Death Note
Directed by Adam Wingard
| Release | Release date unknown |
| Rating | 6/10 |
The reviews
By adj85 2017-09-20
Death Note fans have been eagerly waiting for this movie to drop since 2016 the anime was a success. Originally written as an anime by Tsugumi Ohba and Illustrated by Takeshi Obata and based on a character Light Yagami, some have been left wondering could the American movie have been better? The Netflix adaptation takes place in an American high school. The beginning scene opens up to the high school nerd eyeing the popular, troubled cheerleader. Then, with a big gust of wind, down comes the notebook falling from the sky. This begins a rollercoaster of action, drama, and heartbreak. The original owner, Shinigami Ryuk ( William Dafoe ), a God of Death lurks in the shadows and plays off the blood lust of Light's newfound obsession. Once Light find out what the book is really capable of, he reaches out to Misa, the troubled cheerleader. From there begins a downward spiral as Misa's obsession with death that overshadows Light's decision to take action and rid the world of evil by murdering those who deserve punishment. The movie comes to a head when Light's dad, a detective and L, another detective are brought in to solve the mysterious murders. L suspects that the murder is attached to the police somehow and becomes suspicious with Light who he think is the murderer. L stops at nothing to prove Light's involvement and puts everything on the line to prove it. But how will L prove Light is killing people with a magic book and a invisible demon?
The highlights of this movie are the death scenes, wild action, and animation. The biggest draw of fans from the anime is Shinigami Ryuk, a death god ( William Dafoe ). Seeing Ryuk come to life definitely made Death Note worth watching. The original Ryuk was 8 feet tall in the anime. They found a fill-in actor that was 7 feet in full costume a life-sized puppet that didn't work as well as they had hoped. Another good part of the movie was a last minute add-on which wasn't included in the script that had already been submitted to Netflix. It was the chase scene at the end. Unbelievably enough, the actors did their own stunts. Stand-ins were hired but it was later decided that the actors would keep it authentic. Lastly, the death scenes, which didn't disappoint. If you like blood and gore, this movie might be worth a watch just for the murder scenes. The first death is a bully who ends up eating a ladder. From there the death scenes get better and more entertaining.
While the movie is somewhat based on the anime, many things were different and the original fans of the anime weren't happy. Like the fact that the movie was based in America, not Japan. His last name was changed to Turner and '' americanized ". From the opening scene where Light is walking through an outside courtyard at school, he spots a book on the ground and picks it up. Thinking it's some kind of weird chain letter, he leaves it and walks away to only go and pick it back up. Another big change was the confusion of the era. The Netflix movie had 80's inspired music and neon lights with a sorta 80's vibe. This doesn't fit with the original, yet was a purposely done to pay homage to John Carpenter. The plot takes a dramatic turn when the typical high school romance between Light and Misa blossoms. But, in the anime, this never happened. Misa was love sick and innocent when it came to Light. It's like they took Light and Misa's personalities from the anime and swapped them in the movie. The strong male lead doesn't come across like it does in anime. Plus, in the anime Misa has her own Shinigami called Rem and doesn't need to plot against Light for his. The character change plays heavily into the Netflix plot epically at the end when he confessed on himself to the detective after L has a breakdown and chases Light. In the anime Detective L is a charming, manipulative genius. The biggest edit was probably the chip scene. This was a staple in the plot for the anime and many wonder why it was not put it in. The anime was more in-depth about a cat and mouse game that was going on during the Kira investigation. So why make a movie instead of a series and cut so much good stuff out?
Death Note wasn't a bad movie but I do think that most of the people who will like this movie would be people who haven't seen the anime. Because the anime was so well-written and animated, it will be very hard for the movie to be just as good. But it should be expected, from the last name change to the beginning scene change fans haven't been as excited to hear about how much different the American movie would be. They made a mistake in making this a movie, not a series. With a series the plot could have been gone in-depth with all that was going on. Also, why not stay closer to the plot of having 2 Shinigamis? I think the back and forth between these two Gods would have played out well. It also would have gave a better dynamic of Misa and Lights friendship. The movie made it a typical and kinda cliche, teen romance, but the biggest part that was missing was the chip scene. This scene cut out the cleverness and passion that made up Light's dark personality. He was so much more in the anime and fans can't help but feel a sense of him lacking in this movie. While it was an okay movie, it didn't touch on the amazingness that is the anime.
Saw august 25 2017 on Netflix
By Nikayaya 2017-08-24
Death Note concludes as spontaneously as it begins with Ryuk, the Death Demon, humorously quipping, “You humans are so interesting.”
You want to believe that the forces behind Death Note, Netflix’s newest manga adaptation, meant to translate the tale as an interesting reflection on human choice. That given the ultimate power of death, the decision would be multi-layered, difficult, and thoughtful: but it doesn't...
Instead Death Note translates as more of a convoluted dark comedy, a monkey paw retelling as more of a warning of teenage angst than its original counterpart.
The movie begins with a sudden burst of the clouds, which results in the Death Note (an antique looking leather bound book) falling literally in Light Turner’s lap. Light Turner, a typical teenage angst archetype, suffers silently from the injustices of a ridiculously large bully, non-empathetic teachers, and the recent murder of his mother. He opens the book to discover it has the power to take life in any way the possessor writes, seemingly carried out by a 6 foot spiky demon named Ryuk.
Ryuk (portrayed by a verbally smirking William Dafoe) seems tame in contrast to his human pawns Light (Nat Wolff) and his power hungry girlfriend Mia Sutton (a frightening Margaret Qualley) who waste no time in filling pages with names and inventive deaths. They have their victims autograph their final moment with the pseudonym Kira, reveling in the attention. But as the bodies pile up a detective appears from the shadows. L, a neurotic, candy consuming, slight of man makes it his quest to discover the true identity of “Kira”, seemingly easily tracing the blood trail back to Light’s hometown, and his police officer fathers department. The depth one expects to see in Light, is instead seen in Mia, who intoxicated by the deadly power, begins killing innocents. Her quick sweep of several FBI workers draws the ire of L, and loses the support Light’s father unknowingly voices.
Unfortunately the movie’s humanity never seems to form, the final, and what were meant to be most shocking deaths, barely drawing any emotion beyond relief. So while Ryuk may have found this group of characters interesting, Death Note struggles for a purpose. And while teenage angst has been fodder for cinema long before manga, the level of senseless violence, and seemingly cavalier attitude in which the characters justify death, make the movie almost careless with its voice.
Death Note may bring in the original manga audience for views, but outside of the devoted audience, it's hardly worth the binge.
Vu le 22 août 2017 en lien privé presse Netflix