Fifty Shades Darker / Cinquante Nuances Plus Sombres

Make sure you watch all the extra scenes in the unrated version. No extra sex scenes but allot more book content.

Ok. I admit it. I liked the first Grey movie. I liked it in the 'It wasn't a great movie, but it wasn't bad enough that I didn't enjoy it as a guilty pleasure' kind of way. I've even watched it several times - just like I've watched and re-watched other cute, spicy and visually indulgent romance movies like Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Moonstruck, Sleepless in Seattle and countless others despite their implausibility, silly dialogue, and fluffy content. It's what romance lovers do - we love romance stories and romance movies in spite of ourselves, and thus we forgive them for all they lack in substance and artistry. But we can only forgive so much. And Fifty Shades Darker? It asked too much of us. It was bad, and not in the kind of way Christian Grey would appreciate. It was bad in the unforgivable, doesn't-even-warrant-a-spanking-to-redeem-it kind of bad.It was so bad in so many ways that I reached for my laptop to start writing this review 20 minutes in. To be fair, though, I set my computer aside and forced myself to wait and write the review after watching the whole movie. In the end, it didn't matter - the movie only got worse. The acting was awful, awful, awful. I loved Jamie Dornan in The Killing, and I found Dakota Johnson charming in the first Grey movie. But something BAD happened in this movie, and their performances were sad, and frequently, downright cringeworthy. Other aspects of the movie, not to mention other performances, were equally bad. There were times I felt I was watching a soap opera, and others when I felt I was watching a made for TV special (the helicopter scene? ouch.) I can only think that the change in directors was a major factor in the demise of this movie. This movie lacked the sex appeal and artistic flavor of its predecessor. Everything about this movie was subpar. The screenwriting was choppy and stilted - it wanted to adhere so much to the narrative of the book that everything felt crammed in and abbreviated, which also meant that the pacing of the movie was off and felt squished and unnatural and character development was completely absent. The sex scenes were stuck here, there and everywhere - but were boring (pool as foreplay? for this couple? spreader bard? yawn) repetitive (from behind again?), rushed and anti-climactic. The sets were artless and lacked finesse - the masquerade ball felt overly gaudy, tasteless and very cramped, as did the ring presentation scene - too many flowers, too little feeling of space and grandeur (and you could see the PVC pipe frame of the clear pool covering - crap staging.) This movie tried too hard and tried to cram in too much - and as a result it was clunky and forced, noisy and chaotic, stripped of elegance, class and subtelty. In short, this movie was a major disappointment, and unlike the other movies in my cache of silly, but delicious little romance movies that I return to whenever I need a 'romance fix', this movie is one I have no desire to watch again. Oh, and the 'aren't we oh-so-clever' re-work of the Working Girl scene? Lame. Working Girl makes into the cache....Fifty Shades Darker? Nope.

We left Christian and Anastasia a broken couple at the end of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. In FIFTY SHADES DARKER, it's Anastasia who seems to hold all the cards as Christian is willing to do anything to win her back.There is a more of a love story here as the two come to terms with their less than traditional romance. There is a great cast here that now includes Kim Basinger as the Christian's older former love interest--"Mrs. Robinson" as Anastasia calls her. The erotic lovemaking might shock a few people but again, this is now more of a love story. Anastasia has fallen for a dashingly handsome man with an unlimited fortune and power. It's a fantasy world that can also lead to danger.The photography is immensely beautiful. FIFTY SHADES DARKER is lavishly filmed and the cast and their chemistry is outstanding.

I counted and there were fewer than 50 shades that got darker. The plot line is what you'd expect in the middle of a trilogy, the middle piece feels like a single connecting chapter that got stretched too thin in the middle of the real story. Spoiler Alert: If he was so in love with her, why then after his helicopter hit the trees in the tropics, did he keep her hanging until he got back to his house for the dramatic entry? Certainly his stunning good looks and status would have helped him borrow someone's cell phone to make a call while he walked back to the city. Just sayin'

Great movie! I actually like this movie (and book series) for the intense, can't-breath-without-you-romance part more than the sex, much like the draw to the Twilight series was to me in it's day. Don't get me wrong! The sex is good, too, without being too far over the top. The critics make the sex more "out there" then it actually is. There are historical romance novels that are much sexually "aggressive" and steamier than this story is for that matter, so I have never understood all the criticism about that. I have a feeling that a lot of people judging this movie/book have never even seen/read it.

The additional 13 minutes included in this "Unrated" version make the movie much better than the theatrical release. Scenes actually flow better and are less abrupt. Characters that were cut out from the first in this theatrical version, like Ana's mother are present in this unrated version making the viewer less clueless as to "what happened to that character?". FYI, unrated doesn't imply hotter sex scenes. They were pretty much the same. One additional sex scene while playing pool included in the unrated however.

This movie was terrible, lol!! I should have just rented it instead of buying it. If you read the books and are now going to watch the movie, well, they don’t even compare so get ready to be disappointed. The actors had absolutely no chemistry and it always felt awkward. If you really wanna see it, rent it.

Better than in the theaters! Will watch the entire trilogy at one time once Fifty Darkest is released. Wouldn't miss it! For those that wonder why so much is missing from the book. Uhm, it took you what eight hours to read each book? Don't think they can get a movie to run that long without someone noticing and getting upset. Something has to be cut. The director of Darker knew exactly what to cut to make it work within the time restraints (Notice I used Restraints!). No fluff, all good stuff.

The disc is for region 1 which is the US and Canada so I can’t play this in the UK. Waste of money

Ok

Unable to play in the U.K. Should be made clear to U.K. buyers! Not happy!

Extremely disappointed!! The DVD is blank!!!!!

Wouldn’t play in Sony DVD player