{"id":15001,"date":"2017-05-07T12:26:41","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T19:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=15001"},"modified":"2017-05-07T12:27:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T19:27:47","slug":"review-fiftyshadesdarker-4k-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/05\/review-fiftyshadesdarker-4k-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Fifty Shades Darker 4K\/BD + Screen Caps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s really no surprise that Fifty Shades Darker<\/em><\/strong> is a bad film but the worst sin of this entry it was awfully dull but did manage to elicit a few chuckles at least.<\/p>\n

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Fifty Shades Darker
\n\u2014 Unrated Edition \u2014<\/span><\/span>
\n(2017)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Drama, Romance
\nUniversal | R \/ Unrated \u2013 118 min. \/ 132 min. \u2013 $44.98 | May 9, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 05\/07\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u>Directed by: <\/strong>James Foley
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>E.L. James (novel); Niall Leonard (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Rita Ora, Luke Grimes, Victor Rasuk, Kim Basinger, Marcia Gay Harden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u>Features: <\/strong>Featurettes, Deleted Scenes
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>4K, Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio (4K\/BD): <\/strong>English (DTS:X), French (DTS 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)
\nVideo (4K): <\/strong>2160p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nVideo (BD): <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles (4K\/BD): <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>NA
\nCodecs: <\/strong>HEVC \/ H.265 (4K), MPEG-4 AVC (BD)
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 1.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Sigh. Two years later and a darker shade of fifty is upon us. The first film wasn\u2019t anything special but did look pretty with some laughable dialogue. Fifty Shades Darker<\/em><\/strong> doesn\u2019t look as good, doesn\u2019t have as good of a soundtrack, is boring beyond belief but the dialogue is just as bad if not, somehow, even worse.<\/p>\n

The story takes place not too long after the events of the first film. Anastasia Steele (DAKOTA JOHNSON) has just started a new job as an assistant at a publishing firm. But creepy old Christian Grey (JAMIE DORNAN) is trying to win her back, first by sending a bouquet of flowers and then buying up photo portraits of Anastasia created by one of her friends. She doesn\u2019t put up much of a resistance and after promising not to put her through the pain and a relationship on more equal footing, Anastasia does take him back.<\/p>\n

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Throughout the film, we get more background into Grey\u2019s past, specifically a drug-addict mother, now deceased, and her male partners, one of whom physically abused him and made him the creep sadist he is today. It\u2019s also revealed that his mother bears a striking resemblance to his partners and a why he enjoyed enlisting pain onto them. There are also some more S&M aspects and the toys of the trade, not to mention some awkwardly shot numerous generic sex scenes.<\/p>\n

The plot is basic and boils down to the above. There are some ragged threads from a former sub named Leila (BELLA HEATHCOTE) who has gone insane and is stalking Anastasia; a chopper Christian was piloting crashes (off screen) but he and his passenger manage to escape and he turns up at his apartment literally seconds after the news proclaimed him alive; Anastasia\u2019s boss (ERIC JOHNSON) going from nice guy to sexual assaulter; and his \u201cMrs. Robinson\u201d, Elena (KIM BASINGER) who had taken advantage him at a young age. Other than the boss one, which I guess is fleshed out in Fifty Shades Freed<\/em>, none of these go anywhere and are resolved rather quickly.<\/p>\n

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Sitting in the director\u2019s chair is James Foley and like Sam Taylor-Johnson before him, I\u2019m not sure how much blame I should place on him for making such a boring, poorly written screenplay based on an even worse novel written as Twilight<\/em> fan-fiction. Foley has a respectable enough resume that includes Glengarry Glen Ross<\/em>, Fear<\/em> and several House of Cards<\/em> episodes.<\/p>\n

One big difference between the two isn\u2019t with the directors but the director of photographers. The previous movie featured beautiful cinematography by Seamus McGarvey who went off to work on more respectable projects like Nocturnal Animals<\/em> and The Accountant<\/em> while this go around, those duties are taken over by John Schwartzman who has a nice filmography of his own (Seabiscuit<\/em>, Jurassic World<\/em>, The Founder<\/em> and the upcoming Star Wars 9<\/em> project). But it is strange that at times Darker<\/em><\/strong> looked downright like a TV movie.<\/p>\n

