Fifty Shades Darker was described as a painful experience – for the viewers.The Daily Mail’s Brian Viner panned the film, giving it a solitary one star out of five.

“All things considered, if it weren’t for the S&M scenes, it would be an exceedingly dull film. With them, it is both dull and silly, which is worse,” he wrote.

It was also branded with a one-star rating by The Sun, which said: “The pain is on the wrong side of the screen.”

The Daily Mirror’s film editor Chris Hunneysett recommended viewers see a film with a different target market if they are looking for a thrill.

“If you want to watch a movie about a billionaire playboy with a penchant for darkness, inflicting violence and dressing up in masks, you’re far better off seeing The Lego Batman Movie,” he said.

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