We hate to break the news to you, Fifty Shades fans, but Fifty Shades Freed is, indeed, the end of the adventures of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson). After a three film courtship, the pair finally settled down in marriage, but still have a perilous finale to get through in order to live happily ever after. All of the drama, tension, and sexy adventure that the Fifty Shades trilogy has delivered thus far definitely looks to be represented in the new film, so fans of the franchise should be happy with this final entry.
That said, we have to wonder if critical evaluation will be Fifty Shades Freed's friend this time out? We're not so sure, as we've predicted the film will reach a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes after all the reviews are in and counted; and that's after a 10% showing for Fifty Shades Darker lowered the bar from the first film's 25% high water mark. Our own reviewer saw the film in advance, and had some choice words about the finale to the franchise started by 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey. In particular, our review for the film had this to say:
Fifty Shades Freed ends the franchise not with a whimper, nor a bang, but a Pinterest board of bad ideas involving storytelling, relationship advice, and general conduct.
With all of that in mind, movies aren't simply judged in a critical vacuum, as you, the fans, certainly have opinions on how you enjoyed Fifty Shades Freed. Which leads us to the first audience participation portion of Rate and Discuss, the discussion questions! After seeing the film, feel free to discuss the following post-viewing questions in mind.
Do you think Anastasia and Christian are in a healthy marriage?Are there any pieces of the book version of Fifty Shades Freed that you wish would have been left in the film?Would you be interested in seeing Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson make a film version of Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian?Which Fifty Shades installment is your favorite?What, in your opinion, could be the next Fifty Shades of the movie world?
Those questions are yours for the answering in the Comments section below, but in addition to your opinions on Fifty Shades Freed, we're curious as to how you'd rate the film on a scale of 0 to 5. Using the poll below, feel free to vote for how much you enjoyed the film, and don't be shy about sharing why you felt the way you did in your comments.
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Of course, the end of a franchise comes with its stars looking back on their time in the roles that helped make them big. In the case of Jamie Dornan, he has some specific thoughts on how it feels to leave his role of Christian Grey. However, when it comes to Dakota Johnson, she seems to be more focused on why she took the part of Anastasia Grey (nee Steele) when it was offered for Fifty Shades of Grey. On a more disappointing note to some fans, and a little bit of a spoiler for Fifty Shades Freed, you don't get to see Jamie's "Dornan" in the film, and there's a good reason as to why the actor decided full frontal nudity wasn't for him.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's your turn to talk our ears off about how Fifty Shades Freed measures up with the rest of the franchise, as well as the movie world in general. We'll see you here next week, for our next installment of Rate and Discuss! Until then, enjoy your weekend's viewing, whatever it may be, and we'll see you back here at CinemaBlend.