I looked over my review for Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em> as a reminder of what I thought of it and noted praise for Dakota Johnson. Well, although she\u2019s not terrible, it doesn\u2019t seem like she, nor Jamie Dornan for that matter (who looks creepier than ever), seem to give two shits and honestly, why should they. The screenplay is terrible and a \u201cplot\u201d that was all over the place. Coming back is Marcia Gay Harden as Grey\u2019s doting mother and new to the shit show is Kim Basinger, not sure why she would sign on to this…<\/p>\n

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Fifty Shades Darker<\/em><\/strong> is just another entry that is instantly forgettable and, worse yet, outright dull. Once Freed<\/em> is released next year, hopefully the novels and adaptations will be rightfully forgotten.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This release comes with a matted, title-embossed, slip cover<\/strong>. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD<\/u><\/strong> copy.<\/p>\n

Unrated Version (2:11:28; HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 The unrated cut is included and actually runs a surprising 13-minutes longer. Having watched only the theatrical version, I can\u2019t say exactly was added, but from what I saw, there was an additional scene in Christian\u2019s billiards room where things get \u201chot\u201d and \u201csteamy\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Tease to Fifty Shades Freed<\/em> (0:35; HD)<\/u><\/strong> is merely a teaser trailer.<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (1:53; HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 There are only two scenes removed and, from what I can tell, none what was in the movie that comprised the \u201cUnrated\u201d cut.<\/p>\n

Writing Darker<\/em> (3:16; HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 One of the weakest aspects of the film gets its own featurette. This includes interviews with the producer and writer, who also is author E.L. James\u2019 husband.<\/p>\n

A Darker<\/em> Direction (4:42; HD)<\/u><\/strong> examines director James Foley going into the sequel (and third film).<\/p>\n

Dark Reunion (7:58; HD)<\/u><\/strong> takes a look at the roster cast from Grey<\/em> coming back together.<\/p>\n

New Threats (8:54; HD)<\/u><\/strong> is about the latest obstacles to the vaunted Anastasia\/Christian romance.<\/p>\n

The Masquerade (6:35; HD)<\/u><\/strong> breaks down the mask ball from the costumes to sets.<\/p>\n

Intimate with Darker<\/em> (7:14; HD)<\/u><\/strong> delves into the sexual elements of the film.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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4K VIDEO \u2013 4.75\/5, BD VIDEO \u2013 4.5\/5
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Fifty Shades Darker<\/em><\/strong> ironically enough has quite a bit of color behind it and includes natural looking skin tones (and there is a lot of skin!). This 4K UHD transfer is presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p resolution (HEVC \/ H.265). Detail is incredibly sharp throughout while black levels appear nicely stark while not showing signs of artifacts, aliasing or other flaws. The 1080p high-def Blu-ray meanwhile looks good as well, just not quite as sharp but for the numerous consumers of the format, it still looks fantastic.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 5.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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The movie comes with a DTS:X track (both 4K and BD) and like its predecessor, it\u2019s mostly impressive for the soundtrack\/score more than anything, though there are some action-y elements like a gunshot or crashing chopper does help give the track a bit of robustness. Although it\u2019s a great track, it\u2019s not exactly reference quality work, that is if you want to admit to even owning the movie in the first place…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 2.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Overall, it\u2019s really no surprise that Fifty Shades Darker<\/em><\/strong> is a bad film but the worst sin of this entry it was awfully dull but did manage to elicit a few chuckles at least. The acting isn\u2019t the best but uttering terrible dialogue would make the most seasoned actor look bad. As for this 4K\/BD release by Universal, the features are rather basic but the video and audio transfers are both well done.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers<\/strong>.
\nThese are only here to give an idea of the movie\u2019s video quality and may not be truly representative of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s really no surprise that Fifty Shades Darker is a bad film but the worst sin of this entry it was awfully dull but did manage to elicit a few chuckles at least.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4581,3],"tags":[3633,5296,5184,5185,3634,1504,2499,2030,5186],"class_list":["post-15001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4k-uhd-reviews","category-blurayreviews","tag-dakota-johnson","tag-eric-johnson","tag-fifty-shades-darker","tag-james-foley","tag-jamie-dornan","tag-kim-basinger","tag-luke-grimes","tag-marcia-gay-harden","tag-rita-ora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15001"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15004,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15001\/revisions\/15004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}