Deathnote (2017) Review!
Death Note, brought to you by the God known as Netflix (sigh), is an American adaptation of the manga by the same name. In Japan, and around the world, the manga has been loved, popularized, and been adapted into film previously, but not since Ghost in the Shell have we had an American adaptation of a beloved anime. So, does Netflix, master of all binging and brainwashing of people, get it right? Well...
Anyone watching this will agree that there's no mistaking this movie as an Americanized Death Note. You have unnecessary backstory, simplified rules to their universe, and of course the main story has to be about Light's romance with Mia rather than the effect the Death Note has on the world, or the cat and mouse premise from its original source material. There is no way for anyone to think that this adaptation would be loyal to its source material all the way through, and yet after a while I found the film becoming slightly more loyal, and a bit more interesting.
There are two types of adaptations. The first is a straight up adaptation. Everything presented in the source material is adapted, I like to think of the first Harry Potter movie as a good example. The other type of adaption is taking the basic premise, but doing it differently in an interesting direction. I believe L. A. Confidential and The Wizard of Oz fall under that, but this method is very difficult to pull off. Death Note, in a nut shell, is about a boy who meets a death God, and is given a book that has the power to kill any whose name is written in it. Upon this premise Netflix's Death Note decides to try adaption method number two, and the results are mixed. At times it doesn't work, but at other times I found myself really enjoying the liberties they took.
Fans of the anime will be mad, angry, and unfairly pissed when they watch Death Note by Netflix. The characters are either changed enough, or resemble only the surface characteristics of their counterparts. In the anime Light is calm, cool headed, and a masterful tactician. In this version he is your average High School boy who will do anything to get the girl, while also freaking out over everything. This is not a psychological thriller, but another staple to the YA genre...except it has more blood.
Not many of the characters stood out too much for me. Light and Mia were fine, Light's Dad was fine, many actors were just fine doing what they needed to do, but in fairness the script didn't give them enough to stretch their acting abilities. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I thought L would be the worst character based on the trailer, and it turned out that he was my favorite in the movie. In this version of the character they put an interesting spin on his and Watari's relationship that I found really interesting, and I was emotionally engaged and impressed with Keith Stanfield's performance when he found out about Watari's fate. That, and his character was the only one in the film that had more than one layer.
Other parts of this movie that I liked was the cinematography. I really enjoyed some of the shots presented in this movie and every time a scene was on the ferris wheel it looked gorgeous. Ryuk, the death God who gave Light the Death Note, looked cool and creepy. Willem Dafoe voices him with the utmost creep you'll ever want for the character. Unfortunately, for every scene I liked there was another that I either didn't, or confused me. The first third of the movie, when its introducing everyone, felt awful, full of cliches, and unnecessary backstories. Killing his mother's killer is one of the reasons Light starts using the Death Note. Again, revenge is a very American ideal, but there's unnecessary screen time devoted to his backstory when he argues with his father. Then you have Light's reaction to Ryuk when they meet for the first time. And boy is that hysterical, but something tells me it wasn't supposed to be funny which brings me to my next point.
The tone is conflicting. When characters discuss the Death Note it feels like a serious drama, but when the deaths are put into effect it reminds me of Final Destination. For example, the first death involves a strange Rude Goldberg set of events to decapitate someone with a ladder...in which their head explodes like a watermelon. How do you not laugh at that? This film is littered with those scenes, and made me wonder just how was I supposed to take this interpretation. Serious? Humorous? I don't know.
Overall, Netflix's Death Note tries to make an American adaptation of an Eastern property interesting by talking about corrupt cops, and a few topics being discussed now, but fails to follow through with that. The changes made to Light may let people who haven't seen, or read, the source material to feel sympathy for him and thus make it easier to watch, but long time fans will feel betrayed when they realize Light isn't different from any other YA protagonist. The few interesting aspects about this film is how they managed Ryuk's look, L and Watari, and the way this was filmed. Death Note is not an adaptation that fans were asking for, but based on the movie itself it isn't bad, just Americanized.
C+
