Why Fifty Shades Freed Flopped Harder Than the Rest: 10 Brutal Reasons Critics Hated It Most

Summary

• Fifty Shades Freed fails to improve upon previous installments.
• Poorly written dialogue and lack of chemistry between its lead actors hurt believability.
• Fifty Shades Freed had a nonsensical plot and poor character development.

Fifty Shades Freed is the closing chapter in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, but it’s also the worst-reviewed and lowest-rated movie in the franchise. In 2015, E.L. James’ 2012 novel Fifty Shades of Grey made the jump to the big screen with Sam Taylor-Johnson as director, Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele, and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. Despite not being the critics’ favorite, Fifty Shades of Grey was a massive box-office success, leading to the adaptations of the two sequel novels being greenlit.

The sequel, Fifty Shades Darker, was released in 2017 with James Foley as director, and though it continued Anastasia and Christian’s story after the cliffhanger ending of the first movie, it got worse reviews than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the third movie, Fifty Shades Freed, didn’t do any better, becoming the worst-reviewed and lowest-rated entry in the trilogy. Fifty Shades Freed has an 11% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (and a 38% audience score), and even though it was still a box office hit, there are different reasons for it having gotten such bad reviews.

10Fifty Shades Freed Isn’t An Improvement Compared To Its Predecessors

Fifty Shades Freed Doesn’t Learn From Past Mistakes

The Fifty Shades novels and movies aren’t exactly the favorites of critics and many casual readers and viewers. The novels have been endlessly criticized for their clear inspiration from Twilight and literary quality, yet they are very popular as they appeal to a very specific target. Unfortunately, their movie adaptations didn’t do much to fix some of the novels’ biggest problems and, instead, brought them to the big screen – and in some cases, made them worse.

While Fifty Shades Of Grey wasn’t praised by critics, it ended up being an entertaining watch, but the same can’t be said for Fifty Shades Freed. Instead of learning from the failures of the previous movies (such as the lazy dialogue, poor character development, nonsensical twists, etc), Fifty Shades Freed made them even worse, lacking any substance and becoming quite predictable.

9Fifty Shades Freed’s Dialogue Is Poorly Written

Dialogue Was Never The Strength Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy

There are lines at different points in Fifty Shades Freed that don’t fit the tone of the scene or the character.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Fifty Shades trilogy – both the books and movies – is the dialogue. Fifty Shades Of Grey has some painfully memorable lines that have been endlessly mocked for how badly written and out of tone they are (such as when Christian tells Anastasia about how he likes to have sex), and unfortunately, this didn’t change in the sequels – it actually got worse.

There are lines at different points in Fifty Shades Freed that don’t fit the tone of the scene or the character, such as Anastasia’s sudden burst of confidence to defend her marriage from the maybe-too-friendly architect (who might have not had that intention at all in the first place). The villain’s dialogue is also laughable and thus he can’t be taken seriously as much as Fifty Shades Freed wants to sell him as a threat, and with poorly written dialogue comes another struggle.

8The Lack Of Chemistry Is More Evident In Fifty Shades Freed

Dakota Johnson & Jamie Dornan’s Chemistry Was A Problem From The Beginning

While there were some moments in Fifty Shades of Grey where a connection between Johnson and Dornan was visible, these became less and less frequent in the sequels.

The chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey has been divisive: while some critics pointed it out as one of the movie’s biggest weaknesses, others found that their chemistry was what kept the movie afloat. While there were some moments in Fifty Shades of Grey where a connection between Johnson and Dornan was visible, these became less and less frequent in the sequels – which isn’t good as the sequels saw Anastasia and Christian’s relationship evolve, albeit a bit too fast.

There were a lot of rumors about enmity between Johnson and Dornan on the set of the Fifty Shades movies, which, real or not, affected their on-screen performance. Johnson and Dornan felt more disconnected than ever in Fifty Shades Freed, even though it’s the movie where Anastasia and Christian get married, Anastasia gets pregnant, and she’s kidnapped. The lack of chemistry between the leads, along with poorly written dialogue, make the next steps in Anastasia and Christian’s relationship very hard to believe.

7Fifty Shades Freed Is The Least Sexy In The Trilogy

Fifty Shades Freed Forgets What The Trilogy Is Mostly About

Fifty Shades Freed focuses on so many things that it leaves aside the core of the books and movies.

The one thing that made the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise both intriguing and controversial was its classification as an “erotic” story due to its BDSM themes. However, the Fifty Shades of Grey books have been called out for their inaccurate and toxic depiction of BDSM, and there was only much the adaptations could do when bringing these elements to the big screen. Still, Fifty Shades of Grey found ways to be sexy (of course, what’s sexy to some isn’t for others and that must be respected), which helped better sell the romance between Anastasia and Christian, but Fifty Shades Freed forgot about it.

Although Fifty Shades Freed does have sex scenes and somewhat intimate moments between Anastasia and Christian, it focuses on so many things that it leaves aside the core of the books and movies. Fifty Shades Freed is no longer about BDSM and Anastasia opening her mind to new experiences (and Christian too, who in previous movies had to open himself to less aggressive ways of physical intimacy) and more about many other things that, ultimately, created an unsexy and messy movie.

6Fifty Shades Freed Has An Uneven Tone

Fifty Shades Freed Goes From Drama To Thriller With Unintentional Comedy

Fifty Shades Freed tried to be a thriller and action movie all of a sudden.

Fifty Shades Freed loses its path at different points due to its wanting to cover too many underdeveloped subplots and different genres at the same time. The Fifty Shades of Grey books and movies are, at their core, a drama/romance story (though that doesn’t mean Anastasia and Christian had the healthiest relationship), but Fifty Shades Freed tried to take it further by attempting to turn it into a thriller and action movie all of a sudden.

