Light Yagami is a young man whose dream is of a world
without crime and suffering. When he
stumbles upon a mysterious notebook called the Death Note, he finds the power
to make that dream a reality. Turns out
he has just picked up the deadliest weapon ever to walk the Earth: a notebook
that can kill a person simply with a name and a face in mind. Taking up the alias Kira, Light begins
killing criminals of all sorts, on the loose or in prison, at a frighteningly
fast rate. With the Japanese Police
baffled, they turn to the legendary young detective L to stop Kira’s killing
spree. Light and L soon find themselves
secret opponents in the ultimate battle of wits with millions of lives in the
balance.
Welcome to Live Action Anime month (or just the next 4
weeks). When it comes to adapting the
craziness and visually stunning imagery of Japanese Animation, it can be a
mixed bag. For every success like
Rurouni Kenshin there will always be unforgivable sins like Dragon Ball:
Evolution and G-Savior (aka the Live Action Gundam film NO ONE not even Gundam
fans want to talk about). So for the
next few weeks we’ll be taking a look at some of these features, starting with
what I’ve felt to be the gold standard of Live Action Anime adaptations, Death
Note.
I had only just begun to discover the Anime series on
Adult Swim before learning that a pair of movies had been made to cover the
grand story on the big screen. What
caught me more than anything else was the image of the Shinigami Ryuk, who
looked so damn good for a visual effect.
And his appearance in the film does not disappoint. Sure it looks a bit cartoony at times but
it’s still the same wise cracking, apple loving, devious intent filled demon
from the original story in all his glory.
His freak out when he realizes he can’t eat apples because Light’s room
has been bugged is easily the best part of the movie for me and definitely the
funniest moment in a pretty dark film.
So yeah, Ryuk drew me in but how was the film as a
whole? Well gold standard means gold
standard. Even though this is only Part
One of Two, Death Note carries on as it’s own unique and fascinating film. The set up is great: a notebook that can kill
anyone but is used for more than just revenge against a few choice people but
for “justice” for the world as a whole.
Seeing how the world both accepts and rejects Kira is a perfect parallel
for the viewer, presenting sizable evidence for both camps. I do like how we jump right into after Kira
has come onto the scene to see this impact before going back to how it all
began.
The main driving force of the story is whether or not you
agree with Light’s approach and soon whether or not Light himself can ever be
redeemed for all he’s done. It’s almost
Punisher like how Light goes about axing criminals by the dozens once he gets
his hands on the notebook. Equally scary
is Light may be arrogant but he’s not an idiot.
Far from it, he’s a freaking mad genius.
He studies the Death Note’s capabilities and makes adjustments
accordingly, hardly ever afraid to use the odd criminal as a guinea pig for his
experiments. But is he making the world
a better place by becoming a scarier version of Big Brother? Tatsuya Fujiwara (Rurouni Kenshin and Battle
Royale) rocks as Light, making him intriguing and easily the guy you love to
hate and hate to love at the same time as he goes through his journey from
being a wide eyed dreamer to mad man with all the power in the world as his
finger tips.
Countering Fujiwara’s excellent performance is Kenichi
Matsuyama as L, who, like Ryuk, looks like he has been ripped right from the
Anime and Manga and planted on the silver screen. Bare footed, sugar loving (to the point of
great worry), bags under his eyes, L is anything but orthodox with his methods
and that’s just what the Japanese police needs to have a hope of stopping Kira. Matsuyama plays the odd investigator very
well with a mix of weird but also making L’s way above average intellect known
throughout the course of the investigation.
It’s also great to see his methods of wait and see clash with Light’s
father, Chief Yagami, even though the Chief slowly comes to respect L’s gifts
(the scene where Yagami covers a sleeping L with a blanket was a nice moment). Chief Yagami is the films other unsung hero
and Takashi Kaga just has a face made for dramatic close ups and zoom ins…in a
good way of course.
It almost makes it a shame that L and Light (spoiler
alert) don’t get a scene together on screen until the final seconds of the film
to close us out on a great cliffhanger.
These two have been playing against each other for the better part of
the story without knowing each others faces (well Light didn’t know L’s
anyway). And now they’re not just
meeting, they’ll be working together, side by side to catch the killer L is
certain is Light and Light will never reveal.
That is epic storytelling there and just the kind of energy to leave the
film on, leaving the viewers wanting to jump into Part 2 right away.
If I had to nitpick a few things I’d have to say that
aside from Light, L, Ryuk and Chief Yagami, the only other supporting cast
members who get any screen time or development are investigators Rey Pember and
Naomi Misora (sporting her sexy all black leather look from the Anime and Manga
too, bonus points). We don’t get a lot
of insight into Chief Yagami’s five man team, including a lone female member
not featured in the original story.
Matsuda kind of stands out for his ability to point out the obvious
after it’s all ready been revealed and his energy is notable. I guess Light’s girlfriend Shiori, another
original character, gets maybe the second most attention cause of the role she
plays towards the end. But this is first
and foremost Light and L’s game and thus their movie. Everyone else is just a chess piece to be
moved at their discretion, character development and screentime be damned.
Death Note was an enjoyable first part of a larger
mystery. It never felt boring and
nothing ever felt stuffed in for no reason.
And there’s plenty of nice set up for things to come in the second part
besides Light becoming part of the Kira Taskforce. Captivating performances and a fun energy not
seen in many adaptations make Death Note stand above the rest, being faithful
to the original source material while also throwing a special spin or two on
things to make the movie it’s own entity and not a detail for detail
adaptation.
And for those of you expecting Part 2 next week…sorry but
you’ll have to wait a bit. I’ll be
covering two other films before coming back to Death Note II: The Last Name to
close out the story. Figured a book end
approach would be a cool change of pace since im reviewing several unrelated
films (besides their Anime source connections) and not a series or franchise
for a change. Please forgive me and
enjoy the rest of this little series review break.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment