Is 'Fifty Shades Freed' Fun And Trashy Or Just Boring? Here's What The Reviews Say
Let's have a moment of silence for what the "Fifty Shades" films aren't — raunchy, knowingly-campy giggle-fests made to arouse and entertain viewers without shame. Instead, they pale in comparison to their source material, their source material's source material… they're bad in a way that doesn't even stun or offend. Does "Fifty Shades Freed," out February 9th, free itself from this rut? Here's what the reviews say:
This One Starts With A Super-Steamy… Wedding
After a white wedding and whirlwind honeymoon in Paris and the French Riviera, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) are drawn back to Seattle by the specter of Ana's former boss, the leering Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson, "The Knick"), who has undergone a transformation from shamed book editor to criminal mastermind bent on destroying their world. It's a good thing too, because now that the Greys have put a ring on it, there isn't much more for the couple to do other than negotiate exactly which sex toys they'll be trying next.
[TheWrap]
After the painfully one-sided sexual adventure of the first film, in which she met Christian and was brutally exposed to his odd habits, and after Christian's even nastier control-freakishness in the ill-conceived "50 Shades Darker," Ana is at last able to demand to hold the reins from time to time — a narrative turn that manages to frame their marriage as an empowering structure for women: now enclosed in the gilded cage of their union, Ana can pull on the rope that Christian had tied around her neck.
Dakota Johnson Still Makes A Case For Her Star-Status, And Jamie Dornan's Still Playing Catch-Up
Johnson, radiant and committed, gives Ana a certain confidence and ease that she'd never had before, and Christian, the man of steel himself, proves he has a few decent jokes in him – though Dornan struggles slightly to portray that goofiness.
Johnson, so wonderful in the first film, made a game fist of her character's more capricious conception in the second. This time, her inherent likeability as a performer is all that's keeping Anastasia, a notionally independent career woman who veers between seething assertiveness and spineless compliance at the script's will, from sliding off the screen entirely.
[Variety]
Christian Grey, on the other hand, is such a bore that Dornan seems to be doubling down on the stiffness and gives his line readings like he's reciting from a teleprompter. For a man who can buy anything he wants, including the woman of his dreams, Grey should maybe try investing in a personality.
The Action And Plot Are Practically Nonexistent
Though the previous entry set up Ana's jilted ex-boss (Eric Johnson) as a future heavyweight antagonist, he too is only offered paltry narrative real estate as a third act foil. Instead the film moves forward as a repetition of 10-15 minute cycles, each one presenting another potential flare-up and then quickly resolving it and capping things off with another bout of harmlessly outré lovemaking, tamed for the mainstream and set to songs by Ellie Goulding, co-star Rita Ora and One Direction's Liam Payne.
The thriller plot with Hyde is wafer thin. So director James Foley (yes, the same James Foley who somehow once directed Glengarry Glen Ross and then apparently lost a bet [sic] with Satan) appeals to our collective weakness for materialistic envy with ritzy mountain vacations, bubble baths, and visits to the infamous Red Room of Pain.
Although it tries to hide it by cramming in fist fights, car chases and kidnapping, "Fifty Shades Freed" suffers from a lack of rhythm, moving from plot point to plot point with as much spontaneity as meal-planning for one's luxury penthouse household with one's housekeeper. It's clichéd, stodgy and overly faithful to the original books. But at the end of the day, who cares?
[TheWrap]
At This Point, The 'Naughty' Sex Scenes In 'Fifty Shades' Are So Obligatory They'll Put You To Sleep
A sex-free, PG-13 version of "Freed" could be cut without shedding a second of narrative coherence, such as it is; one could ask what the point of that would be, though similar queries might be leveled at the film as it stands. Intentionally or otherwise, however, perhaps there's a rueful truth to the gradual dwindling of the films' kink levels: Sex is just a thing Anastasia and Christian do now, as it is for many a married couple until, in some cases, it eventually isn't even that any more.
[Variety]
At this point we've been in and out of the red room so often that it's completely lost its intrigue (Ana even manages to catch 40 winks in there), and the sex scenes feel more like an afterthought, inserted to remind us of the reason the series became such a phenomenon.
[TheWrap]
There was a time back in the early '90s, when steamy erotic thrillers like this unspooled on Cinemax in the wee hours seemingly all the time. They had interchangeable names like Animal Instincts, Body Chemistry, and Sins of Desire. They seemed to sprout up like toadstools in the wake of commercial big-studio hits like Fatal Attraction, 9 ½ Weeks, and Basic Instinct. Those films weren't very good either. But they at least seemed to embrace their own trashiness without shame.
The kinkiest scene in the whole series is probably one that occurs about halfway through Freed where, after a bout of insomnia, Ana and Christian decide to get busy in the kitchen with a tub of vanilla ice cream. They actually look like they're having fun for once, which is not such a bad thing in what's meant to be a love story.
Ultimately, 'Freed' Is Less About Sexy Desires And More About Fantasies Of Being In The 1%
Money has always been the cushion for Fifty Shades' spicier provocations, and it's the aspect of the series that has aged the worst in the three years. Since E.L. James's books originally made their splash, we as a culture took our sweet time realizing that most billionaires are more interested in deporting immigrants than sweeping young assistants off their feet, and we have become more suspicious of the powerful boss/naïve intern dynamic that fuels so much of the film's sexual intrigue.
[Vulture]
Director James Foley, returning after taking over the franchise from Sam Taylor-Johnson, made some decent movies a few decades ago (At Close Range, Glengarry Glen Ross, the underrated The Corruptor) and then worked on House of Cards for the first three seasons. But he seems to take little interest in this material beyond applying an extra level of gloss to each shot, with the production team going overboard on the BDSM and bling. Never has a drawer filled with vibrators looked as elegant and fanciful as it does here.
"You own this?" Anastasia asks, gawping at the private jet waiting to whisk them off on a Côte d'Azur honeymoon. "We own this," her husband smirks in reply, as the film practically pauses for our applause, and maybe even a rosewater tear, at the shared privilege of it all. How far they've come.
[Variety]
If 'Freed' Says Anything Interesting About Monogamy, Kinks, Wealth Or Love… It's Probably By Accident
While we can quibble about the underused lead or the meandering plot, Fifty Shades Freed ultimately authors its own most stinging rebuke, closing on an extended montage highlighting major moments and turning points from the trilogy. Tellingly, none of them come from this film.
This is a trilogy about a charming, intelligent young woman with just the right amount of self-awareness and sense of humor about herself, who happens to have a twisted kink for monogamy with the most boring man in the world. It might be one of the most cathartic depictions of modern romance currently in business.
[Vulture]
TL;DR
Fifty Shades Freed offers fans of the three-strong series a chance to send off their favourite characters with all the opulence and tastefully soft-core decadence they've come to expect from previous installments, gorging on the series' luxurious embellishments while all but jettisoning any hint of narrative tension or engagement along the way.
Still can't decide if you should see it? This hilarious Grantland guide to the first "Fifty Shades" movie still applies.
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