakota's face and in her voice made me really relate to a person desperate to not only understand another person's thoughts but to pry answers from them as well.
And her other best moment was the drunk dialing Christian. This was really funny.
"You're so bossy. Go away Ana! Come back Ana!"
Everyone has their own opinion and they are entitled to it but if someone who sees Fifty Shades of Grey and doesn't think Dakota was brilliant, I can't relate to you unfortunately.
Jamie on the other hand... I think I was disappointed in his portrayal of "Fifty Shades of F**ked Up". This worries me for the film franchise that is going to follow on from this, since I didn't really care if he was Christian Grey or not. I know this wasn't and isn't the case for many people as social media has shown. When casting, I believe Jamie Dornan got a more positive response as Mr.Grey than Charlie Hunnam but I also believe it wasn't far behind his disapproved casting as well. So this worries me... Without a beard, for me, Jamie is far more attractive but he also has a young boy look about him particularly across the eyes when he smiles. It's cute. But is "cute" what the audience wanted for Christian Grey? I'm not sure. All I can say is I couldn't take Jamie seriously in the scene where he tells Ana;
"I f**k. Hard."
Think back to high school for a moment and put yourself there mentally. Remember whenever someone made a crude comment and at some point during high school, everyone laughed because it was 'naughty'? That's what Jamie's performance reminded me of. It was the look in his eyes which left me with the impression he wanted to laugh so badly whilst saying some of the really crude remarks. But, then again, Jamie looked pretty serious when Christian learned Ana was still a virgin. I'm split on whether I was impressed or disappointed with Jamie Dornan which makes me sway more toward disappointment since I've left the theatre undecided. I'm hoping this is a movie the more times you see/watch it the actors acting grows on you. You start to see it from different perspectives and appreciate that there is maybe a depth or lightness you've mistaken for poor acting. The audience want to leave the cinema impressed, engrossed and eager for more just like I was with Dakota. For Jamie... It just didn't happen. So this makes me want to say I was disappointed. But how could I be really disappointed if I enjoyed the movie?
Yes I enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey as I can see a real base of control forming for the rest of the franchise. The battle for dominance and free will showed through all of the sex, comical ground and emotional points. There was a lot missing from the novel but that's becoming the norm for movies these days. I don't think they missed any great things... But I do think there was stuff they could have done without. For example, the dinner scene with his family as it lasted about thirty seconds. I found it irrelevant for the film's flow.
This is a movie people will go see if they want to see it and if they don't want to then they won't. I think it's worth seeing at least once especially if you've read the books and were a fan. It lets people see what has been created in honour of the books and I always think books brought to the screen have something special about them, even when they're rotten. It allows you to envision something you couldn't see before. I couldn't imagine Christian's penthouse and now I have something to picture.
This is going to become a franchise so if you want to be involved with it then get your butt to the cinema and see this. Because this is going to dominate the cinema at least another two times in the coming years.
And I just want to put this out there that I have high respect for both Jamie and Dakota for being the faces of something that was and is under heavy scrutiny, from movie reviews to movie bashing. I've seen a lot of posters stating opinions Fifty Shades of Grey is about abuse - everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions - but I've not liked how these posters have Jamie's face on them. Yes he plays the role of Christian Grey but I bet he lives a totally different life in all ways. But using his face for such a thing will stick against him for some people, this just happens somehow. I don't think that's fair and I wish people wouldn't do that.
I pre-ordered the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack which I'll blog about over the weekend no doubt. But I wanted to mention the music right now as well. The music was used really well in the movie and there isn't one song I dislike. The soundtrack has been really well planned and produced so I give everyone involved with that an applause. However, the biggest criticism I have for the movie is that music was throughout the entire film. There was not one scene that had peace and quiet and allowed the audience to fully concentrate on the scene. From tambourines, pianos, beats and so on. Just when a scene started and it had no sound other than the soft foot movements of Ana moving around a room and her labored breathing, I was assaulted with these irritating sounds. Ten minutes into the movie they were already annoying me. I don't know the musical term for these sounds but it was backing sounds/tunes throughout. It made me feel really grumpy during the elevator kissing scene. Beyoncé's Crazy In Love (like in the trailer - link below) would have been sooooooo much better.
But I think that's about it. I'll be wrapping up now. Please feel free to comment if you've got any questions or anything.
One thing is for certain. I'll be reading the books for a third time now and as Mr. Grey would say...
Laters, baby.
