Death Note: Netflix Film

[Philco]

Watched this at the weekend. I had pretty low expectations so I wasn’t disappointed at least

I laughed a lot at Light’s reaction on seeing Ryuk for the first time. He’s clearly not as cool and confident as Yagami Light, which is unfortunate but I guess it kinda works for the rest of the film.

L I wasn’t so sure about. I think maybe because of how rushed the film is overall, L seemed less calculating and more just... jumping to conclusions all the time. Not so satisfying to watch.

I think it would have been more interesting if Mia had also been able to interact with Ryuk after touching the note. That rule seemed like a particularly strange thing to change.

A friend also pointed out that, even though it’s supposed to be impossible to write Ryuk’s name in the Death Note, there was that warning about him scribbled in the front of the book by a previous owner. Soooo I guess context matters in the Death Note now? I did think that was an interesting aspect though, that they left in all the names written by previous owners of the note.

 

[Shademp]

As a person who was disappointed with the original Death Note, I was looking forward to see if I'd enjoy the Netflix version more.

The Netflix version gets a huge plus from me simply for being so short. It appropriately condensed the storyline, which was a problem I had with the anime: It dragged on for too long with the same schticks over and over, to the point where I skipped 20 or so episodes because I got so frustrated.

That said, I still miss the main protagonist being a genius. The Netflix Light is clever but he's not genius-level. On one hand he's more relatable in this American iteration, on the other hand you miss out on a true battle between high-functional savants which was a selling point of the manga/anime.

I found the Netflix version to be a really good adaptation. Only a few stumbles keep it from being great.


Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was a PERFECT choice!

 

[Kai Schulen]

That said, I still miss the main protagonist being a genius. The Netflix Light is clever but he's not genius-level.

I can't really say that Light is clever when most of his achievements happen by sheer luck or because L and Watari are just as incompetent as Light.

Unless you're talking about the ferris wheel scene at the end, and I stand by my opinion of the ending that it's lazy writing ex machina.

I told my friends I watched the Death Note movie and they send me their condolences for my wasted time and sanity, because I went on a 10 minute rant about it. xD Still debating if I want to waste even more time by making up my own westernization adaptation of Death Note/write a really critical review of how it could be better handled.

 

[Cthulhu]

Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was a PERFECT choice!

I agree, but I think they could've fleshed out that character a bit more, because in this take... it really didn't do anything besides laugh. I mean you could cut him out and just go ~mysterious book magicks~ and it would be the same movie.

If it had a bit of background, like idk, an opening scene before the main credits where he and the other Shinigami were like "Blargh I'm bored", it would be a better movie imo.

 

[Roger]

Ryuk and L were both well cast but it means nothing if they don't have a proper Light to play off of.

 

[Channy]

I was also disappointed Ryuk didn't have enough going on... he'd laugh one minute then say to Light to give the book up.. then laugh again... then give the book up... there wasn't as much interaction between them.

 

[Joe]

Just saw this and found it laughably bad. Perhaps an 'Inspired by' rather than an adaptation or westernisation might have made it seem better.

Some good points: The L character was mostly interesting to watch and the actor played to the quirks really well. He was well cast. Defoe's voice fitted Ryuk perfectly. Light's dad was the most nuanced character in the whole movie and did a lot to wipe away some of the cringe.

Everything else was honestly just...wow. Light and Mia made every scene they were in difficult to watch. Mia just had this huge murder boner at all times while Light was the name given to a standard 'angsty American teenager' archetype we see in 10 blockbuster movies a year. I would talk about the terrible romance subplot but it was hardly a subplot when it encompassed the entire film.
There was no battle of wits. This is what Death Note is. Even a bad adaptation still matches the tone.
Don't get me started on Ryuk being represented as some threatening, antagonistic force.
Even separating the idea of this from the original Death Note, it was just a terrible movie sprinkled with some interesting character moments.

 

[fancy]

hehe, old, but i thought this was funny.

 

[Joe]

The tennis match was the best part of Death Note don't even lie

 

[Super Mario]

^ I was very saddened they didn't at least adapted that to add some quirkiness to the story.

 

[fancy]

^Haha, they really should've just called it something else and then market it as a sort of fan tribute to the original Death Note or as something that was 'inspired' by Death Note. My favourite film reviewer referred to it as 'Highschool Music with Gore.' Like, the fact that they portrayed Light Turner as this bullied character defeats original point of the manga/anime series, where Light Yagami is a straight-laced, conventionally good looking guy who would be the last person you'd suspect of self-righteously killing folks.

 

[Super Mario]

I was seriously keen on seeing a what if scenario where Light never lost his moral compass and is always at odds with Ryuk. My beef with this movie was only it was too short, didn't use the original lore to its maximum potential and nary a decent scene with L to show he can be an equal. I had hoped they would elaborate Light's intellect further with the film, but it went nowhere other than him doing A-level assingments for monetary gain as an implication of his intellect save for the seemingly

Spoiler

asspull ending where he used the Death Note as a mind control killing device

.

A part of me wants to see how they will explore the sequel, yet another part of me wished they'd make another reboot.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

They're making a second one: https://comicbook.com/anime/2018/08/22/death-note-2-movie-netflix-confirmed/




X

 

[Lulcielid]

I liked the first one so I'm quite ok with this development.

 

[looneymoon]

My s/o and I saw Slenderman last week. As we were walking out, my first comment was "I didn't think we would watch anything this year that was worse than the Netflix Death Note movie, and yet here we are."

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Wait they're making a second one?

I know the ending left it open for the story to continue. I mean... I thought the film was ok. My husband really liked it, and that's saying something, because he doesn't really get into anime that much. I did get him into watching the series after the film though, so I can credit the film for opening his mind a little bit more.