Fifty Shades Darker The Final Review: Did Dakota Johnson & Jamie Dornan's Turned Critics On or Off?

Finally, the wait is over!

It feels like it’s been forever since Fifty Shades of Grey left a hole in our lives. We were all craving the moment that we didn’t get to see; when Christian chases Anastasia before the elevator doors closed. Fifty Shades Darker is here and so are the critics which did not seem to be very supportive of the franchise.

The novel has faced criticism from multiple angles: they’ve been accused of glamorising abusive relationships, of kink-shaming and of catering to regressive fantasies of wealth and power. Take a look at the final review.

Variety’s Guy Lodge says Fifty Shades Darker “lacks its predecessor’s surprising, feminine sass, but succeeds on its most superficial terms.”

“As for the stars, they grin and bear it as best they can, which is to stay they valiantly don’t grin much at all. So wonderful and resourceful in the first film, Johnson isn’t given even the raw material to make an equivalent impression this time round, but maintains a beguilingly responsive, curious screen presence even through Anastasia’s inscrutable shifts in consciousness”.

Fifty Shades Darker Credits: Universal Pictures

2. The Age writer Jake Wilson gives it three out of five stars saying the movie is “a decided improvement over its predecessor.”

“What is the difference between dominance and sadism? Can a relationship be reduced to a game with clear-cut rules? And is it possible to submit in the bedroom while retaining autonomy elsewhere? For supposed trash, Fifty Shades Darker offers a fair amount to ponder”

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her.

3. USA Today’s Brian Truitt said “There are a lot of negative things to be said about Fifty Shades Darker. But it does impress in one sense: The erotica lite sequel somehow manages to be worse than the stupefyingly bad Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Johnson still hasn’t found the right role to showcase her skills because this surely isn’t it,” he says. “Dornan is quite talented—as anybody who’s watched the British TV show The Fall can attest—but he inexplicably loses his mojo in these movies. Together? Well, any pair of fish lying next to each other at Seattle’ famed Pike Place Markethave more chemistry.”