Fifty Shades of Grey Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfZWFDs0LxA
The emotion on Dakota's face and in her voice made me really relate to a person desperate to not only understand another person's thoughts but to pry answers from them as well.
And her other best moment was the drunk dialing Christian. This was really funny.
"You're so bossy. Go away Ana! Come back Ana!"
Everyone has their own opinion and they are entitled to it but if someone who sees Fifty Shades of Grey and doesn't think Dakota was brilliant, I can't relate to you unfortunately.
Jamie on the other hand... I think I was disappointed in his portrayal of "Fifty Shades of F**ked Up". This worries me for the film franchise that is going to follow on from this, since I didn't really care if he was Christian Grey or not. I know this wasn't and isn't the case for many people as social media has shown. When casting, I believe Jamie Dornan got a more positive response as Mr.Grey than Charlie Hunnam but I also believe it wasn't far behind his disapproved casting as well. So this worries me... Without a beard, for me, Jamie is far more attractive but he also has a young boy look about him particularly across the eyes when he smiles. It's cute. But is "cute" what the audience wanted for Christian Grey? I'm not sure. All I can say is I couldn't take Jamie seriously in the scene where he tells Ana;
"I f**k. Hard."
Think back to high school for a moment and put yourself there mentally. Remember whenever someone made a crude comment and at some point during high school, everyone laughed because it was 'naughty'? That's what Jamie's performance reminded me of. It was the look in his eyes which left me with the impression he wanted to laugh so badly whilst saying some of the really crude remarks. But, then again, Jamie looked pretty serious when Christian learned Ana was still a virgin. I'm split on whether I was impressed or disappointed with Jamie Dornan which makes me sway more toward disappointment since I've left the theatre undecided. I'm hoping this is a movie the more times you see/watch it the actors acting grows on you. You start to see it from different perspectives and appreciate that there is maybe a depth or lightness you've mistaken for poor acting. The audience want to leave the cinema impressed, engrossed and eager for more just like I was with Dakota. For Jamie... It just didn't happen. So this makes me want to say I was disappointed. But how could I be really disappointed if I enjoyed the movie?
Yes I enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey as I can see a real base of control forming for the rest of the franchise. The battle for dominance and free will showed through all of the sex, comical ground and emotional points. There was a lot missing from the novel but that's becoming the norm for movies these days. I don't think they missed any great things... But I do think there was stuff they could have done without. For example, the dinner scene with his family as it lasted about thirty seconds. I found it irrelevant for the film's flow.
This is a movie people will go see if they want to see it and if they don't want to then they won't. I think it's worth seeing at least once especially if you've read the books and were a fan. It lets people see what has been created in honour of the books and I always think books brought to the screen have something special about them, even when they're rotten. It allows you to envision something you couldn't see before. I couldn't imagine Christian's penthouse and now I have something to picture.
This is going to become a franchise so if you want to be involved with it then get your butt to the cinema and see this. Because this is going to dominate the cinema at least another two times in the coming years.
And I just want to put this out there that I have high respect for both Jamie and Dakota for being the faces of something that was and is under heavy scrutiny, from movie reviews to movie bashing. I've seen a lot of posters stating opinions Fifty Shades of Grey is about abuse - everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions - but I've not liked how these posters have Jamie's face on them. Yes he plays the role of Christian Grey but I bet he lives a totally different life in all ways. But using his face for such a thing will stick against him for some people, this just happens somehow. I don't think that's fair and I wish people wouldn't do that.
I pre-ordered the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack which I'll blog about over the weekend no doubt. But I wanted to mention the music right now as well. The music was used really well in the movie and there isn't one song I dislike. The soundtrack has been really well planned and produced so I give everyone involved with that an applause. However, the biggest criticism I have for the movie is that music was throughout the entire film. There was not one scene that had peace and quiet and allowed the audience to fully concentrate on the scene. From tambourines, pianos, beats and so on. Just when a scene started and it had no sound other than the soft foot movements of Ana moving around a room and her labored breathing, I was assaulted with these irritating sounds. Ten minutes into the movie they were already annoying me. I don't know the musical term for these sounds but it was backing sounds/tunes throughout. It made me feel really grumpy during the elevator kissing scene. Beyoncé's Crazy In Love (like in the trailer - link below) would have been sooooooo much better.
But I think that's about it. I'll be wrapping up now. Please feel free to comment if you've got any questions or anything.
One thing is for certain. I'll be reading the books for a third time now and as Mr. Grey would say...
Laters, baby.
Fifty Shades of Grey Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfZWFDs0LxA
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