Once upon a time in the scenic but boring Philadelphia suburbs, a girl quietly took notes and waited for her teacher to return as her classmates gossiped and played pranks. The boy in front of her annoyed her especially with his radiant gold hair, light skin that tanned into a crisp Hollywood celebrity glow, and pearl-white teeth. He always sat in front of her, but not by choice; students sat alphabetically in rows for every period from the first day of the school year to the last. A jock and one of the smartest kids in her grade, that boy bragged about his supposedly authentic Italian heritage and basked in attention, adoration, expensive cars, and education awards. He was not the one she hated most in the school, but even if he was moderately attractive, she was physically unable to say a positive thing about him as a human being. She once slammed the back of his head with her history textbook for making an ignorantly sexist comment, shocking the class who never thought the quiet, muted girl living in her own mental dreamscape had a vindictive streak.Given the right environment with the right people, that girl would rant and debate for hours on anything that she felt passionate about. Instead, she sealed her lips shut, kept only four friends, and navigated through eight years of Catholic schooling. She never knew what group she belonged to - nerds, goths, gamers, or whatever labels were cool in the late 2000s - but she knew herself and her interests enough to not feel completely lost when she was alone. After she graduated high school, she kept her friends and burned the names and faces of her peers from her memory. They never cared for her in school, so why should they ever try to reach out to her now? She feared that if she tried to remember them, hatred for them would fester and manifest into urges too "logical" and compelling to not act on. Instead, she poured her energy into studies and work to live a productive life, and she allowed herself to relax with entertainment to cope with emotions not respected in a post-industrial society.
I am glad Death Notes aren't real, because I would definitely be one of the worst people who could ever have the power to murder at will. If I did have it, I'd be fighting the temptation to get rid of any of my Catholic school peers who dare to try to contact me instead of targeting the politicians that have allowed the political, economic, and cultural capitals of the US to become ideologically cultish cesspools. Imagine Stephen King's Carrie if she was a Myers Briggs INTJ like Augustus Caesar and channeled Rei's stoicism from Evangelion. I still resent the people I went to school with, but I am aware enough of my feelings that I do everything in my power to not allow them to mutate into an uncontrollable monster that consumes me. That is something someone like Light Yagami would completely fail to understand... but at least he's not Light Turner.
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| Fuck. He looks like that douchebag I sat behind. |
Spoilers, if anyone cares enough about this predictable dumpster fire.
Oh, and as an added disclaimer, I do get a bit political given some of the ire American adaptations of Japanese fiction tend to stir on the lovely English-speaking side of the interwebs.
Oh, and as an added disclaimer, I do get a bit political given some of the ire American adaptations of Japanese fiction tend to stir on the lovely English-speaking side of the interwebs.
So why did I watch this infernal pile of Americanized crap?
The most obvious reason is that I am a masochist. Despite plenty of warnings about Mass Effect 3's clusterfucky ending, Prometheus' internet-fracturing reception, Ninja Theory's offensively arrogant spitting in the eyes of Devil May Cry fans, and the average Megami Tensei game's balls-bustingly hard gameplay, a part of me craves and lusts for punishment. Sometimes something sounds so bad by reputation, reviews, and word of mouth that I have to witness the train wreck with my own eyes. Sometimes I fall in love with the disaster (Mass Effect 3 and MegaTen), and sometimes I fall into a pit full of ravenous leeches as retaliation for my curiosity (Prometheus and DmC: Devil May Cry). Even worse, hype trains of negativity often do a much better job at attracting me to the product than hype trains of positivity. Three cheers for pessimism!
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| You have no clue how dumb I felt watching crap like this for several episodes knowing Westerners call DN a masterpiece. |
My expectations for this adaptation of Death Note were pretty low thanks to the inevitable and cliched controversies that arise in every Western adaptation of an anime. Rather than give a single thought to "white-washing" and "cultural appropriation", I knew I had to focus solely on the mechanics and content of the movie, which is where the most egregious problems would manifest with straightforward solutions to fix them. In the end my suspicion was correct. Regardless of what race any of the actors were, Death Note 2017 is still a badly made and executed movie. The most accurate portrayals in terms of race and appearance cannot save a bad script, bad directing, bad special effects, bad editing, bad production, and a bad soundtrack.
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| Keith Stanfield's interpretation of L isn't great, but he seemed to be one of the few actors who tried to salvage the script. |
To simplify: the creators of this film had two conflicting priorities that they failed to manage or reform, thus setting themselves up for backlash on the most superficial aspects that do not determine the inherent objective quality of the final product. While I am not joining in the moral outrage despite being a biracial, half-white, half-black, cisgendered, demi-sexual American millennial female who studied anthropology and ethnic studies in university (aka one of several oppressed demographics Intersectionalist extremists would salivate over), I have no sympathy for the director, script writers, producers, and executives behind this film paying the price (the harsh criticism, not the disgusting and immature death threats) for their lack of foresight (2). Dear creators of this movie, adding the line "Kira kinda means killer in Japanese" in a story that shits on the original source material and shoves in a scene of L speaking questionably executed Japanese in not-Japan while trying to pay lip service to anime fans and otaku by sticking too close to the superficial names and ideas of the original demonstrates how disrespectful, hypocritical, incompetent, and stupid you come across.
Here are two solutions to this problem: 1. try to make an actual, faithful adaptation set in Japan... thus failing to hire Japanese actors is inexcusable and transparently lazy given the context of the racially homogenous setting; or 2. try to create a side-story set in the same universe but in the United States where the protagonist is not a Light clone... thus failing to hire Japanese actors is not a crime because of America's diverse population. I especially believe that the second option is what this movie should have gone with to cause the least amount of damage. The concepts in Death Note are not so Japanese that the story cannot be translated and reimagined into other cultures. There are plenty of ways to explore the philosophical debate regarding justice, any society's criminal justice and legal system, ideological and psychological warfare, battle of wits between two rival geniuses, and the subversion of "safe" assumptions about who is a good or bad person. These are all universal ideas rooted in what makes humans flawed, complex, hypocritical, and - for lack of a better word - human. Furthermore, I would see fewer people online bitching about subtitles because -- superior being(s) forbid -- a movie set in Japan with Japanese actors speaking Japanese for the American viewing public is worthy of starting WWIII.
If only Adam Wingard and company tried to tap into any of these possibilities without getting distracted by Final Destination fanfiction, neon lights, Disney channel acting, pandering to weebs to combat cultural appropriation accusations and pat Death Note fans condescendingly on the head, and Chicago.
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| This makes Aerosmith's song in Armageddon sound like The Beetles. Or Beethoven. |
Well, maybe the writing?
... WHY ARE MIA AND LIGHT TALKING ABOUT THE DEATH NOTE ON THE STAIRS IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUSY SCHOOL DAY?!— Melinoel616 (@4Mel616) August 26, 2017
Oh sweet baby Jesus, the emotions from my Twitter tantrum are rushing back to me! I'm gonna need to read a lot of smutty, explicit fanfiction on AO3 to cleanse my -- No! I can do this! I can do this.
*breaths carefully*
Many reviews I've read and watched claim that Netflix's Death Note has a shaky first act, a promising second act, and a horrible final act. I agree with only one amendment; act three begins about halfway through the movie, and the last 45 minutes of the film is insufferable garbage. Unfortunately, even when the movie had moments that had the potential to be good, the script and line delivery of Light and Mia's actors made it difficult to suspend my disbelief and immerse myself in the story. I do not doubt some of the other actors were bad, but the most questionable changes to the story rest on those two characters, both in how they are written and how their actors portray them.
Comparing Light Turner to Light Yagami has been done to death, so I will save the bulk of that for the actual Death Note fans, but I dislike how a handsome, genius, sociopathic high school student with a god complex in the Japanese version is a bullied, immature, spineless emo in the American version. The former dismantles the concept of the "perfect Japanese student" and the latter is a stereotypical Columbine shooter imitator. Yes, the academically gifted tend to be overshadowed by the athletically gifted and the extroverts on average in the United States, but there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. (Hell, most of the popular kids in the public and Catholic schools I attended tended to be athletic, book smart, and extraverted -- walking Mary Sues and Gary Stus.) Beyond that, the terrifying moral that looks can be deceiving and deadly wrong is lost when Death Note 2017's protagonist is not the cunning, despicable monster beneath a seemingly perfect role model for society.
The internal logic of Light's character and how he behaves doesn't destroy his character so much as the writers force him into doing things in the name of moving the plot. The movie tries to insist he has a moral compass, but it spins in so many directions from beginning to end that he lacks consistency. The Light that shows off the Death Note to Mia in the middle of the school day because he wants to get in her pants (because teenage boys be horny) is not the same Light who carefully chooses who should be killed, much to his girlfriend's chagrin. And those Lights are not the Light who bitches about the number of rules in the Death Note (which are too numerous, confusing, illogical, unexplained, and broken for the sake of a plot twist at the end). Or the Light who prevents his death at the end in a series of "planned actions" that the writers created to make you think he is intelligent. However, it's very contrary to that; Light is only lucky the laws of physics didn't suplex him into a liquified sludge that slips between the cracks of reality and into the void. When you have a character who isn't shown to be a genius and tries to pull off a genius strategy to save his ass, you destroyed the integrity of the story and plot. God bless American filmmaking and their insatiable love affair with deus ex machina.
As for Mia... I hate her more than Misa.
I'm not going to apologize for hating Misa Amane as a person, but I respect what her character's role is in the narrative. She is Light's devoted disciple and toy, willing to do anything for the man she loves despite him not giving two fucks about her as a human being. It's tragic, but effective within the context of the story. The fact she also had a Death Note added a new dynamic to the cat and mouse game that further fueled the drama and suspense in the original story.
In this movie I don't know who Mia is at all beyond Margaret Qualley trying and failing to not be Kristin Stewart's long lost twin. Her being a cheerleader adds nothing and says nothing about her as a person; that fact about her is only mentioned twice. And as much as the writers wanted to frame this movie as a high school romance, the actual high school serves as nothing but background window dressing. No school life, politics, or drama mold or influence Mia or Light in any way. They could be high school drop-outs and the plot would barely change at all. Additionally, when Mia's background and home life isn't explored at all, unlike Light's despite how cliche and cheesy it is, her being a sociopathic manipulative bitch has no power or punch to it despite the script framing this as a narrative twist. I understand that some American consumers are sick and tired of reactive female characters standing next to proactive male characters, but "person who does things just because" is the worst way to write any character, regardless of their biological, social, and personal identifications. All this does is show off how petty and childish writers can become when trying to defy bad gender and sex stereotypes, thus proving they are just as shallow and unimagivative as the writers who they believe cling to the bad stereotypes.
So yes, I am saying that Misa is vastly superior to Mia.
Give me a lovestruck, gothic lolita doormat with a clear purpose in which she surrenders her free will over a manipulative Hot Topic wannabe with no personality or motivations to drive her role in the story as the big bad. Much like the rest of the film, Mia tries so hard to be an edgy, cool, and proactive female character despite having no traction or evidence to support that bold statement she and the script declare from the mountaintop manor to the valley plebeians below.
If all of this was done to give Light an origin story where he is an unmotivated loser with some sense of morality being corrupted and used by a girl who used him for her own sociopathic ends so he turns into the monster that we recognize in Light Yagami, the creators should have made that story... and not shove it into a self-proclaimed adaptation of Death Note. Also, I detest the idea that not only was Light portrayed as the sympathetic victim in love rather than Mia, the not-romance from the original morphed into an actual, legitimate romance. Shitty 80s pop songs, Chicago and all.
Sometimes ask myself why I found sanctuary from modern American storytelling in underrated 19th century literature and the overrated gay figure skating anime. Then I remember shit like Death Note 2017 exists.
But you know what character interactions hurt me the most? Light and L.
I could not finish the original manga or anime because I expected them to perform one job for me. I wanted a cat and mouse game between two intelligent men who believe wholeheartedly in their sense of justice that they will do everything in their power to assert that their ideology is right. Light used magic means to create the world in the image of "Kira" and L used logic to stop Light's plans and delusions of godhood. They contrast each other in morality, appearance, attractiveness, color scheme, and personality despite their similarities so well that they complement to create one of the more fascinating rivalries in fiction since the beginning of the 21st century. And while them masquerading as friends with bromantic shenanigans robbed Death Note of some some of the horror of a teenage boy using a magic book to terrorize the world and mold it in his image as millions internationally worship and fear him as a god, I do understand in theory why Light and L is a popular ship among parts of the fanbase. It is tragic to see two men who are fiendishly determined and smart pretend to be friends to take the other down, only to see that maybe if their circumstances and stories were different, they could have been genuine friends.
Light and L interact only twice in Netflix's adaptation of Death Note. TWICE.
The first time was the coffee shop scene, the only time the cat and mouse game has any chance to shine, only for the zygote to die before attaching to the uterine wall because Light gives away the fact he's Kira within the span of 30 seconds and L threatens Light by yelling at him and throwing silverware off the table, broadcasting to everyone in the shop that the infamous L found the world-reknowned terrorist Kira.
The second time was a chase scene. Involving a police car. And L wanting to kill Light with a neon blue light gun Mr Freeze made in Batman and Robin. And L chasing Light through multiple floors of multiple buildings for multiple city blocks. Leaving thousands of dollars of personal and property damage. Despite the fact Light and L are muscle-less, bony, and unathletic twigs. And it ends with a Kira fanatic knocking out L with a two-by-four to let Light escape consequence-free.
Fuck you, American filmmaking. Fuck you. This dumbing down something potentially smart and injecting unsubtle key-dangling-in-the-face ideas for stupid people - who I pray do not exist in reality - is the kind of shit that held the 2017 remake of It back from being the masterpiece it could have been --
*slaps self*
*takes a deep breath*
Anywho.
As for my feelings on L... his character was also a mess. He appears in act 2, when some claim the film was at its best, and this portion was only tolerable for me because a) L is my favorite Death Note character, b) Keith Stanfield was the only actor besides Wilhem Dafoe and Paul Nakauchi who seemed to have any measureable talent to spare, and c) this part of the adaptation resembled the original material the most despite being abridged and condensed to high heaven. All of L's brilliant deductions lack context and scenes that show how he developed and executed his plans, and none of the police who support him (aka only Light's dad because this film couldn't be arsed to find an American Matsuda or show the birth of the independent force of brave men that risked their lives and careers to stop Kira) value him as a person or an asset. The characters treat L like an eccentric toddler or a severely troubled young person with Asperger's who has no control of his emotions or sense of self-awareness when he's a raging hypocrite. It doesn't help that in the moments when L is hyper-competent enough to make his original counterpart smile, two seconds later the writers cram him into a box that appeals more to Americans rather than letting the character have some agency of their own.
In fact, that is probably the second biggest problem with Death Note 2017. If I squint and find any talent in Margaret Qualley or Nat Wolff there are moments when the actors and their characters want to go one way but the script writers, director, and executives that okay-ed this project want them to go down a predestined path that they are not compatible with. The legacy, popularity, reputation, and success of Death Note as a manga and anime doomed what could have been a campy popcorn flick with some niche quirks to appeal to a small demographic into being the confused and mangled mess that we got. If Adam Wingard had an ambitious vision for this film, it got lost in a sea of conflicting objectives, priorities, and filmmaking traditions that created this homunculus of wrong.
To sum up the moral of this story, either adapt the original material faithfully, reimagine the story in a new context (ala Silent Hill Shattered Memories), or create an original story in the Death Note universe. And most of all, pick one of those options, tell the executives who want to cover their butts to fuck off, and stick to your guns. Combining natto with hamburgers, dumplings, and gelato in a blender; serving the smoothie to the Americans, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese audiences; and expecting an standing ovation is such a stupid and needless suicide mission that I have no empathy for the creators when they are surprised at the criticism. Death threats, however, are a whole other story. As much as I detest this movie, sending hateful and personal insults at the director reduces the attacker into a pathetic toddler throwing a tantrum. On the other hand, Adam Wingard's jabs at Death Note fans and childishly lashing out at the critics does not paint him in a flattering light either. Thanks for displaying the awfulness of everyone involved, internet.
At the end of the day, Death Note 2017 did entertain me. I wasn't bored. I had fun tearing it apart and ranting on Twitter as I watched the movie. It entertained many people, but more in the vein of us being commentators in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. In failing to care about what's happening to the characters in their own universe, I and others cared more about the puppet master's inability to pull off a competent production despite having everything gift-wrapped to him with a bow. As cynical and analytical I become with the media I consume, it's not often I can see the puppet strings and feel offended by the puppet master's insistence that he is creating a great story, a work of art that will move millions to tears of empathy.
The mangaka apparently said they liked the different take on their story this film took, but Japanese audiences didn't seem to be impressed if they watched it at all (3). Adam Wingard fans embrace this movie because of his sense of humor, practical effects, and style of directing. Good for them. I hope the people who liked this film are happy and they had a few laughs. I only laughed twice: once when Ryuk corrected Light after he botched pronouncing his name in a message that never has plot significance (failed attempt at foreshadowing? loose ends? what are they?) and when Ryuk cheered for L when Light is unable to kill L on live TV. All the other forms of humor -- even the Adam Wingard brand -- fell on deaf ears as I wasted 90 minutes watching this trainwreck.
I cannot recommend this movie unless you want to have a night with friends playing drinking games and cracking snarky jokes. Death Note fans, save yourself the agony of high blood pressure and rage. Anyone who wants to get into the franchise? Just watch the anime. It's not a masterpiece, but it treats its viewers with more respect and the production team know what they were doing from beginning to end. The third biggest sin this movie commits is cramming 100+ chapters and 37 episodes of plot into 90 minutes. Even if by some miracle the characters and plot events more accurately resembled or emulated the spirit of the original Death Note, there would be nowhere near enough time to pace everything without creating a Powerpoint slideshow rather than a full-length movie (4).
All of that said, I will give some positives to this film. It has a distinct style in coloring, cinematography, and editing that kept me engaged enough to not stop the film and watch something else. Technically speaking, Death Note 2017 is well shot despite its abundance of darkness muting what is happening onscreen sometimes. Superficial elements of a film won't save it for me, but I can give some credit to it when it is due. The overuse of Dutch angles were annoying, but the dynamic cinematography kept my attention locked to the movie. The gore was very unsubtle and borderline pointless, but I respect the use of practical effects. As for CG Ryuk, I loved how the film kept him in perpetual shadows, showing his silhouette and beady red eyes most times to demonstrate how creepy and demonic he can be. This version of Ryuk is more villainous than his original counterpart, and I'm not a huge fan of his redesign, but I will take this approach to implementing a CGI character into a live action film over what the Japanese films and TV drama did.
There are some scenes in which the tone, lighting, cinematography, acting, writing, and story come close to hitting a sweet spot of cohesion that I have to praise. The dinner scene between Light and his father had awkward dialogue, but the sound of a train passing nearby shakes the house and rattles pictures on the walls of the Turner family before Light's mom's murder as Light and his father wait for it to pass still sticks out to me clearly. Light's father going to work to see his office trashed thanks to Kira supporters was also memorable. And while I hate how the world greatest detective morphs into an angry black man with a lust for revenge (aka the point I officially gave up all hope on the movie), I enjoyed the small moments between L and Watari enough that I was upset when Watari died.
Alas, the damage has been done. There's talks of a sequel, but even if it does get green lit, I'm not watching it. I am officially done with Death Note. Forever.
No iteration has tickled my fancy enough to call myself a fan, and this movie has made me grateful for it. I empathize with the fans enraged by this adaptation's existence, but I'm not going to join in the outrage party any more than I already have. I saw the movie, bitched, and wrote my opinions here so I can stop looking back on this fading memory. I wish no personal harm and ill will on Adam Wingard or any of the actors and people involved, but I cannot in good conscience say that this was a good movie. I don't know them, and I see no reason to fight the urge to hate them when I have to keep my resentment of my Catholic school peers under supervision so I can be a better person. And if I did have the power to murder people at will with a Death Note, I would never consider writing the names down of everyone involved in this production.
In conclusion, the 2017 Netflix adaptation of Death Note is yet another addition to the ongoing curse of Americanized adaptations of anime and manga being creative failures in the eyes of critics and viewers. Nothing else to see here but the painful reminder that history repeats itself. If I were to rank this, I'd give it a 1 out of 5. Until the next adaptational attempt comes, expect the worst but hope for the best until someone cracks the seemingly impossible code.
At least Edge of Tomorrow was decent for an adaptation of a Japanese light novel. And Netflix's Castlevania was pretty great for an animated adaptation of the Konami video game franchise. I think I should watch them again sometime soon.
*breaths carefully*
Many reviews I've read and watched claim that Netflix's Death Note has a shaky first act, a promising second act, and a horrible final act. I agree with only one amendment; act three begins about halfway through the movie, and the last 45 minutes of the film is insufferable garbage. Unfortunately, even when the movie had moments that had the potential to be good, the script and line delivery of Light and Mia's actors made it difficult to suspend my disbelief and immerse myself in the story. I do not doubt some of the other actors were bad, but the most questionable changes to the story rest on those two characters, both in how they are written and how their actors portray them.
Comparing Light Turner to Light Yagami has been done to death, so I will save the bulk of that for the actual Death Note fans, but I dislike how a handsome, genius, sociopathic high school student with a god complex in the Japanese version is a bullied, immature, spineless emo in the American version. The former dismantles the concept of the "perfect Japanese student" and the latter is a stereotypical Columbine shooter imitator. Yes, the academically gifted tend to be overshadowed by the athletically gifted and the extroverts on average in the United States, but there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. (Hell, most of the popular kids in the public and Catholic schools I attended tended to be athletic, book smart, and extraverted -- walking Mary Sues and Gary Stus.) Beyond that, the terrifying moral that looks can be deceiving and deadly wrong is lost when Death Note 2017's protagonist is not the cunning, despicable monster beneath a seemingly perfect role model for society.The internal logic of Light's character and how he behaves doesn't destroy his character so much as the writers force him into doing things in the name of moving the plot. The movie tries to insist he has a moral compass, but it spins in so many directions from beginning to end that he lacks consistency. The Light that shows off the Death Note to Mia in the middle of the school day because he wants to get in her pants (because teenage boys be horny) is not the same Light who carefully chooses who should be killed, much to his girlfriend's chagrin. And those Lights are not the Light who bitches about the number of rules in the Death Note (which are too numerous, confusing, illogical, unexplained, and broken for the sake of a plot twist at the end). Or the Light who prevents his death at the end in a series of "planned actions" that the writers created to make you think he is intelligent. However, it's very contrary to that; Light is only lucky the laws of physics didn't suplex him into a liquified sludge that slips between the cracks of reality and into the void. When you have a character who isn't shown to be a genius and tries to pull off a genius strategy to save his ass, you destroyed the integrity of the story and plot. God bless American filmmaking and their insatiable love affair with deus ex machina.
As for Mia... I hate her more than Misa.
