Review of Death Note (2017) by Alyssa K — 26 Dec 2017

So, I had seen the new 2017 take on Death Note that can be found on Netflix. My thoughts? Well....it's not bad. It's not good, but it isn't complete garbage either. I haven't read the manga or watched all of the anime series, so I can't really say how faithful it is to its source. As a movie on its own...it's alright. For one, this film takes place in Seattle, where Light's last name is changed to "Turner," and whatever. It starts off like how you'd expect; a young man discovers a notebook upon which anyone could die if their name was written into it. And Light decides to start a crusade against criminals, using the guise of "Kira" to keep his identity hidden.

For the most part, the movie was decent. The concept of a Death Note was interesting, but it wasn't really delved on much. For one, you can control someone for a short time as long as you burn the page they're written on; once that is done, they are free to live another day. There are also many more rules behind the Death Note that are really complicated to understand as you're not given much time to digest them, but the idea at the very least is intriguing enough to allow one to continue watching.

As for characters. I'll be frank with you all: Nat Wolfe sucked as Light. He lacks any of the charisma and brilliance the original incarnation had, and he comes off as being more idiotic in his planning rather than being ahead of the authorities. In some scenes, Nat's performance seemed to be off...he really came off more as a brat than a mastermind. That's not even getting into how he screams like a little girl when he first met Ryuk. Willem Dafoe does a pretty good job as the apple-loving Shinigami. He's terrifying, yet devilishly comedic with his quips. Margaret Qualley plays Mia Sutton, the film's version of Misa Amane. There is a big twist behind her character, but I'll leave it secretive. Though besides Dafoe, the other actors didn't do that much of a good job. It probably had to do with the script, but I digress. Actually, L's actor was also pretty good, but I could probably say that you wouldn't like any of the characters when this film is over. Really, Light takes on the mantle of Kira because his mother was killed in a hit and run, and yet the film never gives you a reason to care about that.

So in short, as a stand-alone film, it's passable. However, if you are a massive fan of the manga, anime, or light novel series, you'd probably want to skip this one as it does chip away anything that remotely resembles its source material.