Expect to be disappointed if “Fifty Shades Darker” is in your plans for date night. This movie was nothing more than a mediocre film.  The acting was amateur, the story felt slow and long and if you are comparing the movie to the book they are in different leagues.

The term “darker” was questionable. Most of the movie was about Christian and Anastasia’s relationship. For being a R-rated film and having said to be a rather inappropriate and kinky story, the film actually lacked in sexual scenes. There were definitely not as many sex scenes as you would think, especially compared to the first movie, “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

In the book, Christian is very in control and dominate. Anastasia is very quiet, shy and passive. She is supposed to be plain and dull. The film did not portray their personalities to be this way. I felt that Anastasia had control in their relationship and Christian would do whatever she said. Yes, he is supposed to be trying to not be the dominate and have an equal relationship, but the way he is in the movie is too much; it’s almost as if he is now being the submissive.

Anastasia is very demanding and vocal in what she wants throughout the movie. She’s demanding of Christian—including in the bedroom—and also to other people in public. If we are comparing the book to the movie, that seems unlike Anastasia’s personality. The book makes her seem more passive than the movie does.

Jamie Dornan, Christian, and Dakota Johnson, Anastasia, did not do their best work in “Fifty Shades Darker.” They seemed stiff, cheesy and lacking in chemistry. Christian needed to be more masculine and passionate to be believable. Considering the pain he faced as a boy which created him to be a dominates, he should have shown more emotion.

Christian’s troubled past was supposed to be extremely dark and cruel. None of the scenes in the movie really portrayed the brutality of it. The movie was not as thrilling as it could have been. With the rough childhood and psychotic ex-submissives, I expected to be scared or at least feel an adrenaline rush through some parts of the movie. Instead, I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

The movie was drug out to 121 minutes and felt like it was going in slow motion. Scenes were long and unnecessary half of the time. There needed to be more action and drama.

The only thing I did like about “Fifty Shades Darker” was the visuals. The scenes were beautiful and elegant. Their wardrobes were gorgeous and regal.

One silver and one red, Anastasia looked radiant in the two gowns they dressed her in for the film. She looked amazing. This was also another reason why she is not very fitting to Anastasia’s personality in the book: she was supposed to be a normal looking girl. If the background and fashion was not so glamorous, I would have fallen asleep.

Jordan Hermes is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]