Review of Death Note (2017) by Chris O — 03 Oct 2017

There's a talented lead and an interesting story, but it never really defines its own identity, getting mixed in with the rest of the generic films in this genre.

Light Turner, a bright student who stumbles across a mystical notebook that has the power to kill any person whose name he writes in it. Light decides to launch a secret crusade to rid the streets of criminals. Soon, the student-turned-vigilante finds himself pursued by a famous detective known only by the alias L.

Since going to college, the amount of movies that I've been able to watch has decreased dramatically. I've only watched a handful of movies since I've been here in Chicago. What a tragedy, right? Anyways, I want to start writing more and watching more movies. To start that, I've decided to start going through all the movies on my Netflix and Amazon Prime queue. First up, "Death Note".

I had no knowledge of the origins of this story, which could be a good or bad thing. I went into it with fresh eyes and although I definitely didn't hate it as much as everyone else did, I didn't think it was that bad. This movie is definitely entertaining, but it's very by the numbers. Nothing here is different or new, and it all feels very cliche. I've seen the contents of this film in hundreds of other films, which is why this won't be that memorable.

I think that Nat Wolff gave one of the better performances of his career here. I've seen him in only a couple of other things, but this was definitely the highlight of everything I've seen him in. He did a good job of making this character his own, and although I don't know the tropes of the original character, I certainly feel like he gave me a character that I learned to know here. As for the rest of the cast, I'll just leave it at 'they're iffy".

Another problem with this film is the fact that no character is really likable. Everyone, from our main character, to his girlfriend, and to the lead agent on the case, they're all unlikable. They're all bad people in a sense, and none of their motivations or backgrounds really justifies their actions. It's a bit easier to root for Light because he is our anti-hero, our protagonist. However, you just can't help but hate almost everyone else.

The story is interesting at its origin, but I don't really think they did that well here. I can tell that the director and the people behind this production really tried to put something together, but it never really came together all that well. The story's pacing was good but as I stated earlier, it never really felt like it was different or new. It felt like there was a lot of content and a bunch of different ideas squeezed into a short run-time, while also never really giving us a reason to care.

In the end, this definitely isn't a terrible movie, but it's not a good one either. I had some fun with it at times, but it's definitely not one I'll remember in the coming days.