Fifty Shades Freed

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Marcia Gay Harden, Eloise Mumford, Luke Grimes, Max Martini, Rita Ora, Jennifer Ehle, Tyler Hoechlin, Callum Keith Rennie
Directed by: James Foley
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Romance
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) and Christian (Jamie Dornan) have gotten married, but dark events from the past threaten to destroy their happiness.

Review:
Tim: I have to say, I'm pretty thankful this trilogy is over now. I never enjoyed the films, and even though it was only once a year, I kind of dreaded sitting down to watch the next installment. Each film in the franchise was a little worse than the one before it and that trend continues here. This is the worst film in the franchise. Some of that is because each film feels less like a strong continuation of the series and more like the same stuff, repackaged slightly differently. Sure, the relationship of Christian and Anastasia has progressed- they're married in the film. But it all feels secondary. None of it is very good.

I will say that it felt like the events of this film has slightly more prominence than in the first two. Those movies felt like the events were just stalling for time until Christian could get Anastasia back into the Red Room. It was pretty bad. The events here have more impact, likely because it's the end of the film. Surprisingly, that doesn't really help the movie all that much. The script is so bad that none of it works. The characters move from one situation to the next, none of it makes all that much sense. There are plot holes and illogical behavior and it's all a reflection of the bad source material (which I haven't read, but obviously can't be very good).

I will say that the box office has reflected my belief that each film is getting progressively worse. The original did $166 million domestic, the second $114 million, and this one just barely climbed past $100 million. Audiences were losing interest. I will say that's one of the biggest flaws of this movie. As much as I wasn't overly excited about seeing the first one, I admit I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Fifty Shades of Grey felt like a bit of an event movie, which is rare for a erotic romantic drama. However, it was quickly obvious that there really wasn't much substance there. I went into Fifty Shades Darker fearing the worst but hoping it would be an improvement. It wasn't. This one just furthers that trend by giving us bad melodrama and the same old arguments between Christian and Anastasia. Like audiences for the film in theaters, I just lost what little interest I had at the outset.

I am kind of fighting against myself right now, because I'm already tired of writing about this film. Should I go into more detail or just call it a day? The problem is in all seriousness, it's not like this is a terrible movie. It's just not a very interesting one. The plot is absurd, few of the characters' actions make sense, and it feels like we're already seen this play out twice now. Was anyone all that invested in seeing how Jack Hyde's story ends? I doubt it. Now, watching the film, there's some level of interest in seeing how the events conclude, but it's pretty minor. The whole film just feels completely substandard.

I know these books sold millions of copies, which is something I'll never understand. I can't fairly judge those because I'll never read it. However, I do know movies and I can authentically state that none of these are very good movies and Fifty Shades Freed is the worst of them. My honest feeling at the conclusion of this film was that I was free to never watch these again. I know I'm not the target demographic, but even accounting for that, this isn't a good film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker