Review of Death Note (2017) by Kylebrockmann — 27 Aug 2017

Atrocious acting, blasé over-excited cinematography, camp and tawdry dialogue, godawful storyboarding and knuckle dragging narrative crafting, the on-screen chemistry of a rock and another rock on a shelf and those rocks are several inches apart sharing a frame - barely - hallmark of how bad actors can make good actors appear bad when they aren't responding one to the other from the same dimension, an okay performance by Keith Stanfield given what little they gave him and a shrine to the unlikeablity of Nat Wolff who if the stars hopefully fate it will forever bubble like a wet fart in made-for-tv B to C Grade obscurity. And I won't hate on this by comparing it to the source material because that hasn't poisoned the well, it's a listless and pastiche execution of a film without a soul on its own merits without even beginning a comparison.

Maraget Qualley is a stunner though, and it's a crying shame her acting is limper even than her Kristen Stewart prototype; I might not have made it to the end without at least her to look at.

I'm giving it 2 because the visual style was at least a little appealing even if the dark, blurry close-up shots of the characters were an eye-watering failed landing at atmosphere.