Oh how I have
waited for this day! Finally the stars have aligned in such a way that I can do
this review! I always wished for this but never thought it would actually come
to be. I don’t even know how to handle myself. I have so much to say! So, let’s
just dive right in and talk about the world famous Death Note!
Written by Tsugumi
Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the Death Note manga started being
released in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2003. It told the story of Light Yagami, a
very intelligent high school student who is sick of the failures of the justice
system. One day he stumbles across this black notebook labeled “Death Note.”
Inside it is a list of rules that tells him if he writes anyone’s name in it,
that person will die. It is found out that the notebook belongs to a Shinigami,
a god of death, named Ryuk. Ryuk dropped his notebook in the human world
because he was bored and wanted to see what would happen. Light decides to use
the Death Note to get rid of criminals and make a better world. One he would be
the God of. His antics attract the attention of a world class detective known
only as L. This begins an intense story of the two trying to outsmart and
outwit each other, doing whatever it takes to come out on top.
The manga became insanely
popular and ran for 108 chapters, spanning across 12 volumes. With the success
of the manga came a well received anime adaptation and a Japanese live action
film series that was also well received. Both the anime and the movies received
English dubbed releases and the film series just released a sequel with its own
original story in 2016. In addition to those,
there were three video games with Death Note characters also appearing
in various Jump games as well, two light novels, a television drama and a
musical. The musical was actually originally written in English to begin
with, despite not getting an English
release. A concept album was recorded in English though and you can find some
of the songs online. It actually had a great cast and what I have seen of the
Japanese musical is also really good.
I’d actually recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Death Note.
Unfortunately I will not be talking about any of these though. No, instead let's go to August 2017 when
Netflix released its own live action movie of Death Note.
Directed by Adam
Wingard, the film had a lot to worry about. Hollywood had almost no luck with
adaptations of anime and manga. People
were still upset about the disaster that was Dragon Ball Evolution, plus Ghost
in the Shell came out to negative reception. No one had faith in a Hollywood adaptation
of any manga or anime. When it was
announced that we would be getting a live action Death Note, people were pretty
negative on the idea, but some, including me, had hope. As casting went on
though, that hope dwindled.
Don’t get me wrong,
I think there is talent in the cast, I just don’t think they are necessarily
meant for these roles. The first announcement we got was Nat Wolff as Light
Turner. Already not off to a great start. Then we got Margaret Qualley as Mia
Sutton and Lakeith Stanfield as the detective L. This whole casting immediately
brought accusations of white washing. As I said, after Dragon Ball Evolution
and Ghost in the Shell in addition to a few other examples, people were very on
edge. I honestly never had an issue. My opinion of the whole thing is exactly
what Wingard said in regards to the controversy, this is the take of the story
if it took place in America. So I never really minded, but it still didn’t sit
well with others. People did feel a bit better though at the casting for Ryuk,
we got Willem Dafoe landing his voice. For the most part, people agreed that he
was a great choice.
Wingard also
insured that the core elements and personalities would still be there. With
this, it was just a matter of time. We all waited, not so eagerly, for the day
of release and then on August 25, 2017, the day finally arrived. Would we all
end up disappointed or happily surprised? Hint, it wasn’t the second of the
two. So let’s really get into this.
Netflix’s Death
Note dealt with Light Turner. I get why they changed his last name if he wasn’t
Japanese, but Light isn’t exactly a common name either, but whatever. Light is
a high school student in Seattle, who is a bit of an introvert and is
apparently very smart. At least that’s what we are told. They try to pull off
that Light is smart like his Japanese counterpart, but he is so extremely
unintelligent. It is painful. One day he finds a notebook outside, labeled
“Death Note.” It is a supernatural notebook that according to the rules inside,
enable the user to kill anyone whose name is written inside it. Light stands up
against a stereotypical high school bully character that is harassing
cheerleader Mia Sutton. This lands him in detention.
Mia is the
counterpart for Misa Amane. In the original series, Misa is an idol who is
obsessed with Kira. She too has a Death Note and a Shinigami named Rem. Light
and Misa end up becoming a couple, mainly so Light can manipulate her to
achieve his own goals. In this, Mia is a bit of a crazy cheerleader and it is
Light that is obsessed with her. This is important for something I have to
discuss at the end.
So while in
detention, Light gets approached by the Shinigami who dropped the notebook in
the human world, Ryuk. Understandably, Light freaks out. I have said for many
movies, I try to ignore the originals, and I did with this, unfortunately the
movie made sure to not let you forget about the originals. On that note, in the
manga and anime, Light had already tested the notebook and was pretty calm when
meeting Ryuk. He knew that since something like the notebook existed, the
existence of death gods wouldn’t be so surprising. Ryuk also never did anything
really to influence Light; he was a bystander. He did what he was told to by
Light and was like the audience, just watching. He was bored and wanted
entertainment, so he would not interfere. In this adaptation, Light freaks out
at seeing Ryuk, screaming in fear. Ryuk then pressures him into using the Death
Note for the first time, convincing him to kill the bully from the beginning.
Light gives in, doing so and seeing proof that it does indeed work.
So manga and anime
Light lived with his mom, sister and father who was a cop. His father was great
at his job and was an all around great person. In this, Light lives with just
his dad as his mom was killed and the person got off. So that night, Light uses
the Death Note to try to kill his mom’s killer, getting the news the next day
that the guy had died. I have to also throw in, the deaths are hilariously
gruesome just for the sake of it. They took the chance to do this as an R rated
movie and ran with it. It’s so over the top.
At school, while talking
to Mia about the bully's death, Mia seems unfazed by the whole thing. Light,
who as I said, is obsessed with Mia, wastes no time showing her the Death Note
and demonstrating by killing a criminal during a hostage situation on
television. It is hard to believe that Light is a super genius when he
immediately shows a notebook that he used to murder people to a girl he has a
crush on. The two decide to use the notebook to kill criminals and terrorists,
ridding the world of crime. There is very little build up as to why Light went
this way. He had issues with his mom’s killer getting away, but not much was
said about his distaste of the way the world is.
As the two go on
with their crime scene, they decide they need a name to go by. Here we get what
is considered one of the dumbest moments in the movie. They decide on the name
Kira. Why do they decide this name? Light says “It means light in Russian and
Celtic. It also sort of means killer in Japanese.” No it doesn’t. It doesn’t at
all. Super intelligent, always a step ahead Light couldn’t even Google
translate and find out that no it does not mean light in Russian or Celtic.
Even if it did, why would he put his name out there for everyone. Also it’s not
that it sort of means killer in Japanese. Kira is a Japanese mispronunciation
of the English word killer. I get them not wanting to be racist, but instead
they failed miserably. Also Light wasn’t the one who came up with the name in the
original, it was a name the public gave him that he accepted. Something like
this is just so beyond frustrating.
The killings start
to draw the attention of genius detective L. Again where I get into my
annoyances, they try to explain L's quirks in this. L sits strangely, eats lots
of sugar, and even holds things differently. Here they try to give logical
reasons for why he does this sort of stuff. Plus while in the original where L
is never seen by the public and it is a huge deal when the task force gets to
meet him face to face, here he still goes out in public for press conferences
and the like, just keeps the bottom half of his face covered. That one is an
interesting change, but is acceptable.
Just like in the
original, L deduces Kira's location, that he has close ties to the police and
has to have a name and face to kill. He doesn’t go through this whole process
testing Kira to deduce this like he did in the original; he just figures it
out. L then works with Light’s father James and sends the FBI agents to track
Light and other suspects. Mia wants to kill them, but Light refuses. Again, kind
of important for something way later. The FBI agents all end up committing
suicide, making Light think that Ryuk was responsible.
I should add that
while Ryuk was a bystander in the original, he had major roles in the story. He
and Light had great interactions and Ryuk was just a great character in
general. In this, we really don’t get much of Ryuk. Not much happens in regards
to his love of apples. He doesn’t get
too much to do. It is disappointing. Also worth noting is that in the original,
a big part of it was the dynamic between Light and L. Light ends up joining the
task force to hunt down Kira, while still being a main suspect. The two develop
a bit of a friendship while also trying to stay one step ahead of the other. We
don’t have that in this at all, taking away a lot of what makes the story
special.
So James goes and
does a public broadcast, openly threatening Kira. When James doesn’t die, the
suspicion turns more towards Light, with L getting police ready to send police
to search Light’s home. Light uses the Death Note to manipulate L's assistant
Watari into going to the orphanage where L was raised so that way Light can get
his name. He then plans to burn Watari's page so he doesn’t die. Meanwhile Mia
gets the notebook out so police don’t find it during the search.
Comparison time! In
the original there is no rule about burning a page to erase a death. This is
very obviously only here for plot convenience. Then we have Watari and L.
Original series Watari owned an orphanage called Wammy's House. It was one of
several orphanages that Watari, also known as Quillish Wammy, owned. The
orphanage was a training facility for extremely gifted individuals such as L
and later Mello and Near. He did help L and the two were shown to care about
each other. In this, the two have much more of a father-son relationship while
also being an assistant to L. It is different. I didn’t care for Watari in
this.
