Death Note (2017)

Death Note, a Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba, and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. Another western, live-action adaptation of a previously animated Japanese property, and those do not have a good reputation. So, can Netflix's one buck the trend?

However, first thing's first, a little apology. I'm more than a little late this week, but there is a reason for that this time. I did have a review all written-up last week, but I decided to scrap, as I felt I was being more than a little unfair. I felt I was holding to strictly to how it fairs as an adaptation, and not on its own merits. So, I decided to rewrite the review, and judge the film based on The other reason is because I legitimately struggled to get through this one.

(Edit:  On further review, I may have been harder than necessary on a second pass too.)

As usual, there may possibly be spoilers beyond this point.

Copyright © Netflix

Death Note is the story of Light Turner, who one day acquires a mysterious book that belongs to a god of death, and if he writes a persons name in the book they die. Sounds like a simple enough idea to adapt into live-action, right? After all, it requires a minimal amount of special effects, and has little in the way of martial arts, or over-the-top superpowers.

The answer is sort-of, they do trip-up a little.

The first problem is the opening, it takes a special kind of film to bore me within the first couple of minutes. The shows opens with a dreary montage, that using a backing track that sounds like it was performed by a particularly depressing indie band. Unfortunately, this was a sign of what was to come.

Death Note is tonally inconsistent. It can not seem to decide whether it wants to be a horror film, or a supernatural thriller, switching the two in turn. It is trying to blend the two, and does succeed in places, but usually it is just a little jarring when it crosses over.

Then there is its habit of shoving comedy in where it does not belong. It does make sense that they would want to add in moments of levity, to juxtapose against the darker moments, and add a range of emotions to the story. Unfortunately, the way they implement it undermines the moments of dramatic tension, rather than highlighting or elevating it.

For example, there is a scene early on where we get or first look at the supernatural elements of the setting. During this scene Light is afraid, and coming close to panic; and the director chose to express that by having Light scream in as shrill a voice as possible, in a way that could only have been intended as comedic. This rather robs the scene in question or its dark and foreboding atmosphere, and somewhat ruins the first appearance of a major character.

Speaking of characters, let us talk about Light himself for a moment. The character comes across as weak in terms of personality, and that is not the fault of the actor, but the writing. There is little to him, other than another stereotypical teenager with a chip on his shoulder. We get some insight into why he feels the way he does, but it all seems to conform to the idea that the world is out to get him; although, that might have been on purpose.

The real problem with Light's character, is that he lacks agency, a real sin for the lead. Rather than driving the plot, other characters drive the plot, and he just follows with occasional objections.

Light Copyright © Netflix

Other characters seem to exist to make Light look better, such as Mia, one of the actual driving forces of this film. Although she makes a number of decisions that influence the events of the plot, we never quite understand why she is the way she is, or what is going through her mind.

The best part of the film though, is easily Willem Dafoe as Ryuk, the god of death. Defoe brings just the right amount of eccentricity and menace to the role, creating a character that is by turns darkly comical, and dangerous. He also manages to be hammy and dramatic, without coming unbelievable; which is impressive, considering he's not human. Anyway, every scene he is in is a highlight. This may be because he is a more experience actor, who knows how to work the material without going too far.

Another good performance is in the portrayal of L, played by Lakeith Stanfield. His portrayal of L's mix of quirkiness and competence of is good, and easily endears the character to the audience.

Although, there is a note to be made on that point. Whilst the series of events do usually make sense, the conclusions the characters make in there game sometimes don't; sometimes it appears they only reach the answer because that's what the plot requires, and not because characters have the ability to do so. That only happens a minority of times though.

For the most part the soundtrack really helps to capture the emotion of a scene, and does a good job accentuating the mood. With the noted exception of the opening sequence, as mentioned earlier. The camera work and lighting is also great, the right angles are used to create an intimidating and dark atmosphere as the situation unravels. The use of strong shadows helps with the overall intimidation factor.

So overall I can not really recommend this film. Whilst it has its good points, it also has more than a few weak ones. Whilst it's not bad, it's not good either; mediocre overall.

Now to talk about it as someone familiar with the original, so definite spoilers beyond this point.

One point I feel I have to address before signing off, is the lionization of Light when compared to the original. This version goes out of its way to make Light more sympathetic, to the point where he could even be considered the good guy. Other characters are seemingly made worse, in order to make Light look better. Also, all of the people Light kills are evil without question, with no possibility of him making a mistake; this robs the story of a lot of its moral ambiguity.

I just find it disturbing that the writer felt a desire to make a serial killer look better, that's all.

Also, the ending irritated me greatly, and probably would have done even if I wasn't familiar with the original. It made my skin crawl.

Until next time,

PhoenixAct.