DEATH NOTE (2017) - When the art of adaptation goes horribly wrong
Death Note is a fantasy horror thriller Netflix movie directed by Adam Wingard based on the critically acclaimed Japanese manga and anime series of the same name. The movie stars Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Shea Whigham, and Willem Dafoe and tells the story of Light Turner, a typical high schooler who is granted the Death Note--a mysterious notebook that allows its user to kill anyone in any matter they wish by simply writing down their name. While initially using this power for good under the persona of Kira, Light slowly becomes corrupted, leading world-famous detective L to hunt him down.
Ever since this was first announced, I've had very mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, Death Note is a truly amazing and highly memorable anime that everyone should watch. On the other hand, Hollywood has had a certain... history... with adapting anime, anime-inspired cartoons, and video games into live action (see Dragonball Evolution, Ghost in the Shell, The Last Airbender, and Assassin's Creed). But if there was any anime that was perfect for a live action American adaptation, it's no doubt Death Note. The story is so incredibly fast-paced that it immediately sucks you in and doesn't let go until the very end, and at the same time it's a deeply philosophical tale on the nature of humanity, and so it could take place in America just as easily as in Japan. Needless to say, I came in with high hopes.
I was very much let down.
Death Note 2017 as a movie isn't terrible. But it's not good. And I'm not going to spend this review trashing the movie because it wasn't an accurate representation of the anime because my philosophy is that an adaptation can change or edit as much as it wants as long as they are good changes and the work overall retains the spirit and heart of the original. The Harry Potter movies are often far from accurate adaptations of the original books, but most do a very good job at streamlining the story and keeping the heart of the series. However, because the movie does use the original work's name and basic plot, I can't truly review the movie without making a couple of comparisons, and what I found was a huge disappointment--Death Note, for all of its blunders and missteps, barely understands what made the original so great.
The Characters
Light Turner is by far the most unlikable main character in any movie or show I've seen in a long while. He is annoying, one-dimensional, and bland. Nothing makes me root for him as a person and nothing makes me want to continue watching. His only motivation, as I've said earlier, is to impress some girl (there's literally a montage of them killing people as they have sex like a really weird and messed up kink). Light Yagami was really fun to watch because of how cunning he was, using the Death Note and manipulating people in very complex plans in order to achieve his goals. Light Turner never shows any signs of intelligence other than the fact that he does people's math homework. Light Yagami figured out through experimentation how the Death Note worked. Light Turner had to have it explained to him in full.
Speaking of which, I guess Netflix had problems with the notion of a white male character who is perfect in all regards abusing power and descending into madness and corruption to commit hundreds of crimes, so they instead made him into a "sympathetic" character, who was "very bright" and "had a great future" who only did what he did because "he was bullied a lot". Sounds familiar?
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| Gimme a P! Gimme an S! Gimme a Y! C! H! O! |
Mia Sutton is Light's ugly boo who finds out he kills people and instead of calling the cops like a normal human being, she immediately gets in on it (or should I say gets off on it?) She's a really boring character who becomes obsessed with killing people because in her own words, she's a cheerleader and killing people is the most significant thing she'll ever do in her life. Can't say I disagree, but she became real psycho real quick and I was just really hoping she'll die.
L immediately stood out as the most accurate version of his character in the entire movie. He kept most of the same antics and weirdness that the original L did in the anime, and while I was a little disappointed he didn't work as hard to keep his identity a secret like he did in the anime, I was really happy to see at least one character would be treated well. That is, until approximately 20 minutes after his introduction, where L undergoes an emotional breakdown and becomes a sobbing hysterical mess, after which he just becomes a laughingstock.
The original anime also placed a lot of emphasis on Light and L's friend/enemy relationship as L comes to slowly see Light as his first and only real friend as he contemplates whether or not Light is really Kira or not, adding even more dramatic weight to their battle. None of that is present in the movie.
The shinigami death god Ryuk, by default, is the only good character in the movie and he is done well. Willem Dafoe clearly had a lot of fun voicing the character (very reminiscent of his Green Goblin days), and the costume for him is pretty well done. The director expertly chose to never have him fully visible except for his red pupils, which helps maintain his scary appearance, and all but a few scenes looked good. The movie had to cut out his more whimsical and mischievous side (and only kept him for about 15 minutes), but that's understandable given the length of the movie.
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| Amazing rivalry in the original, while they barely share more than two scenes together in the movie |
The Story (and why the anime was so much better)
The original Death Note was so incredibly popular because it's a very smart anime. The characters are complex, and Light and L's polarizing perceptions of justice are a joy to watch because both of them are constantly thinking 10, 20, even 30 steps ahead. Light is extremely clever and resourceful, and knows how to manipulate people, turn a situation around, and use the rules of the Death Note to his advantage.
