Review of Death Note (2017) by Gavinc543 — 26 Aug 2017

Glorified Twilight-esque film student adaptation of a modern classic. Picture this, if you will;.

Light meets Ryuk for the first time in a disturbingly silent, deathly environment (imagine a vast scaled surround soundscape, like say, a vast empty train station, where one would easily be triggered by even the littlest of sounds) and feels disturbed for a minute, kind of like the main character Jack from The Shining. Now that would be a chilling opening for the playfully strange character of Ryuk to enter; "Shall we begin?".

THAT would be a spine tinglingly interesting adaptation that would not only be as compelling as say the jump scene in 'Seven', or, say, a Joker scene, but it would also vaguely showcase a fictional demonstration of a topic as foggy and difficult to pin down as mental illness (which Light may or may not have). You just don't get that here.

What a shame. I mean c'mon, we can agree that the comparison to the original material is pretty slim and just feels plain hollow. Yes, I can imagine it took a lot of time to produce the end product (lighting, music, death sequences, costume and make-up - all of which provide an interesting, modern punk + emo style of storytelling), but let's agree that from the perspective of someone who has probably never heard of the death note franchise, their is little to nada that will captivate the general viewer. I understand that their has been a lot changed due to this been an adaptation and I am ok with some (not all) of them.

The script just lacks the beauty of anything memorable. L's character feels too hurried and isn't given enough justice to really shine and have the viewer care about him. Ryuk just flat out disappoints when compared with everything that made us grow to love him - charm, wit. You would be right in saying that he was initially scary in the manga&anime, but he later became a strangely enjoyable, comforting voice of pessimism overtime and that was done in a very deliberate way. In this, he's kind of a mess. Also the dialogue here lacks almost everything that makes the original so intriguing and thought-provoking. The scenes are too rushed and have no time to breathe.

Although we all really appreciate the effort, we just can't accept this as a piece of art that could draw in new fans and I don't think I'm in the minority on this one. I still think Scott Derrickson (director of Sinister) should have taken part in this project, at least in setting up the 'suspenseful' scenes. I hate to say it but I thinkits safe to say that this is could will be referred to as a TV movie at best.