An Acceptable Adaptation

A review of the new movie “Perfect Addiction” based on the book of the same name

Movie poster for Perfect Addiction. Courtesy: IMDb

Movie poster for “Perfect Addiction.” Courtesy: IMDb

Kristin Taylor, Staff Writer

  Disclaimer: This article contains a couple of spoilers and is about an R-rated movie based on language and sexual content.

  Recently, the movie “Perfect Addiction”, directed by Castille Landon, was released to some streaming apps. This is the movie adaptation of the book “Perfect Addiction” written by Claudia Tan. The movie will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 13.

  “Perfect Addiction” is of the romance genre and is about a girl who is a martial arts trainer and a boy who fights in the underground fight scene. Sienna Lane, played by Kiana Madeira, gets cheated on by her boyfriend Jax, played by Matthew Noszka. Sienna decides to train Jax’s rival in the underground fight scene, Kayden Williams, played by Ross Butler. As Sienna trains Kayden to beat Jax they end up growing a connection. But did Jax hurt Sienna enough that all she wants with Kayden is to get revenge? Or will their relationship be worth more than winning? 

  I first read the book around a year and a half ago and recently reread it when I heard there was going to be a movie. I watched the movie on the streaming channel Vudu. I believe that the movie was good, there was backstabbing, revenge paths, love, and fighting. If I had never read the book I would probably think this movie was much better than good. 

  However, because I did read the book I would give this movie around three stars. In the book, Kayden’s past trauma and hardships are talked about more in detail and it shows in his character and development on how it was hard to let someone in. Although the movie mentioned a small part of Kayden’s past, it was little more than a single conversation and didn’t really show in his character. Sienna, in the book, struggled to get past what Jax did to her and how much he hurt her. She closed herself off to relationships and love, and only after spending so much time with Kayden and getting to know him did she open herself back up. In the movie, Sienna was hesitant at the beginning about Kayden, but never fully dismissed the idea of them being romantically involved. And finally, in the book, Jax was redeemed at the end in a much more sincere and thoughtful way than he was in the movie. 

  With all that said, I do believe that the movie portrayed the character Jullian very well. Jullian, played by Manu Bennet, was Sienna’s mentor and treated her kind of the way a father would treat their child. And I definitely saw that relationship in the movie as well. His character is honorable and tries his best to stay on the line of clean fighting, but when Sienna needed his help training Kayden in the underground he bent his morals enough to help and also train Kayden in a way to keep his fights clean and victorious at the same time. 

  Overall, this was a good movie based on a great book. I have watched many movie adaptations of books and I must say, this is one of the better ones. There were specific moments that I wish were put in the movie but not any so important that the movie was bad in comparison. I would definitely recommend this movie to those who have not read the book and still mostly recommend it to those who have. It is a three out of five stars for me.