#radogoesgrey - fifty shades of grey block screening + review

If there's one thing you plan on doing this Valentine's Day, scratch off the Fifty Shades of Grey movie from your list...

Last night, I was invited to attend the advanced block screening of Fifty Shades at the VIP Cinema of Century Mall.

century mall vip cinema

I was really excited to skip the long lines and to finally see my guilty pleasure come to life on the big screen.

(I even wore virginal white to celebrate :P)

all white outfit street style

The premier was sponsored by RADO to celebrate the launch of their new "smart watch". The RADO Esenza was designed with the sexy, modern woman in mind. It comes in black and white, no shades of gray in between. :P

(Sort of) very apt for the movie.

rado smart watch

It's also the first ceramic watch to feature "touch technology" and a crown-less face. Extremely lightweight, sleek and interesting.

rado esenza

A great gift for the missus this Valentine's.

So anyway, back to the movie...here's what I think:

Like I said, I really enjoyed the trilogy. Not just for the sex but more for the many "kilig" factors included in it. (The steamy sex parts were just a bonus?!) Christian Grey was the epitome of a dream man: strong, powerful, good-looking, rich, caring and sensitive with a need to be "saved". Yes, there was a lot of sex in the book but it wasn't there page after page. There was a build up and explanation.

The movie for me was just softporn but with good-looking actors and a lot of blurred scenes. The editing seemed haphazard and poorly done (I'm not sure if this was because of the many deleted scenes in my country). 

Bottomline:

The story was lost. 

The lack of build-up on the characters made them seem shallow and I feel like a lot of crucial events from the book were taken out to make way for more sex scenes.

It was sex scene after sex scene after sex scene. I really got tired of it after the third.

It seemed like the movie was especially created for those who have already read the book. It felt like a visual representation of Fifty Shades fantasies come to life. A series of long previews stitched together.

If you haven't read the book, you won't get it.

If you've read the book, I think you will be equally disappointed to find out that they totally obliterated the song "Sex On Fire" and that ultra sexy (and fun) scene of them speeding down the highway in an Audi R8 from the movie. In it's place was an over-extended cheesy scene of them in the glider which didn't contain the same power to express the way Christian begins to "soften up" to Anastasia.

The soundtrack was such a strong and charming part of the book. It added so much to its dynamic. Sadly, the movie failed to justify that.

There was also hardly anything mentioned about Charlie Tango.

The only good thing about this movie is that they decided to lose all the annoying "inner goddess" references save for one quick scene.

So, if you're planning to watch this on Valentine's day, I think you better re-think your plans. Too much sex turns nakaka-umay (overbearing) and does the opposite of arousal. 

But you know what they say, to each his own. At the end of the day, we all have our own opinions but if you prefer to keep the "magic" of the book intact, skip this movie. It's one of the most disappointing book to movie adaptations I've ever seen and I can't wait for a re-make.