Light and Mia go to
prom, while there Light gets the call from Watari about L's name. Looking through
the Death Note though, he can’t find the page with Watari's name. Watari dies
before being able to reveal L's name, wasting much of everyone’s time. We then
find out Mia took the page from the book and also killed the FBI agents. She
tells Light that she wrote his name in
the Death note, but she will burn the page if he forfeits the notebook to her.
Light tells her to meet him at the Seattle Ferris Wheel before taking off.
As this is going
on, L learns of Watari’s death and completely loses it. L in the manga and
anime is always well composed and very rarely expresses any panic. He never
uses a gun and is a very intelligent, calm person. In this, L decides to go
after Light, wanting revenge for Watari’s death. James sends in an order for L
to be detained while L tracks down Light. While confronting him though, Light
pretty much admits that he is Kira. Again I say, super genius Light just comes
right out and admits to L that he is Kira. This is the extremely intelligent
individual everyone! A chase goes on with L going after Light with a gun, but
Light is saved when a stranger overhears that Light is Kira. The stranger,
being a Kira follower, knocks L out so Light can escape, letting Light get to
the Ferris wheel to meet Mia, bringing us to our climax.
They take the ride
to the top where Mia takes the notebook, finding out that this was part of
Light's plan and that he had written her name in the notebook. This whole scene
is so unintentionally hilarious. The delivery. The writing. The music. It is
all just such a beautiful disaster. The Ferris Wheel begins to collapse with
the two falling out, Light's page falling into a burning barrel in front of L
while Mia falls to her death. Light meanwhile falls and ends up in the water,
vanishing.
Light wakes up in
the hospital from a coma with James there. James suspects he is Kira and Light
once again just comes out and admits it. Let’s just tell everyone he is Kira,
who cares about consequences. I’m not sure if it is the acting or what, but
James honestly doesn’t seem to bothered by the fact that Light is a murderer.
We also get Light explaining that prior to going to meet Mia, he had a criminally
charged doctor find and rescue him, putting him in a medically induced coma,
then have someone else find the Death Note and continue killing criminals
before returning the notebook. Then it ends with Ryuk commenting on how humans
are so interesting. We also get a bit of L finding a page of the Death Note,
looking like he might write down Light’s name.
This movie sucks! I
don’t know how they messed this up so much. I really don’t. It could have been
really easy to translate the story of Death Note better than they did. You
really mess it up though when you say how Light is this smart character, but
then show the complete opposite, only to have him supposedly pull off this big
plan at the end. He had shown no signs up until that point of being able to
come up with something like that and it was obviously just done for the plot at
to go “see? See!? He is really smart guys!’
When I first started
watching the movie, I honestly thought it wouldn’t be so bad. I didn’t think it
would be great, but it didn’t seem terrible. I was wrong though. As time went
on, it just got worse and worse. I came to a realization though not long after
watching it. This is where I go back to the things I said to remember. Mia
should have had the role of Light, while Light was the Misa character. Light in
this was obsessed with Mia as Misa was with Kira. Mia was shown to be much more
competent, much more manipulative. She, while not still exactly like Light from
the original series, is still more
My only other idea
is how to go from here. It was announced last year that the film did well
enough and that they were going to make a sequel. Make L the new Kira. It would
make no sense in regards to the original, but again if you are going different,
go extremely different. Lakeith Stanfield did a great job with what he was
given, him as the lead wouldn’t be too bad. At this point, L has lost
everything. His father figure is dead, he is wanted, and his way of going by
the law to get justice didn’t work. We see by the end of the first movie that
he is a broken man. Have him actually write down Light’s name, then with the
justice system failing him, he starts to kill criminals with the Death Note
like Light did. Unlike this Light though, he could be smarter, more cunning,
more calculating. He could be more like Kira in the manga and anime. From
there, you could introduce Near and Mello from the same orphanage L was from.
They could have looked up to him like they did In the original, making it even
more heartbreaking and dramatic when they find out he is Kira. They could be trying
to stop and catch him, making it much more personal for everyone. It could
really be an good take on things.
Netflix’s Death
Note will unfortunately be right up there with the other live action
Hollywood adaptations prior to it. With
Battle Angel Alita, and Detective Pikachu, it seems we are finally making some
progress, but when a film comes out and is so bad that the only way I can think
of to fix it without just rewriting it to be the original is making anyone but
the main character take on that role, it says a lot. I hope lessons are learned
for this sequel, if it ever comes to be, but honestly just give me an English version of the
musical. It did things far more accurately than this big budget film. It’s sad
to see something loved by so many end up being handled so poorly. In the end,
if lessons aren’t learned, at least maybe I can have something else to make fun
of or rage at for a while. Though, I suspect that this take on the series, like
the names written in the Death Note, has met its end. Makes sense as it is
almost criminal what they did to it.
Interesting reviews, but man are they long. Keep it up - but I suggest you tighten it up also.
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