Death Note
- 2017
- Tous publics
- 1h 41m
A high school student named Light Turner discovers a mysterious notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name is written within its pages, and launches a secret crusade to rid the wo... Read allA high school student named Light Turner discovers a mysterious notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name is written within its pages, and launches a secret crusade to rid the world of criminals.A high school student named Light Turner discovers a mysterious notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name is written within its pages, and launches a secret crusade to rid the world of criminals.
LaKeith Stanfield
- L
- (as Keith Stanfield)
Willem Dafoe
- Ryuk
- (voice)
Featured reviews
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
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
I don't suggest you watch the movie if you are a huge fan of Death Note, because it will ruin the whole thing. The actors and actresses were terrible and just everything was a big disappointment. The movie had almost nothing to do with the anime. If you have never heard of Death Note before, watch the anime first and if you are curious to watch the movie, go ahead..But as I said before, you will be disappointed.
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!?
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!?
Did you know
- Trivia(at around 52 mins) Ryuk's manga design is seen in a book Light is reading at the diner.
- Goofs(at around 23 mins) When Light shows Mia the Death Note for the first time he asks her to read the last entry. The last entry should have been Anthony Skomal, not Kenny Doyle.
- Crazy creditsThe closing credits are written in the same style as the Death Note instructions.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: Death Note (2017)
- SoundtracksReckless (Don't Be So...)
Written by James Reyne (as James Michael Reyne)
Performed by Australian Crawl
Courtesy of EMI Music Australia
Under license from Universal MUsic Enterprises
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $50,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 41m(101 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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