Marked Men: Rule + Shaw

Marked Men is a new romantic drama by Nick Cassavetes, director of The Notebook and The Other Woman. The film is based on the book written by Jay Cownover.

Shaw Landon (Sydney Taylor) has had his eye on Rule Archer (Chase Stokes) since they first met. Rule is just a more rebellious tattoo artist, who doesn't really seem to have time for a serious relationship, especially not with a more hearty girl like Shaw.

After a party and getting to know each other over a beer, they take on the challenge and try to start a relationship despite their opposites. The two now just have to learn how to maintain this relationship without changing or ruining each other.

The author of the book starts with a bit of a cliché direction with an "impossible" romance between a more innocent girl and a bad boy. Which makes for a mysterious relationship. THE adaptation of the book to this film is done appropriately, but remains more fun for connoisseurs and lovers of the book. For other viewers it remains more of a standard romantic drama that remains on the predictable side with the standard clichés.

Sydney Taylor and Chase Stokes play their roles faithfully to how they come across in the book, but as actors they lack a confirmed chemistry.

I didn't read the books but it caught my attention that it was directed by Nick Cassavetes with a history of really good movies and his masterpiece of a love story such as "The Notebook", so I gave it a try. The story seemed it was intended to the teenage audience with traumas haunting them, insecurities, on and off relationships on which on of the partners serves as a therapist that only can take so much until the other side realizes they were wrong and try to mend things and get back together to live happily ever after. The project is filled with beautiful people that made me forget the lack of talent of some.

Definitely missed the mark of what the book encompassed. They twisted what made their relationship so hard and yet so rewarding by making it more fluff. They left out how important their history was and how that really ruled Rule and his actions. Both families dynamics, which play a major role in their relationship was completely changed to more fluff. There was not character arc to be found. Both remained flat and you don't understand why they would or wouldn't be together to begin with. It followed the books in the most basic sense of bad boy tattooist and good girl looking for a wild ride. But the story line was difficult to follow and didn't flow well. Not the actors fault. They work with what they got. But the essence of the story was no where to be found.

This has always been one of my favorite books, and I'd been eagerly waiting for years for it to be turned into a movie. Unfortunately, the adaptation was a huge disappointment. Within just the first three minutes, I was already frustrated. The book's storyline was near perfect, and if I were the author, I'd feel completely betrayed by how they twisted and ruined it for the screen. I understand that adaptations don't always follow the source material exactly, but after this experience, I wouldn't bother watching any more adaptations of thesd books. I paused the movie so many times to text my friends about all the changes, and they all shared my frustration.

I just couldn't continue. It was horrible. And definitely not recommended if you like the books at all. I rented it to support Jay, but I would rather not have a movie than have one that's so different from the books we love. I'm not expecting a 1.5 hour movie to have everything from a 6-8 hour read, but I also wasn't expecting such a deviation. Character deviation, plot deviation, and not for the better.

The dialogue is absolutely asinine, there's so much cursing (like every other word) and very little substance. I should have read Reddit before purchasing, and I suggest you do too.

Those who gave any rating above a 3 must be bots or paid.