As mentioned above, Fifty Shades Freed sees Anastasia being kidnapped by Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), her stalker and former boss, with a car chase included as Christian rushes to save his pregnant wife. Fifty Shades Freed isn’t done addressing the emotional side of Anastasia and Christian’s story and their current problems (not just Hyde’s presence but also Christian not wanting to be a father) when it suddenly jumps to its attempt to be an action thriller, which ends as suddenly as it starts. Fifty Shades Freed tried to be a romance, erotic, action, and thriller movie and, unfortunately, failed at all of them.

5Fifty Shades Freed Focuses Too Much On Product Placement (& Christian’s Lifestyle)

Fifty Shades Freed Forgets What’s Important

One thing that can be very distracting in any movie if not done well is product placement. Movies like Jurassic World are best remembered for their obvious and badly done product placement, and the same happened to Fifty Shades Freed – the problem is that Fifty Shades Freed also had other weaknesses that made the product placement even more ridiculous. Since the first movie, the Fifty Shades franchise was very explicit in showing Christian’s wealthy lifestyle, even if many things about it didn’t make much sense.

Fifty Shades Freed is an even bigger display of Christian’s luxurious lifestyle, seen in his and Anastasia’s wedding, their honeymoon, Anastasia getting two bodyguards, Christian easily buying the house Anastasia casually pointed out once in the first movie, and more. The product placement, especially that of cars, is also very obvious and ends up distracting from the already thin plot.

4Fifty Shades Freed Has No Character Development

Fifty Shades Freed’s Characters Even Take A Couple Of Steps Back

Fifty Shades Freed actually highlighted the worst traits of Christian and Anastasia without improving them.

A big problem throughout the whole Fifty Shades franchise is its poor character development. Anastasia and Christian go through a lot together (and Anastasia by herself), yet in every movie they go through little to no character development. Christian, in particular, has moments in each movie where he seems to be about to go through much-needed character development only to take many steps back and end up in the same place or worse.

Meanwhile, Anastasia has no clear direction in any of the three movies. Just when she starts showing her strength and empowerment, she’s reduced to a character with no agency who is easily manipulated by Christian and those around them. Fifty Shades Freed actually highlighted the worst traits of Christian and Anastasia without improving them, and the former’s “change” at the end is not believable and feels forced.

3Fifty Shades Freed’s “Big Twist” Is Unnecessary

Fifty Shades Freed Has A Predictable Villain Twist

Hyde was made into the villain of Fifty Shades Freed with a twist in his motivations.

The Fifty Shades franchise is not one where twists would be expected, as the focus is Anastasia and Christian’s relationship and the latter’s BDSM practices, but Fifty Shades Freed, in its attempt to be more than an erotic romance movie, had an unnecessary and predictable twist. Fifty Shades Darker introduced Jack Hyde and saw him being fired after trying to sexually assault Anastasia. At the end of Fifty Shades Darker, Hyde was shown staring at the Greys’ mansion from a far distance, teasing his return in the sequel.

Hyde was made into the villain of Fifty Shades Freed with a twist in his motivations: it wasn’t just “revenge” against Anastasia for having him fired and taking his job, but against Christian too, because they were placed in the same foster home when they were kids. Jack resented Christian for being adopted by the Grey family and becoming the wealthy man he now was, which he felt should have happened to him. This “twist” was nonsensical, predictable, and unnecessary, and didn’t do much to impact Christian except make him see how toxic and potentially dangerous he was, yet didn’t change after that.

2Fifty Shades Freed’s Story Doesn’t Make Sense

Fifty Shades Freed Loses Itself Pretty Fast

The problem with Fifty Shades Freed is not only that it had too many subplots, but that these were underdeveloped.

The Fifty Shades movies gradually lost direction until Fifty Shades Freed was left with almost none. What started as a trilogy about a young woman’s relationship with a wealthy man with very specific interests when it comes to sex quickly turned into a generic story with failed attempts to make it more exciting (such as with the whole Jack Hyde storyline). Fifty Shades Freed begins with Anastasia and Christian’s wedding and honeymoon and quickly changes its course to bring Hyde into the mix and Anastasia’s pregnancy.

The problem with Fifty Shades Freed is not only that it had too many subplots, but that these were underdeveloped and the way they connect felt forced. Hyde’s plan made no sense and was used in the movie to prompt a change in Christian that, ultimately, wasn’t believable, it threw in random “obstacles” and characters to try to add conflict to Anastasia’s relationship (and Kate’s, despite being a minor character), and there was no clear direction for any of the characters. The previous movies also struggled to have coherent stories, but they had a clearer purpose than Fifty Shades Freed.

1Fifty Shades Freed Highlights How Toxic Christian Grey Is

Fifty Shades Freed Makes Anastasia & Christian’s Relationship Worse

Christian Grey doesn’t go through much character development in three movies.

One of the most controversial elements of the Fifty Shades franchise is the character of Christian Grey. Christian is meant to be the mysterious, handsome, and wealthy love interest with a dark past and personal struggles he keeps to himself. Unlike many other characters with a similar design, Christian Grey doesn’t go through much character development in three movies and is essentially the same toxic partner in the first and the third movies. Fifty Shades Darker saw some changes in Christian as he opened up to having a proper relationship with Anastasia, but Fifty Shades Freed took many steps back.

Christian was angry when he learned of Anastasia’s pregnancy as he had many more plans for them, and continued emotionally manipulating her after that, even visiting his former BDSM dom (and the woman who groomed him for years). Christian only accepts the pregnancy after Anastasia’s kidnapping because the baby is important to her, but not quite to him yet. The Fifty Shades movies disguised abuse and manipulation as romance, and this was a bigger problem in Fifty Shades Freed.