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

Hoo boy! Like most people, I'm sure, I went into viewing this movie with fairly low expectations. I've read the manga and watched the anime and after viewing the trailer I could tell that this was going to be a retelling of the story.

Needless to say, this movie is not good. Even if you can distance yourself from the fact that they completely botched the source material and the obvious white washing, this movie has many things wrong with it.

Firstly, the acting was pretty bad unless this movie was supposed to be a comedy. Nat Wolff, who plays Light Turner, does a really terrible job of conveying any type of emotion. His reaction to seeing Ryuk, the demon voiced by Willem Dafoe, is probably the highlight of this movie if we consider it a horribly done, dark comedy.

Lakeith Stanfield, who plays L, seems constantly struggling to remember his lines. There were very odd pauses in his dialogue that constantly broke the flow of scenes and, once again, added a slight tint of unaware humor to seemingly serious scenarios.

Margaret Qualley did an alright job for the most part in her role as Mia in comparison to most of the other main cast. I'm not saying she's up for any awards, but at least she didn't seem completely out of place.

Willem Dafoe did a decent job in voicing Ryuk, but like most of the movie, I believe his direction was a bit off, which is where a majority of the movie has its issues. Adam Wingard and his group of writers failed to create a coherent atmosphere for such a monumental, already well established story.

I could continue to go on, but I'm trying to keep spoilers out of this. Throughout watching Death Note (2017) I constantly either had a bad taste in my mouth or giggling at the atrocious spectacle that was playing out on my television.

Don't watch this movie unless you want to see a train wreck. Especially avoid it if you're a fan of the series. Watch it drunk and/or with friends to have a few laughs. Once again, America has botched a decent Japanese story with their own creative hubris.

Terrible.