{"id":52989,"date":"2018-04-25T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T14:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/?p=52989"},"modified":"2018-04-24T06:22:31","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:52:31","slug":"movie-review-fifty-shades-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/2018\/04\/25\/movie-review-fifty-shades-freed\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review &#8211; Fifty Shades Freed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-52991\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed-Review-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed-Review-Logo.jpg 984w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed-Review-Logo-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed-Review-Logo-768x308.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed-Review-Logo-720x288.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Principal Cast :\u00a0<\/strong>Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Marcia Gay Harden, Rita Ora, Jennifer Ehle, Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Price-Francis, Tyler Hoechlin, Ashleigh LaThrop, Bruce Altman.<br \/>\n<strong>Synopsis: <\/strong>Anastasia and Christian get married, but Jack Hyde continues to threaten their relationship.<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">******<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s be frank. Objectively, the<em> Fifty Shades<\/em> film franchise is an abhorrent blight on modern cinema. Purportedly a salacious literary phenomenon about a young woman&#8217;s submissive relationship with her lover-slash-employer-slash-masochist boyfriend, and based on fanfiction from the <em>Twilight<\/em> vampire saga, the <em>Fifty Shades<\/em> franchise has manifested as an erstwhile erotic drama existing in a new #MeToo age of feminism and empowerment. Unfortunately, the franchise is beset with absolutely horrendous writing, dire characters and sexual chemistry that&#8217;s borderline visual assault for the audience. Exactly who finds these films entertaining has an extreme case of cognitive dissonance on the meaning of &#8220;entertainment&#8221;; <em>Freed<\/em>, the third and (thankfully) final entry into this asinine series of cinematic idiocy, doesn&#8217;t raise the very low bar one jot, and mires itself in pathetic narrative conniptions devoid of reason, logic or any sense of empathy.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-53020\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-720x405.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Christian (Jamie Dornan) and the inexplicably named Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) are married, following the &#8220;events&#8221; of the previous film, and soon find their relationship tested by the vengeful nature of Ana&#8217;s former boss Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), who was fired by Christian following a sexual assault. Everything else is shit. There&#8217;s the buying of a new house, Ana&#8217;s reverse emasculation of her husband, Christian constantly trying to &#8220;please&#8221; his new wife without asking her exactly what pleases her, and a bunch of awkward encounters with Christian&#8217;s various &#8220;staffers&#8221; and hangers-on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-53022\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed_1-720x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed_1-720x450.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed_1-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed_1-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fifty-Shades-Freed_1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Okay, <em>Fifty Shades Freed<\/em> is an awful piece of trash. It&#8217;s a <em>Showgirls<\/em>-level terrible, only <em>without<\/em> the pulp redemptive arch-camp nature Verhoeven&#8217;s film employed. <em>Freed<\/em> is a dire, wretched shitpile of film, bland characters and atrocious writing throwing itself at the screen in an orgy of unmitigated unwatchableness it&#8217;s a wonder the film doesn&#8217;t self-immolate from the portal-to-hell it opens achieving some form of cohesion. Returning screenwriter Niall Leonard seeks to imbue the scantily-clad shenanigans with some form of dramatic depth, upping the third-party antagonist subplot and reducing the bondage-and-discipline routine which formed the basis of this franchise&#8217;s allure. Sadly, the series&#8217; inept characterisations are too far entrenched for their sexual promiscuity than any real emotive arc, leastways that I cared about, and this last thrust (pun intended) of lustful ickiness lacks the import with which the screenplay&#8217;s ponderous dialogue thinks it&#8217;s capable of.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-53023\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tmp_dn8Kog_650af17848db9c2b_2475_TP2_00048R-720x268.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tmp_dn8Kog_650af17848db9c2b_2475_TP2_00048R-720x268.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tmp_dn8Kog_650af17848db9c2b_2475_TP2_00048R-300x112.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tmp_dn8Kog_650af17848db9c2b_2475_TP2_00048R-768x286.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/tmp_dn8Kog_650af17848db9c2b_2475_TP2_00048R.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Exactly who is left wanting to see this mess following either of the two forebear films baffles me, for if the wooden acting and charisma-free sexual activity depicted within elicit even a minor uptick in heartbeat then, baby, you need to examine your expectations. Poor Jamie Dornan looks increasingly bemused and saddened by the dialogue and undercurrent of misogyny he&#8217;s forced to spout, whilst Dakota Johnson sullies feminism in this tepid caricature of a powerful woman&#8217;s arc. As with both previous films, the chemistry between the two leads is non-existent, despite both of them being eminently pleasing to the eye. Dornan&#8217;s constantly frustrated expression and Johnson&#8217;s reactive, reductive character arc lend themselves more to amusing hilarity between the passionless love scenes, and when the film&#8217;s bad guy isn&#8217;t making his presence felt, the film just collapses.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-53024 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-32-720x405.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-32-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-32-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-32-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty-shades-freed-32.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Eric Johnson&#8217;s Hyde &#8211; perhaps the most <em>obvious<\/em> bad guy name to have, really &#8211; is cliched up the wazoo, and as far as the film&#8217;s dire plotting goes ekes out some kind of generic, hackneyed fun, but there&#8217;s far too little impetus from director James Foley (<em>The Corruptor, Perfect Stranger<\/em>) to really make it zing. The supporting cast &#8211; shit, how the hell do you waste the talent of Marcia Gay Harden, for Pete&#8217;s sake &#8211; are all adequate but it&#8217;s patently obvious the film isn&#8217;t about them. Everyone keeps a straight face throughout, bless them, but with the audience laughing so hard at the film it matters not.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-53025\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty_shades_freed_review_dakota_johnson_jamie_dornan-720x405.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty_shades_freed_review_dakota_johnson_jamie_dornan-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty_shades_freed_review_dakota_johnson_jamie_dornan-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty_shades_freed_review_dakota_johnson_jamie_dornan-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/fifty_shades_freed_review_dakota_johnson_jamie_dornan.jpg 825w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Plodding &#8220;comedy&#8221; bits, stupid plot twists and a complete destitution of humanism or meaningful emotive contextualisation make <em>Fifty Shades Freed<\/em> just an awful, awful slog to sit through. Reductive feminism notwithstanding, <em>Fifty Shades Freed<\/em> thankfully brings this utterly atrocious franchise to a close with the comfort of unlubed anal beads and the import of male impotence. Lost in its own slick attempt to make BDSM mainstream, lacking cohesion or characters that matter a whit, <em>Fifty Shades Freed<\/em> is execrable trash and I&#8217;m glad I never have to watch another one of these turds again.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42471\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/E-Rating.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"100\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Principal Cast :\u00a0Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Marcia Gay Harden,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48482,"featured_media":53021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-review"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",1366,700,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed-300x154.jpg",300,154,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed-768x394.jpg",640,328,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed-720x369.jpg",640,328,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",1366,700,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",1366,700,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",1024,525,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",540,277,false],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",24,12,false],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",48,25,false],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",96,49,false],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",150,77,false],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed.jpg",300,154,false],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/FiftyShadesFreed-272x182.jpg",272,182,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Rodney Twelftree","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/author\/rodney\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/category\/movie-review\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Movie Review<\/a>","tag_info":"Movie Review","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}