FIFTY SHADES DARKER (2)

Jamie Dornan     Dakota Johnson     Eric Johnson     Marcia Gay Harden     Rita Ora     Kim Basinger     Bella Heathcote

     In Fifty Shades of Grey, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is wooed by Christian Grey (Dornan), but flees from him when he demonstrates—at her request—the limits of his taste for BDSM.  It’s too much for her.  Fifty Shades Darker opens with his begging her to come back to him, indicating that he has changed—or is at least trying to be better—and that he will do anything to get her back.  She has clearly moved on, including having a new job that she loves; but she finds that his pleas are irresistible.  She agrees to have dinner with him to talk about her concerns.

     Not much comes from this; she indicates that their reuniting must go slowly, and that there be “no rules, no punishments, and no secrets.”  He agrees to anything she requests, but it is clear from the outset that his underlying character is still the same.  He has high control needs, is bossy, and wants her to be submissive toward him outside the bedroom.  In the bedroom he pretty much defers to her.  But like many women, Anastasia finds it hard to assert herself and maintain boundaries. 

     And this is the biggest fault of the movie to me:  It completely departs from modern women’s goals of achieving self-confidence, an effective independent identity, and equal status with men.  The movie flirts with these ideas in showing Anastasia moving up in her profession and becoming the fiction editor at her publishing company.  But uh-oh, Christian has bought the company and fired her boss Jack (Eric Johnson), so she moves up to his place. Granted, it was after a sexual harassment incident, but still, it was Christian who enabled her promotion.  Moreover, the character of Anastasia is wimpy and self-effacing (“Who, me?”  “I can’t steer a boat.”  “I am nothing.”) in many different situations in the film.  So we have the stereotypical arrangement of a “man in charge” with a submissive woman. 

     Another fault of the Fifty Shades Darker is a hackneyed script with lines spoken as if they had deep meaning (“I know how difficult it is for you to open up to me, but it means the world to me” and “I thought I lost you forever”) (Niall Leonard, screenplay; E. L. James, novel).  Although the title of the film suggests something more, i.e., “Darker”, the plot adheres fairly closely with the previous film.  In fact, it’s a bit tamer.

     The acting is up to par, especially when Marcia Gay Harden and Kim Basinger are in scenes, but their characters should have been better fleshed out.  Director James Foley, whose experience has primarily been in television, will need to make the next film in the Fifty Shades series more movie-like than an episodic television show.  Danny Elfman’s music and John Schwartzman’s cinematography are probably the best parts of the film.

Rather than darker, I would say this is fifty shades worse than its predecessor.

Grade:  D By Donna R. Copeland

THE NICE GUYS

Russell Crowe     Ryan Gosling     Matt Bomer     Kim Basinger     Angourie Rice

          Holland March (Gosling) and Jackson Healy (Crowe) are like Abbott and Costello private detectives.  They argue, fight, and bumble their way through the plot of trying to locate a missing woman.  They’re often puzzled about what is transpiring, yet manage to get through all the scrapes.  Their characters are interesting, and Gosling shows more comedic chops and timing here than in his previous comedies.  March seems hopelessly incompetent and clumsy with a weakness for alcohol, yet has a brain and is well read enough that his vocabulary often stumps his competitor/fellow principal investigator Healy.  He also has a kind heart (placing a pillow under an unconscious foe), and is devoted to his daughter Holly (Rice) as best as he knows how.

           Healy, on the other hand, is very serious, doesn’t drink (much) on the job, and serves as the brawn to March’s brain.  He has a conscience and a kind heart too—at least for children—and is not quite as ready to stiff his clients as March is.  Crowe is perfect in portraying a street-smart brute who can lure his prey by distraction then deliver crushing blows.

          Neither March nor Healy is a very responsible adult for children, but quick-witted Holly inserts herself into their jobs and turns out to be a valuable, though unacknowledged, aide.  She lends her own wry, astute comedic observations of the adults and manages to be at the right place at the right time, uncovering important clues, and coming up with ploys or a gun that she knows how to use.  Although it is disconcerting to see, that along with the good values she has absorbed from her father, she has also learned techniques of sociopathic exploitation.

      This is a mess of a movie in some ways, with tons of violence and over-the-top ridiculous plot twists.  My impression is that this could have been a sensationally funny, dramatic hit with a message if the writer/director Shane Black and his co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi had chosen subtlety over unrestrained stunts and violence simply for effect.  For instance, it’s hilarious when one flirtatious character swims after mermaids and does a back flip over a wall to impress a woman, but ends up tumbling down a hill.  But this is not Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream, a farce with multiple plot lines ultimately making a statement about the mysteries of love.

       If The Nice Guys has an underlying point, it may come at the end when the two protagonists are cynically reflecting on the corruption of justice and the manifold points of view that can come to bear on real situations.  It’s too bad the filmmakers did not elaborate more on this, Healy’s wrestling with his conscience (especially when it is pricked by Holly) and March’s coming to terms with his guilt about his wife’s death, which would have made the story more substantive and meaningful.

The Nice Guys is a farce with unrealized potential.

Grade:  B+                        By Donna R. Copeland