Review of Death Note (2017) by Viktor S — 31 Aug 2017

For an American adaptation of a popular anime on the big screen, it is done satisfyingly. It is clearly a challenge to take an old and foreign story and remake it for a domestic and modern audience, and I was impressed at how well Netflix pulled this off.

Of course it is unfair for fans to scrutinise how different this film is to the actual source material, yet the film by itself still has some evident problems which could have easily been rectified.

However, I shall begin with what this film does right. For the most part the film did an excellent job creating something new out of an already familiar story. The best being how the deaths are carried out. Instead of having every victim simply die of a heart attack like in the manga/anime/Japanese film(s), they instead take a "Final Destination" spin which makes the deaths far more interesting and horrifying. This is not only more visually familiar/pleasing to North American audiences, but also makes Light as well as the viewer(s) to take the matter of using the Death Note more serious and question whether it is even right to use it.

The second best thing this film did was how they portrayed Ryuk. I absolutely loved how they portrayed him as a powerful and fearsome demon instead of just some pacifist, gothic ghost whose only real use it to tie up loose ends in regards to the Death Note and its origins/rules. Ryuk is shown to have incredible, supernatural abilities which he uses to directly affect the deaths of the Death Note's victims. I also like how he is portrayed as a being who does whatever he wishes and even ventures out on his own once in awhile. By the way, William Dafoe was the perfect casting choice for this character!

The third best thing this film did was Light's character development. It was absolutely rushed in the beginning as he discovers the Death Note in less than two minutes of screen-time without a single bit of dialogue from anyone. However, what the film does right is how it takes the "Whiplash" approach to Light's character development; having Light start as a rather "normal" individual at first who has some gifts, yet as he delves more and more into the Death Note (no thanks to a brooding mentor) he becomes more sinister, cold, and calculating like the Light in the manga/anime. In my opinion this is far better than having a Mary Sue Light who becomes an anti-hero right off the bat.

One final good note to give this film is its casting choices. They were all absolutely perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything better! Especially William Dafoe as Ryuk!

The greatest sin this film has, however, the one major problem this film has which ruins it as a good standalone, is that it did not properly condense a manga/TV series into a singe film.

There is so much content in this film which is crammed in, rushed and filled with loose ends and plot holes that it makes the film seem like some "fan-fiction" or a highlight reel of an entire season. It relies on fans of the Death Note series to fill in too many of the blanks, yet when its an adaption with distinct differences from the source it makes it difficult for even Death Note fans to properly follow along.

I understand that Netflix did not want to take the gamble of making an entire television series out of what was a crapshoot concept, yet if they truly wanted to make this film an absolute success they truly should have made it as a fully standalone film.

In conclusion this film is a surprisingly good North American adaption of the famous manga/anime series, yet ultimately falls short as it forces too many unfinished and unnecessary subplots.