Review of Death Note (2017) by Shayan S — 02 Sep 2017

I'm...quite honestly at a loss of words here as I write this review about Netflix and "talented" Adam Wingard's latest adaptation of the hit Shonen anime: Death Note. So much so that I'm gonna need to do an obligatory disclaimer before moving on for clarification and context reasons. And to start off: As far as the anime goes, I have seen it though that was about five years ago and I remembered liking it enough. And even for the release of this film, I decided on not watching it and reviewing it FAIRLY on it's own merits (especially since it's adaptation which if Warcraft has taught me anything I can enjoy a film if it's given good enough direction and vision to hold up well). And one last thing, Adam Wingard believe it or not is someone I like for Your Next. But after Blair Witch, a film that ruined almost the entirety and point of the first film and failed as a horror film, I was getting incredibly nervous about however wanted to remain unbiased and go into this fairly. Now, with those out of the way, let's get into this because...oh boy.

I, tried really hard here guys to be fair to this film and had hoped that after Castlevania could do the video game adaption justice some good and make for an almost fantastic TV series, this could. Then the casting was announced that made me confused, and then the promotional material, and I got nervous. But regardless I waited patiently and what ends up happening? Netflix, 3 doofus screenwriters who wrote such iconic films like 'Immortals', 'Lazarus Effect' and no joke 'Fant4stic', and Adam Wingard told me that I should've never even bothered being fair to it. Because describing how god awful and insulting this film was would, well, take up a bit of length on this review. But, I can tell you the very little things I did like which was: Ok or fine camerawork and cinematography, maybe one or two jokes that worked, some decent conceptual ideas, and...yeah no that's about it. The rest is just about as negative as you could expect from: A godawful soundtrack that instead for opting for oh I don't know subtly and tension goes for a ridiculously out of place 80's style with pretentious choosings, an opening that essentially rushes out Light getting the Death Note and serving as a legitimate pointless introduction to a romance i'll get into later, the acting for once being all around either mediocre (L and most of the main side characters), wasted (Willem Dafoe makes for a surprisingly good Ryuk), and just over the top (Light's actor is so bad that it made me laugh unintentionally when Ryuk meets him at the school and he tries to escape. No joke I couldn't breathe for 5 minutes it was so bad), the characters despite Ryuk were all just so unlikable, dumb and just not even developed to the point that I can't tell any of them apart other than their stereotyped traits and forced plot backstories the story shares, a story filled with so much plot conveniences and cliches it's not even funny, a infuriating third act and ending, Light and Mia's high school romance being so goddamn unlikable and genuinely forced that I wished they could get off the screen, scene transitions filled with inconsistencies and overused dissolves, A.D.H.D editing that made me want to vomit, unnecessary gory violence, and so much wasted potential and issues that for everyones sake I'll stop here.

Dear god, what in the world happened to this film? I honestly wasn't expecting to hate the film way I did, especially since I never bothered watching the anime going into this, and I figured i'd find it at best mediocre. But my god, Netflix and director Adam Wingard proved me wrong. I feel frustrated this was just poorly conceived and rushed to an hour and forty minute "film" that opted for shoving plot points and ideas and the anime without being neither compelling or realizing being a TV should could, gasp, develop these characters much better and MAYBE sincerely worked. Just go watch the anime like I will if you want to see this incredibly well developed concept well realized. Adam Wingard...i'm not mad, I'm incredibly disappointed.