Death Note (2017) Movie Review

(Warning!: Might contain spoilers.)

"I'll take this potato chip.... and EAT it!" - Light Yagami (from the original Death Note; this movie had no potato chip eating whatsoever)

Live-action adaptations for famous anime/manga franchises tend to raise red flags for fans, especially if those live-action adaptations are movies and even more especially if those movies are filmed outside of Japan. I mean, no offense to my fellow Americans, but when it comes to adapting things from Japan into a movie, we tend to be quite unfaithful and trigger huge fans of a certain franchise. Thus, when it was announced that Death Note was getting a live-action movie (a Netflix-original one, at that), there was a lot of skepticism in the air; although it's not the first time Death Note was adapted into live-action (in fact, one was released in Japan before the anime even began airing), the fact that this one was diverging from the original more than usual didn't really please the hardcore fans of Death Note. As someone who watched, enjoyed, and even reviewed the original anime, I was among them, but I was willing to give it a chance for review purposes.

Is the Netflix-original movie Death Note unfaithful to the original Death Note? Yes. Regardless of that, how does it stand as a film? Let's find out.

Death Note follows a high school student named Light Yagami - er, Turner. I meant Light Turner. Anyway, Light Turner finds the Death Note falling from the sky one day; when he picks it up, he discovers that if a person's name is written inside, they will die. After being coaxed into testing it on a bully and then using it on his mother's killer, Light resolves to use the Death Note to bring justice. Thus, together with his newfound girlfriend, Misa Amane - er, I mean, Mia Sutton (they're barely anything alike, so I don't know how I made that mistake), Light - under the guise of "Kira" - sets out to kill every criminal there is and gains quite a following in the process. However, this all catches the attention of the world-famous detective, L (finally, I don't make a name-related mistake), who sets out to capture Kira.

One who only reads the summary may think that the biggest issue of this live-action adaptation is its unfaithfulness to the original Death Note, and I will admit that this is, indeed, something that bugged me; since when does only the user of a Death Note see a Shinigami (or Death God, as they're referred to here) and not anyone else who touches it? However, that isn't the biggest issue I see; the biggest issues are the story and character development. Take L, for example. At the beginning, he actually seems like the intelligent detective we all know and love, but about halfway through, his personality takes a complete 180 and turns into one who is a little too obsessed with the idea of Light being Kira. Yes, the original L is also keen on Light Yagami is Kira, but at least his personality stays pretty consistent until the end!

The story is also quite boring, with cliches such as the one where dangers related to ferris wheels occurring. While some of the death scenes, especially the ones in the beginning, were quite graphic, they didn't feel quite so thrilling. The characters also aren't helping, not only in their development, but also in their interactions with each other. The worst of them all is the relationship between Light and Mia; even though they have said those three words to each other in the film, not once did I actually feel like either one meant it. Although the casting and acting wasn't too bad, they didn't help whether or not I cared for the characters.

If I had to choose between the Death Note anime and the live-action movie, I would easily choose the anime. Not looking for an anime to watch and instead looking for an exciting thriller? Look elsewhere. Death Note (2017) is bland as a film, and as an adaptation.... well, it doesn't do the Death Note franchise justice.