Along with that, the anime was a paradox in terms of pacing; while the story overall was often slow-paced, methodically building up the story and developing the characters' arcs over time, each and every scene was constructed in a way to build up tension and excitement so every episode feels incredibly fast. Many aspects of the show were very subtle while nearly everything else basked in the show's over-the-top, highly dramatic style. The Death Note anime is one of the few works exciting enough that an entire 20-minute episode with just two characters walking down a street was incredibly exciting, and eccentric and over-the-top enough that the most iconic scene in the entire series is of the main character eating potato chips.
And all that dramatic tension serves the overall theme of the work: how power can corrupt any person. Light Yagami of the original Death Note was an ideal man who was given the power to "cleanse the world of evil", and the entire series was a cat-and-mouse game between him and L as they attempt to defeat one another through their intelligence.
Death Note the Netflix movie is, by comparison, very boring to watch. Instead of focusing on the philosophical and moral questions that the original work brought up, the movie opts instead to make the plot into a very unhealthy love story. Light Yagami killed people because he thought they truly deserved it and because he saw it as his duty given his newfound power, a twist on the classic "with great power comes great responsibility". Light Turner killed people to impress a girl who wasn't even that cute.
On top of that, the dialogue in this movie is pretty dreadful to match the story and characters. None of the people talk like real people, and conversations never seem to flow like they would in real life. In real life, people rarely ever speak what's actually on their minds, and they never say facts that the listener already should know. Of course, I'm not expecting any Tarantino-level dialogue, but we get some truly awful lines like "I'm just mad because you're a police officer and you never go out and get the bad guys, which is why people like Mom are dead and her killer is still loose." It's like these people didn't even try, man.
But in truth, all of the Death Note movie's shortcomings are all due to one simple thing: it's not a true horror movie. Allow me to explain.
Death Note the anime was true horror because it was about the nature of man and power. Light Yagami was not an everyday man--he was the ideal man. Light was popular, athletic, resourceful, very smart, and very charismatic. And because he was so perfect, he was bored. Ryuk, who was similarly bored of his everyday existence, deliberately dropped the Death Note because he felt like it. Light happened to see the notebook fall from the sky, and later walked over to pick it up, where learned of the Death Note's rules and properties by experimenting with it. From there, he slowly gained a god complex, believing that it was his responsibility to rid the world of crime by killing criminals "who deserve to die". The horror was found in the fact that the perfect person could descend into madness and evil; AKA what would someone do if they had the power of God?
By contrast, Death Note the movie is cheap horror. Light Turner isn't the ideal man, but a typical bullied teen that nobody understands, who was given the Death Note by Ryuk because it's his job to hand these out like Oprah presents. Already, the significance behind the Death Note is vastly decreased because the whole idea of Ryuk dropping it on a whim and Light just happening to be the one who picked it up is now gone. Moreover, the movie never tries to do anything complex with the philosophical ideas and moral ambiguities that the anime presented. Instead, it opted to up the gore levels to 11 by having every death be extremely violent--each time Light Turner killed, he'd use decapitation or getting stabbed in the throat or run over by a SWAT car, or driving an electric screwdriver into their forehead, all filled with an unnecessary amount of brains, guts, and blood.
It feels as if Netflix thought that we Americans were too dumb to appreciate a battle of cunning, wit, and ideologies, and instead opted to add gore, blood, sex, and an action chase scene on top of a lame love story because that's what we really want.
Death Note's cinematography is--like the rest of the movie--really bland, with some pretty awful choices at some points. While most of the movie looks very typical, some scenes had some strange Dutch angles that served no purpose other than "to look weird because weird is cool".
Music was also a strange choice, with several scenes playing to the tune of 80's punk and rock music because... reasons? Because weird is cool? Because Guardians of the Galaxy started this new trend and now every major movie is intent on copying it? The absolute worst scene of the movie (the Ferris wheel scene for those who've seen it, AKA the scene that's so bad it's hilarious) played the Chicago "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" and I was personally offended on behalf of Chicago.
Final Verdict
Is Death Note 2017 a bad movie? By all means, yes. But is a terrible movie? No, but it comes close. But without taking into account the original work at all, I believe that someone could watch the movie and relatively enjoy it. The plot isn't good, but it's there and it's cohesive. The characters aren't good, but they don't make me want to gouge my eyes out. So no, the movie isn't terrible, but I can't help but be disappointed at what a hugely wasted opportunity this was. The original Death Note was one of the best anime ever made, and had Netflix properly adapted it into an 8 or 12 episode long miniseries with good writing, dialogue, and acting, this could have been a major hit. But unfortunately, what we got just wasn't anything good, and nothing that's worth your time.
Death Note the movie is available to watch for free on Netflix, but you really shouldn't. Death Note the anime is also available to watch for free on Netflix and you definitely should watch it, or at least the first 25 episodes.
Grade: C-
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