Fifty Shades Freed (2018)

“Fifty Shades Freed” stars Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger, Eric Johnson, Arielle Kebbel, Brant Daugherty, and Luke Grimes.  Released on February 9, 2018, the film has Christian and Ana facing their personal enemies during their marriage life.

The film is directed by James Foley, who also directed films such as Reckless, Fear, The Chamber, The Corruptor, and Perfect Stranger.  It is the final film in the Fifty Shades trilogy, which is based on the book series by E. L. James.  Yes, my friends, we are indeed bringing another book-turned-film trilogy to a close this year, so you better have your pleasure juices filled up for this one.  My experience towards the Fifty Shades films was nothing too unusual, but when it comes to their execution, it’s anything but good.  While I wasn’t fond of Fifty Shades Darker last year, it didn’t stop me from seeing what will happen next after the two lovebirds decided to get married.  You’re probably thinking, “Why in the world am I seeing another Fifty Shades movie?”  Well, as you may or may not already know, my tolerance level is through the roof when it comes to movies like this, and since I already handled the last two Fifty Shades movies like a champ, I figured that watching this would be a piece of cake.  Like my review for Darker, I will be talking about it in a mature and fairly matter, so you big-time critics need to take some notes on this.

If you’ve been following the Fifty Shades series for quite some time (possibly a few of you), you’ll probably notice that these books (or in this case, films) are basically like erotic sex dreams that have romantic plot devices.  It’s like a Nicholas Sparks film…but with more sex.  Like the last two Fifty Shades films, this latest chapter is only for adult audiences, so unless you want to introduce your young child to the world of BDSM, I suggest you take them to see Peter Rabbit instead.  Anyway, after watching Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker, I already knew what I was getting myself into for Freed, which is obviously an average romance film that features lots and lots of love-making.  To be completely fair, I did find this one a tiny bit better than its predecessor, but nowhere near as close to being as enjoyable as the first.  One of the reasons why is the story.  Despite its inability to add anything new to the usual romance formula, the film did provide an investing insight on how the relationship between Ana (Johnson) and Christian (Dornan) is tested during their marriage life.  There were still a few moments that left me with an underwhelming impression in terms of the film’s screenplay, including its unmemorable conclusion, but at least it tried to keep my interest long enough to care about the characters.  The chemistry between Johnson and Dornan were once again passable as they still act like they’re in some sort of R-rated sexual fantasy.  These two main actors were far from perfect, but they’re not that bad, either.  Eric Johnson reprises his role from Fifty Shades Darker as Jack Hyde, Ana’s former boss who seeks revenge against her.  Long story short, Johnson’s character is a cliched revenge-seeking guy that can make some people want to strangle him in a bad way, including me.  Although Eric Johnson did a decent job with his performance, I felt that he’s trying way too hard to be a likable bad guy.  The sexual scenes between Ana and Christian still remain as one of the main aspects of the series, and yes, there were plenty of them in this one.  They’re fine to look at as always, but they can get a bit tiring after a while.  I understand that sex and BDSM are what made the Fifty Shades series what it was, but by the time we reach the third film, we’re starting to see them become unnecessary filler.  There were a couple of sex scenes that I thought could’ve been removed to put more focus on the plot, but that’s just me.

Overall, like its predecessors, “Fifty Shades Freed” is only for those who like the books, plain and simple.  It’s a small improvement over Darker due to its investing, yet below average, story and some passable performances from the cast, but it falls short in delivering a strong climax.  People should already figure this out by now that if they don’t like the last two Fifty Shades movies, then this film is not for them.  If they wind up seeing it anyway, then that’s all on them, not the movie.  There’s no need for them to get so worked up over a piece of filmmaking.  I’m sorry, but that’s just how I feel towards this situation.  With that said, it’s time for us to finally put these movies behind us and focus on waiting for the release of Black Panther.

C-