Fifty Shades Freed (2018): Review

 

*** Contains some spoilers***

This weekend the last installment of the Fifty Shades movie trilogy came out and it was basically exactly how I expected it to be. High production value, poor chemistry between the leads, bad dialogue, and cringe worthy sex scenes. If you don't know anything about the story or haven't seen the previous movies, I would recommend seeing the other two movies first as it expects you to know and remember what has already happened, who all the characters are, and it moves quickly through the story which doesn't give time to figure out the holes.  It really seems like these movies in general and this installment in specific is really made for someone who has read the books and know basically what is going on.  There is no suspense to what is happening and even myself, who has read the books and is familiar with the story, had difficulty following the jumps and no build up pace of this movie.



Fifty Shades Freed continues where Fifty Shades Darker (2017) leaves off and begins with the wedding of Anastasia Steel, played by Dakota Johnson, and Christian Grey, played by Jamie Dornan. It follows them on their honeymoon and then back into their lives as they adjust to being a married couple and Christians want to control Ana, and Ana wanting to be independent and live her life. While they are working on this the situation with Jack Hyde, played by Eric Johnson, comes in as he is mad at Ana for getting him fired in the previous movie. 

This movie in no way will stand on its own and it is truly necessary to know what has happened in the previous movies and remember the other characters to know who is who and what their relationship is to either Ana or Christian.  These characters are there but there is no real development or anything that doesn't really matter. The only one with real lines or involvement are Kate, played by Eloise Mumford; Elliott, Mia, played by Rita Ora; and Elliott, played by Luke Grimes;.  They are needed for some of the plot or they would probably been treated like Grace, played by Marcia Gay Harden; and Jose, played by Victor Rasuk.  If you don't remember who these characters are or what they have done, I recommend watching Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) [read my review here http://myreviewsbyjane.blogspot.com/2015/02/fifty-shades-of-grey-2015-review.html ] and Fifty Shades Darker (2017) [read my review here http://myreviewsbyjane.blogspot.com/2017/02/fifty-shades-darker-2017-review.html ] before going to this one.

Fifty Shades Freed is on par with the previous two movies so if you liked/ enjoyed them you will like this one. I do need to continue to criticism and state how there is NO chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan and it felt like it was worse than in the previous two movies but I will. I remember thinking that the two of them didn't play well off each other but were at least okay when they weren't together in the first movie and the second one was a bit better as an overall movie, but in this one there just isn't anything.  Dakota Johnson continues to be alright as Ana and you can see her trying to make it bearable but Jamie Dornan was just horrible. I couldn't find anything appealing or likable about him as Christian and this is the movie where he is suppose to finish his transformation/ rowth and became "freed" from his background and issues. I was part of the #NotMyChristian group but I at least wanted him to do well in the role as I want all movies to be good.  You know that it is  really bad when there is more chemistry between Ana's bodyguard Sawyer, played by Brant Daugherty, and her assistant Hanna, played by Ashleigh LaThrop who were only on screen together for the most a few minuets.  Their chemistry was instantaneous and showed through immediately, I wanted more of them.



One of the things I didn't understand in the book and it also appears in this movie, is that is has less sex scenes then the previous two.  Fifty Shades Freed gets to one faster but then doesn't show the whole thing.  It is just a total let down for me in this department.  I did think the movies had gusto for some of the shots there took it really close to actual pornography to the point where it was like really they are going to allow that in a Rated R movie. I will admit that I am more aware of this type of thing ever since I started reviewing movies and am more familiar with what determines each category of movie ratings. If you liked the sex scenes in the previous two movies you will probably like the ones in here, but again if you don't know the story and don't understand what is going on with the dynamic of the characters at the points in the story of each scene you may not understand what they are doing. The movie as a whole felt rushed, this includes the sex sequences (except maybe the ice cream one).

The production value of this movie is great and it was beautiful to watch. I an tell that a lot of time, effort, and money went into the filming the movie and its locations. During the honeymooning there is a lot of nice locations and it shows how great it would be to travel with money and be swept away by a rich, handsome millionaire to travel the world in style.  I also liked how music was used in this movie and it added to the atmosphere of what is going on on screen and how you should be feeling as the story goes on.  This is consistent with the previous two movies.

There is little growth for the main characters and as it is suppose to be how Christian is able to leave his past issues behind and find comfort with Ana as his motivation to better himself, it doesn't show this.  He continues to be as he is and then Ana makes weird choices.  Something that really doesn't matter but I noticed was that Ana wears power suits/ clothes in this movie.  This is against what she does in the books because she mentions needing to get some flowery skirts to better fit in with her work environment and that this is the feel of the office that drew her to SIP. I also liked how the female bodyguard Prescott, played by Kristin Alter, got to be the one who kicked some ass.



Overall this movie is exactly as I expected it to be.  If you liked the previous movies you will enjoy this one.  It continues with the story but expects you to know what is going on.  To anyone already planning or excited to see Fifty Shades Freed, you will like it. If you didn't like the previous ones you wont like this one, and if you haven't seen either of the previous two movies I highly recommend seeing them first.

My Rating = 2-