Death Note

The original Death Note was a masterpiece, some of the legitimately smartest most well written television of all time so all these years later hearing it was getting the American treatment I was understandably concerned.

Sadly my fears were confirmed, all of them. It's as if the creators were given a 30 second explanation of Death Note and based a movie on what they were told.

The characters are simply nothing like the originals, the plot is a compacted mess, this simply isn't Death Note.

Light has gone from an arrogant, smart, cool calm and collected person to a weak screaming baby.

L has gone from a savant secretive quirky quiet child to an out in the open gun wielding threat spewing idiot.

Misa has become Mia and no longer a ditsy blonde bimbo but now a devious manipulative brunette.

The original plot? Forget about it, straight out the window and something that misses the point of the story altogether in to replace it.

I could rant about what an embarrassment this is for ages, I think I could quite frankly write a book on how much of a slap in the face to the fans this is but I'll resist.

But make no mistake, that's exactly what this is.

The Good:

Willem Defoe as Ryuk

The Bad:

An offensive cluster crap to fans of the original

Light Turner........really!?

Terrible representation of Light

Terrible representation of L

Terrible representation of Mia/Misa

Misa becomes Mia.....really!?

So........many..........changes to the rules of the Death Note!

So........many..........changes to the plot

The soundtrack during the big wheel scene.......really!?

This movie was a mess. From a directional standpoint, to acting, to script writing, everything. The VFX is horrible in this movie. It's so low budget, you'd imagine it be a cheap TV show. Ryuk's forehead is too big and feels nonexistent within the mise-en-scene. Light Yagami is everything wrong, changed to a bullied kid to feel politically relevant and correct. He's just eccentric, over the top, and a creepy looking mofo. Mia is supposed to be Misa? She is changed to a typical short girl cheerleader who follows Light around. Also, why would anyone name their kid Light in America is beyond me. This movie was rushed. From the start, we already see the book falling down. There is no build up to this or tension, it just falls and it's one of the cheapest looking movie production props I have ever seen. The design is something you'd see from a fanmade film. Then, the title sequence. They got the colors right at first, but then they went with complete blue, when it should be red and a bit of purple. All of the dialogue is awkward and choppy. Terrible line deliveries from each actor, just overcooked and several mumbling moments. The deaths were immoral, stupid, and just goes to Final Destination B-movie horror territory. The writers they hired wrote Immortal, a terrible movie with Henry Cavill. So, it was doomed to suck to begin with. They hired Adam Wingard too who directed the overrated The Guest. He's just bad, they should stop hiring him. His camera tricks are cheap, choppy, and horrible to look at. Blair Witch was unwatchable, this one is almost too. Ugliest looking cinematography of the year, muddy, unsmooth, bad shot composition, and student film level. The music choice is pop/techno like music and it is all wrong. Death Note was Gothic, operatic, and heavy metal. The only thing they got right was Ryuk's voice.

2/10.

As a fan of the original Death Note anime I am very disappointed in this film. It was poorly acted, horribly paced, and the drama felt more edgy than composed. The characters personalities were completely changed to the point where I didn't see why they even bothered maintaining the original names and The events of the story were changed so drastically I forgot that I was watching Death Note. In the original anime both L and Light were very calm and rational in how they made each decision, creating a suspenseful psychological drama, but in the film both of them do things that were very out of character and essentially made no sense. Overall this felt very rushed and poorly directed, I wouldn't be surprised if the director had never even heard of the original anime before doing this film.

The other reviews are massively not enthusiastic: Even though I'm a huge fan of the eponymous manga, it seems like most of the other fans are disappointed, as a sweet euphemism, by this adaptation. Turning a 10-hours Japanese cartoon into a 90-minutes Hollywood movie is obviously a tough exercise. But, according to me, the result is nevertheless correct. Morality: movie to be watched, and eventually appreciated, BEFORE the manga.

As others have said, the source material is amazing, full of depth, cleverly intricate with complex themes and characters that feel real. So there were glimmers of hope that the film adaptation would be halfway decent on its own, despite a lot of people hating it. Really did want to like it and be one of those people to go against the general consensus, which has happened quite a few times before (though have found myself agreeing with critics more and more these days, seemingly a sacrilegious thing to say these days with so much over-the-top hate for them).

Sadly, 'Death Note' is yet another film that sees me agreeing with the general consensus and what they have said about it. Not much for me to add. It is not just that it is an abortion of an adaptation, that is the complete opposite of every element of the source material and completely forgot in translation what made it so great. Would go as far to say that it didn't seem to even understand it or what it was about. Having said that, have always believed in judging an adaptation on its own terms, there have been numerous instances of a film or TV series to be not so good as adaptations but good to classic on their own. 'Death Note' manages to be a failure on its own.

Does 'Death Note' have good things? Not many but they are there. There are some creative visuals and touches, this is not a cheap-looking film on the most part by all means and often quite striking. The (incidental) music is suitably moody.

There is also Willem Dafoe who brings menace and gravitas to Ryuk (although the character is nowhere near sadistic enough and that is the fault of the writers not Dafoe, who was giving his all to what he was given), managing to make a memorable impression despite far too little screen time. His performance comes off best of the cast and the only good one.

Found the rest of the acting however to be bland and forced, nobody gets deep into their characters and most don't even seem to understand them. The characters have lost their complexity and substance, they are all stereotypical clichés with no substance or even worse distorted beyond recognition. Complete with far too much emphasis on teen drama that was not really needed and was really not well written (cheesy, shallow and predictable). With more of a psychological drama focus there would have been far more depth and atmosphere and the characters would have been far more interesting.

Early on and sadly throughout, suspense and mystery are lacking and as said the characters are bland and often behave irrationally and out of character to an irritating degree. The dialogue is very stilted and the direction lacking control or tautness, didn't get the sense they were at ease or even they wanted to do it. The editing tended to be nauseating, but it's the story treatment that's most disappointing. It's not just the lack of suspense and surprises, it also feels dumbed down and too tame, anything that made one shocked or biting nails were treated with indifference, and events are far too rushed to the point that parts are incoherent. With nothing to the story or characters, the 'Death Note' manages to also be dull due to not being invested in it.

Overall, a few saving graces but a mess on the whole. 3/10 Bethany Cox