Fifty Shades Darker review: Here's what critics have to say about Dakota Johnson- Jamie Dornan starrer

Fifty Shades Darker will release on February 9, but critics' verdict is already out. So has the film, starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, managed to impress the critics like its first instalment Fifty Shades of Grey? Read on to find what critics have said about the film.

Also Read: Fifty Shades Darker: Christian Grey proposing to Anastasia Steele in new promo disappoints fans [VIDEO]

Fifty Shades Darker directed by James Foley features Dakota and Jamie in the lead role. The film is a sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, which impressed critics and went on to become a huge box office hit.

Talking about Fifty Shades Darker, several critics have said that the film is a decent watch this Valentine's week. According to Guy Lodge of Variety, this Dakota-Jamie starrer lacks Fifty Shades of Grey's surprising, feminine sass, but succeeds on its most superficial terms.

"If anything, the film is most seductive outside of either the bedroom or the Red Room, when it succumbs to the sheer lifestyle porn of overly art-directed Venetian parties and platinum Monique Lhuillier gowns."

Pete Hammond of Deadline said, "Director James Foley gets exactly what this thing should be about, and though it is slavishly faithful to the rather pedestrian details of the book's storyline (the script is by author E L James' hubby, Niall Leonard), Foley knows what he has to deliver and, together with cinematographer John Schwartzman, comes up with the goodies as the camera explores every pore of his stars' nubile bodies."

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Taking the series over from Sam Taylor-Johnson, whose 2015 Fifty Shades of Grey earned jeers alongside its $570-mil worldwide haul, Foley has the job of introducing some external threats to the unlikely coupling of Dakota Johnson's Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan's Christian Grey. But he and screenwriter Niall Leonard can hardly milk enough novelty out of these new villains to win back fans who felt burned by the first film."

Geoffrey Macnab of Independent said that the film is an ordeal to watch because of its utter blandness. "The film would surely have benefited from being gaudier, more kitsch and transgressive. Instead, this is telenovela-style storytelling with predictable villains and far too much simpering mawkishness."