Jgames Hallow Review 18 "Death Note (2017)"

Death Note (2017)

Death Note is a series that I really enjoy. It was thrilling, kept me interested every episode. Light's character was intriguing as it was rare to basically have a villain as the main character, and they did a great job at making the audience root for him and understand where he coming from even though he is a psychopath. The anime was stylized and did a great job of being true to the source material and improving in the medium with great soundtrack and direction.

I will not be comparing the movie to the series, for now. I will judge the movie as its own thing until the end. Keep in mind I saw the live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell and actually enjoy it and was familiar with the series. So, I will give this anime the benefit of the chance that maybe it will be good. I don’t want to spend the entire review stating why the anime did it better because maybe not everybody saw the anime or read the series.I want this to be a review of the movie and not the anime.

Review start here

Death Note is a Netflix original directed by Adam Wingard. Is an adaptation of a well-known series. Netflix has made some really great movies, and series, but people tend to forget all the duds. This is a movie that people will remember regardless if it was horrible or not, and let see if that risk paid off.

The movie is about Light Turner, a really stupid name for a white guy, finding a Deathnote. In the Deathnote the owner can write a person name, causing their death and to some extent control how they die. Now he has the power to be the judge, executioner and basically become a god-like figure, along with his new demon buddy Ryuk. Now posing as Akira, the death god, the police are trying to capture him. A guy name L start tracking him, and now Light must try to outwit L or get caught.

The movie premise is interesting and it has lots of potentials. Might make for a good manga or anime even. That being said as a movie, it sucks. This movie moves so slow and yet so fast and was just boring. I kept looking at the time and realizing that I have made a terrible decision of watching this. The movie is never thrilling, or keep the audience in suspense, even in the finale. The movie premise is interesting, but it never takes full advantage. For example, the investigation part just felt rushed, and L figuring out which town he was in and how it works was glanced over quickly. The last act basically becomes a really messy chase scene that wasn’t done well. The character development is a joke, and they throw more unneeded subplot as the movie goes along instead of sticking to what they have. Is like the movie just wanted to finish as badly as the audience did. The conversation between Light and L over the killing could have been interesting, but is focused on for like a minute too quick. It was honestly a total bore-fest that needed to have better focus and make it have more weight. For every scene that had some promise, the scene just finishes too quickly. They try to cram so many things and not focusing enough on what they have. Leaving an interesting premise, but poor execution and cram story. Despite an interesting premise, it just comes out as a generic story of a kid that gets bullied, and then a supernatural event happens that let him get the girl and get rid of the bullies. Except there is a bunch of those movies that are executed better. It almost feels like a film that was supposed to be for kids and then was repurposed as a thriller movie, to be honest.

The main problem is that the main character Light is uninteresting. Light is supposed to be smart apparently (in the end at least), but it never feels like it and just feels like any regular emo teen. The character development from a normal high school student to this self-righteous god is done in a god damn montage, and he still feels like a stupid high school student throughout. Is until the end where his supposed intelligent is shown, but by then nobody cares, and they most likely just want to stop watching. Not to mention the only reason the audience knows that he is supposedly smart is that he does many people homework. Without that, the audience would think he just your average stupid teen, which makes the ending feel like bullshit. His acting might not be as bad as other people said, but he can be stale at some scenes and unintentionally funny. I just think the biggest problem is the writing. He feels like the same idiot character throughout the movie, despite them having so many chances to develop him. Normally supernatural event is supposed to change the uninteresting bland character, not have them be the same character in the beginning of the movie. Granted by the end it could be argued that he changed as a whole, but it just felt inorganic and out of nowhere. I mean he is killing criminal now, there so much thing that can be done with this. The movie did not felt like a journey, it was a chore. Granted Light background was interesting, and one of the few aspect of the character I did like. That being said just like everything else in the movie, whatever promises it has is not use to its full potential.

The actor for L honestly annoys me a bit more than Light, even though the writing for him is definitely better. I don’t know, it just that at times he seems to keep changing his personality, and try too hard to be a weirdo that it just comes out as fake. That being said I guess he was more accurate to the source material if you care about those type of things. L character as a quirky genius detective was at least somewhat interesting. That being said the acting just felt too forced and unconvincing. Mia, Light's girlfriend, was a better-written character then Light, but their relationship never felt genuine. Honestly she was a forgettable character in the grand scheme of thing. She could have been more interesting as she was willing to go to a darker place than Light, but ultimately just felt unneeded in the story. I felt like without her, Light character could have been more interesting as he has to transition from a gray area, to a dark area on his own. At the very least they could have had Ryuk, the demon of the Deathnote, be the one to whisper in his ear, pushing him. It would be so much better if Light has to weigh his action and reflect on them, rather than stuff happen to him, so he got to try to fix it. Plus it gives Ryuk more screen time. Speaking of Ryuk, Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was perfect. His voice and design was creepy and was an interesting demon. I wish they would have used him more, but Willem Dafoe was perfectly cast as Ryuk.

Overall this movie was just boring. The camera work was decent, aside from the chase scene which was pretty bland. The music choices sometime felt out of place and were just a weird choice overall. The scenes never feel like they have any weight and is just a rushed movie. It has an interesting premise that could have gone in many direction, but never really takes advantage and is just any outcast kid story being given power, but missing the elements that makes them good. While there are some decent scene, and Ryuk was amazing in this movie there nothing that made it worth watching this movie. At best I can said is a mediocre thriller with an interesting concept. Honestly, I said just watch Deathgasm, or better yet the god damn anime or manga. This mediocre film gets a D

Comparing it to the source material

Okay now let compare it to the source material. The direction of this movie was never intense, while the anime made eating a chip god damn epic. The camera work in this movie was just competent, which is disappointing. The soundtrack was also disappointing. The anime soundtrack added lots of intensity to it, while the movie has 80’s music for some reason. The look and sound of the film does not feel like Death Note.

The cat and mouse game was always thrilling and interesting to see how Light and L try to get the upper hands. This work in the anime since both character were extremely intelligent. In the movie it did not work because Light felt like an idiot, and L felt like a character who basically gets lucky with his hunches. There many scenes in the movie trying to paid homage to the source material, but just come out as weak. Like the scene where L dare the supposed dead god Akira to kill him. In the anime he does this after tricking Light to kill a reporter which proves how his ability works. In the movie is just him guessing his ability in the news and determining if he does not get killed, then his hunches is right. This is stupid because what happen if he was not watching the news or was just not in that area. It just really stupid and makes no goddamn sense except the anime did it. I mean yes adaptation has to be different, but the changes need to make sense.

This goes back to the problem of the movie trying to cram in so many things, which makes the movie leave out details, making the movie feel sloppily put together. Another example is the fact that in the anime Light’s house was being investigated with cameras everywhere, with him having to find ways to kill people while under surveillance. In the movie, he just being follow by a police, which means he could still easily kill people while he is at the house, and there no real tension except just him getting cold feet which is god damn uninteresting. It never feels smart, aside from the end which just feels uncharacteristic, because Lights feels like an idiot throughout the movie. The only reason I know he is apparently smart is because he was doing people's homework. Light in the anime was the top of his class, always ace all the exams, was a model student, and was real smooth with people. Making his scenes where he use his intelligent feel legit. It could be argue that they just wanted to make Light feel more realistic and relatable, but they also try to have him be super intelligent at the end which contradict the entire notion. Is like they are trying to have their cake and eat it too, except the fact that it does not work. The problem I have is that most of things in the movie that feel similar to the anime just feels like a check list. Some of the best part is when the movie is doing its own thing, and is trying to be different, because then I am not comparing it to the anime or manga. Like the part about Light mom was actually something interesting that did added a lot to the character. When it is trying to be like the source material, I can’t help but compare it because is done so poorly compare to it. Is trying to juggle being its own thing and paying homage to the source material that it just becomes a mess. The movie try to crammed so many things that only work in the manga and anime because they had room to developed. This is a movie, it has limitation and needed a story that can work under two hours. The source material was a slow burn that turn more and more thrilling, while the movie just felt all over the place, and cramming as much as it can. There so many thing I can go over but if you are a fan of the anime or manga, don’t see this crap adaptation. D-

I can understand that not all source material have to be adapted exactly, but do not take something right from the source material without knowing what made them work in the first place. The movie could have work if it knew how to paced itself and not try to rush to the next scene just because it wants to be similar to the source material. This is a movie, there only so much thing a movie can take from the source material before it feel bloated.There will be more anime adaptation, and hopefully they learned from the past mistake. I mean anime adaptation can only get better right, RIGHT? I mean Ghost in the shell was a decent action movie, and everybody agree with me right, RIGHT? Sigh.

Move topic to another board