Review from someone who's read the book

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2015)

I'm not sure if I've reviewed a movie on here before, but I felt compelled to review this one and I will explain why.
In reading other people's reviews, both user and critic, it seems the poor reviews and ratings are largely because of the story. People have issues with the story. I've read the book and seen the movie and I think the movie is an accurate reflection of the book. Things that occur in the book are disturbing, it is hard to fathom why a woman would agree to them, yet that is the book. That's I thought reading the book and so that in the movie doesn't surprise me and seems accurate.
It's people's right to review the movie as a standalone entity and comment on how people might enjoy it, but for my review I want to review it based on the quality of the adaption from the book. That is, for those who've read the book, know the story and what they think of that already, they might want to know how the movie compares and if the adaption is any good.
The story in the book is difficult to convince people to enjoy given it is not what most people, including myself, would think was romantic or OK. This is something the movie team would have had to deal with in how people would feel about the movie. On top of that it's complex to translate the story to the screen in a non-hard core sense given the subject matter. You really have to tread a line between being explicit enough and not taking it too far. The other thing they need to convey is the internal war she has her being horrified but liking aspects of it as well. I thought they handled it all and found that balance pretty well.
The first thing they have to do, is convince the viewer there is enough chemistry and attraction between Anastasia and Christian for Anastasia to even consider agreeing to this. They've had no dating romance, they don't know much of anything about each other, so it's all on attraction. I thought they did this well, in my opinion I thought this part felt as or more romantic than the book.
The disturbing things she participates in are more disturbing in the book. The movie seemed to find a way to mix in a bit more sensuality to it than I felt reading the book. It had to have some of the horror to be that story.
Some might say then don't make the movie if it has these issues but the book was so talked about they were bound to want to. If this studio didn't then another likely would.
I thought what they selected to leave out versus put in the movie was fairly appropriate.
So as an adaption, I thought they did well. While the acting wasn't Oscar worthy, I thought the acting was fine, the lead actress particularly I thought she did well especially given the bravery required. A couple of moments seemed a little corny or awkward but otherwise overall I enjoyed it and I would watch it again.
If you've read the books and didn't dislike them then I think it's a worthy watch.