When student Light Turner finds a supernatural notebook,
called the Death Note, his world changes forever. Possessing the power of a God of Death and
guided by one, the clever Ryuk, Light begins to bring about his own brand of
justice, adopting the alias “Kira”.
While those, like beautiful student Mia Sutton, see Kira as a new kind
of savior, others see him as the ultimate killer. When Kira’s activities attract the attention
of underground detective, L, Light finds himself in a game of cat and
mouse. Trying to stay one step ahead of
L, Light finds his newfound power spinning out of control. When this battle of wits and wills ends, the
world will never be the same again.
From a certain standpoint, there’s a lot of
understandable hesitation about approaching an American adaptation of…well
anything Anime. The US track record for
adapting Anime has been pretty dismal.
Heck, the most successful attempt wasn’t even a total adaptation
(Pacific Rim). So yeah, going into Death
Note, which debuted today on Netflix, I opted to keep my expectations low,
especially after Ghost in the Shell failed so miserably earlier this year. So, after much hype (little positive and
mostly negative), how did this one fare?
Well…it’s definitely better than Ghost in the Shell. It is chalk full of problems but Death Note
becomes more of a step in the right direction for American takes on popular
Anime titles. It’s a mix of good and bad
really and I’ll try to cover them all.
The casting is pretty good for the most part. Keith Stanfeild and Shea Whigham bring a lot of
good work to the roles of L and James Turner.
The L seen here is a more intense take on the character, more unhinged
and capable of being a bit destructive even if he isn’t realizing it. He’s definitely not the calm and nearly
emotionless guy we all know from the Anime and Manga. I wasn’t sure about his Mr. Robot inspired
look but Stanfield should be commended for making this new version of L work in
unexpected ways. Same goes for Whigham
playing Light’s dad. Then again, the man
has been good in just about every role I’ve seen him in from the Fast and the
Furious movies to Agent Carter. The real
stand out of the cast, however, is Margaret Qualley as Mia Sutton. Holy crap, Misa Amane’s got nothing on this
girl. While Misa, the original character
from the Anime, was an obnoxious girl playing with fire and failing, Mia is
more Kira than Light is for most of the movie.
There’s a fearlessness to her that is awe inspiring and seeing her
downward spiral is just plain “wow” to watch.
Of all the characters to get a sort of upgrade from this film, Misa
needed it the most. There’s very little
playful naievte here.
Which brings us to Light.
This was…interesting. Most of us
who know Death Note know Light Yagami is pretty much the Walter White of
Japanese Anime. He matched L blow for
blow mentally and managed to keep his secret safe right up until the rug is
pulled out from under him in the finale.
If L is the Sherlock Holmes of Death Note, Light is certainly
Moriarty. Nat Wolff as Light Turner is
pretty much the exact opposite. He has
the aspirations of Light Yagami.
However, he lacks his counterparts confidence and doesn’t try to rise to
the same levels of “whatever it takes”.
Most of that falls to Mia, again backing my claim that she is more Kira
than Light is. There are lines that Anime
Light would cross and not look back on that new movie Light is hesitant to and
flat out refuses at times. There are
moments when the Anime Light shines through, especially in the finale but I’ll
get to that in a moment. It’s not a
terrible performance by any means, Wolff’s definitely reacts more like the
average teen would to seeing the Death Note’s power in action, plus seeing a
Death God in person. Still, the
comparisons between him and one of Anime’s greatest villains is unavoidable and
it could make or break some people’s enjoyment of the film. Me, I’m ok with it…and here’s why.
While the film does speed along at a rapid pace,
obviously cramming 12 volumes of Manga and 37 episodes of Anime into a less
than 2 hour film, most of it’s missteps can be forgiven for one helluva finale
that I can only describe as “What If?”
The last thirty minutes presents us with something that Ghost in the
Shell refused to do in it’s adaptation, take chances (trying to justify why
Motoko looks like ScarJo doesn’t count, that’s just insulting). The original ending of Death Note is
brilliant but not without it’s own faults, which I wont spoil here. The ending of the Netflix film is a very
different take on things, more rapid paced action than the gravitas breakdown
of Light Yagami (amazing as that scene still is). On top of that, the final moments impressed
me the most, leaving us with an ambiguous ending that I feel should not be
elaborated on or explored. It’s strange
to say, but it reminds me of Inception’s infamous “did the spinner topple or
keep spinning? Is Leo still in the dream?” question that Christopher Nolan will
never answer. In short, the ending is
the most brilliant part of the film, almost making me wish we had seen it in
the Anime itself. Let me be clear though: The final episode of Death Note is still one of the greatest endings in all of Anime and I will never say otherwise...just incase someone thinks I might be.
I’m praising the movie a lot, aren’t I? Funny enough, I guess I am, and I haven’t even
gotten to Ryuk yet. That’s kind of a
given though. From the first mention of
Willem Dafoe’s casting to the initial images of the character shrouded in
darkness save for his eyes, Ryuk was my most anticipated character of the film
and he did not disappoint. His design is
the stuff of nightmares, I dare say it’s even superior to the 2006 Japanese
movies (though that was closer to his Anime design…which does make a small
cameo in this movie). And Dafoe? His voice is perfect. He makes Ryuk the shady con artist he really
is, selling destruction for the price of enjoyment…a role Willem Dafoe could
play in his sleep. He and Nat Wolff play
well off of each other and in the end, it’s one of the best castings in a live
action Anime since “Beat” Takeshi Kitano in Ghost in the Shell (one of the few
things I liked about that movie).
Now for the bad.
While the ending is great, getting there is a mixed bag. Again, this is a lot of story crammed into a
film less than 2 hours long. Even the
Japanese films split the story into two parts (then added a third last year but
we’ll hopefully get that stateside eventually).
I feel like this could have been good material for a Netflix series
rather than a movie, sort of in the vein of Daredevil or Stranger Things. The plot feels generally rushed without giving
us the chance to take in the world that Light and Mia are creating with this
little crusade. The movie is also, most
surprising, gory beyond belief. Some of
the kills in this film are downright brutal.
The very first by Light’s hand made me iffy about how things would play
out going forward watching. It’s almost
parody like (along with a couple of scenes with the actors) and more over the
top compared to some of the subtlety of the Anime’s kills…sans potato
chips. The bloodshed could have been
toned down and the story expanded, maybe even as a two part movie. It might have even helped flesh out the character
relationships that speed along with the rest of the movie without giving them
time to simmer and grow naturally (they were played in as much fast forward
speed as the many montages in the first third of the film).
Death Note isn’t an awful movie but it not going to
satisfy everyone. It goes for loud and
over the top chaos and makes Light a shell of what fans know him to be. The story doesn’t hit its true strides until
the last act begins and until then, it’s a crap shoot as to how the adaptation
will treat the source material and I’ll admit, sometimes I felt like I was
watching a CW pilot in the beginning.
For me though, it’s better than Ghost in the Shell, if only because that
last act stunned the hell out of me. I
would say that fans and viewers will either love it or hate it. Me, I’m in the middle. The cast is solid, the finale is awesome, as
is Mia. The changes to Light did bother
me and I don’t know if I can let that go fully.
As far as US adaptations of Japanese Anime go, temper your expectations
and you might find some enjoyment. Cause
trust me, given our track record, this could have been a lot worse.
7/10
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