Review of Death Note (2017) by Jonathan M — 01 Sep 2017

I'd like to start off by saying that I too, am a fan of the anime and manga series. The movie was okay, considering it was an American adaption of the series, and it was only an hour and forty minutes. However, there's no excuse to the major flaws present in the film that really irked me as a watcher, but I'll start with the good aspects, whilst trying not to compare it too much to the anime.

Good Aspects:

Characters.

I had no issue with Light as an american, since the object of the movie was to make an Americanized version of the anime. Therefore, it would've made more sense to have a white teenage boy playing the part. Considering that most mass school shootings are produced by white teenage boys, I felt Light match that sort of archetype. The boy who's an outcast but is very intelligent. He gets bullied, and instead of wielding a gun to shoot up the perpetrators, he takes vengeance with the notebook. Fitting in my opinion and it's all sound when written.

L's character was also interesting as well, and the actor did an amazing job playing his part. The sense of justice played a huge part in the film, especially since in America we value justice to a certain extent, so I believe the actor adapted this aspect very well. Ryuk however, was my favorite character portrayal. They did a great job of casting with Ryuk's character, even though he was sparing in the scenes, but even in the short glimpses he appeared, he stood out wonderfully and was unforgiving comparing to the anime.

Bad Aspects:

Characters.

Although Light was a good reflection of a implosive teen close to shooting up a school, he didn't come off as intelligent. On paper, this had a lot of potential because in the anime series, that was the basis of the plot. Two intelligent people duking it out to see if societal justice will prevail over divine vigilantism. However, because the movie incorporated a teen romance with Mia, it watered down the idea of him being smart, manipulative, and very calculating. Most of his decisions were based on impulse, and Mia basically manipulating him, which portrayed him as not very bright. His intelligence didn't truly show until close to the end of the movie, which could quickly confuse the audience if you, A) Never watched or read the series, B) Didn't pay close attention to the movie, or C), The movie was too short to eloquently highlight Light's intelligence. Light's intelligence and ability to think 10 steps of ahead of him was the reason why the series were so captivating. How could they miss the mark on this important aspect? Out of all the good aspects this series has given, I would think this one could've been spot on.

L's persona within the series was that he's antisocial, awkward, and sometimes comically creepy yet highly intelligent as well. You see more of his intelligence in the scenes than even Light's through this adaption. L's intelligence is confusing though, because he claims his findings through his "deductions", but it's basically him just luckily guessing without any physical proof. He's also too emotional, when in the series he was more logical than emotional. Despite these issues I've had, I didn't think his character was portrayed as terribly as Light's was.

Mia is just a completely other character who possessed many of the qualities Light should've portrayed. She's supposed to be Misa, but there's no similarities of that character whatsoever. Plus, the movie doesn't introduce the idea that she too has a death note with a shinigami. The movie completely negates this idea, which is a very important aspect of the series, because Light basically used that to his advantage, thus is the reason why Misa was a romantic interest. In the movie, she was basically a female version of Light in the anime series. The idea of Mia having the death note and a shinigami, was something I was really looking forward to. I felt like if the movie was going to focus on a romance, it should have been in this aspect. It could've been the main focus of the movie, and it definitely would have reflected the anime much better. Why they decided to not include this? I have no idea.

Plot.

Given the time, the plot points were rushed. Given the hype of this film, I thought it was going to be a series, thus why the movie was an hour and forty minutes. But that wasn't the case, the movie was too short to hammer out the important details, and the transitions from Light testing the notebook, to murdering criminals, into wanting to be God of a new world was short. There was no encouragement for character development. The film also leaves out the idea of Light and L playing cat and mouse, there was literally no relationship there. In the movie, L just knew Light was the perpetrator and then worked against him. Had the movie been 2 hours and 30 minutes, that would've been enough time to highlight that sort of relationship, which is again, another great aspect of the series they've neglected to included.

All in all, I gave it a two because it wasn't good but it wasn't terrible. There was some good qualities to the movie, but if you're a fan of the series, you'll most likely be left with disappointment. I understand that this movie is an adaption, but that's no excuse to neglect the most important points of the series.