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| This was actually in the film. I don't even. |
In this movie I don't know who Mia is at all beyond Margaret Qualley trying and failing to not be Kristin Stewart's long lost twin. Her being a cheerleader adds nothing and says nothing about her as a person; that fact about her is only mentioned twice. And as much as the writers wanted to frame this movie as a high school romance, the actual high school serves as nothing but background window dressing. No school life, politics, or drama mold or influence Mia or Light in any way. They could be high school drop-outs and the plot would barely change at all. Additionally, when Mia's background and home life isn't explored at all, unlike Light's despite how cliche and cheesy it is, her being a sociopathic manipulative bitch has no power or punch to it despite the script framing this as a narrative twist. I understand that some American consumers are sick and tired of reactive female characters standing next to proactive male characters, but "person who does things just because" is the worst way to write any character, regardless of their biological, social, and personal identifications. All this does is show off how petty and childish writers can become when trying to defy bad gender and sex stereotypes, thus proving they are just as shallow and unimagivative as the writers who they believe cling to the bad stereotypes.
So yes, I am saying that Misa is vastly superior to Mia.
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| Argh, don't give me that look. I still don't like you. |
If all of this was done to give Light an origin story where he is an unmotivated loser with some sense of morality being corrupted and used by a girl who used him for her own sociopathic ends so he turns into the monster that we recognize in Light Yagami, the creators should have made that story... and not shove it into a self-proclaimed adaptation of Death Note. Also, I detest the idea that not only was Light portrayed as the sympathetic victim in love rather than Mia, the not-romance from the original morphed into an actual, legitimate romance. Shitty 80s pop songs, Chicago and all.
Sometimes ask myself why I found sanctuary from modern American storytelling in underrated 19th century literature and the overrated gay figure skating anime. Then I remember shit like Death Note 2017 exists.
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| This sums up the movie perfectly. |
Light and L interact only twice in Netflix's adaptation of Death Note. TWICE.
The first time was the coffee shop scene, the only time the cat and mouse game has any chance to shine, only for the zygote to die before attaching to the uterine wall because Light gives away the fact he's Kira within the span of 30 seconds and L threatens Light by yelling at him and throwing silverware off the table, broadcasting to everyone in the shop that the infamous L found the world-reknowned terrorist Kira.
The second time was a chase scene. Involving a police car. And L wanting to kill Light with a neon blue light gun Mr Freeze made in Batman and Robin. And L chasing Light through multiple floors of multiple buildings for multiple city blocks. Leaving thousands of dollars of personal and property damage. Despite the fact Light and L are muscle-less, bony, and unathletic twigs. And it ends with a Kira fanatic knocking out L with a two-by-four to let Light escape consequence-free.
Fuck you, American filmmaking. Fuck you. This dumbing down something potentially smart and injecting unsubtle key-dangling-in-the-face ideas for stupid people - who I pray do not exist in reality - is the kind of shit that held the 2017 remake of It back from being the masterpiece it could have been --
*slaps self*
*takes a deep breath*
Anywho.
As for my feelings on L... his character was also a mess. He appears in act 2, when some claim the film was at its best, and this portion was only tolerable for me because a) L is my favorite Death Note character, b) Keith Stanfield was the only actor besides Wilhem Dafoe and Paul Nakauchi who seemed to have any measureable talent to spare, and c) this part of the adaptation resembled the original material the most despite being abridged and condensed to high heaven. All of L's brilliant deductions lack context and scenes that show how he developed and executed his plans, and none of the police who support him (aka only Light's dad because this film couldn't be arsed to find an American Matsuda or show the birth of the independent force of brave men that risked their lives and careers to stop Kira) value him as a person or an asset. The characters treat L like an eccentric toddler or a severely troubled young person with Asperger's who has no control of his emotions or sense of self-awareness when he's a raging hypocrite. It doesn't help that in the moments when L is hyper-competent enough to make his original counterpart smile, two seconds later the writers cram him into a box that appeals more to Americans rather than letting the character have some agency of their own.
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| With how worn as used this Death Note is from all the previous owners, this movie could have easily been a spin-off or new original story. |
To sum up the moral of this story, either adapt the original material faithfully, reimagine the story in a new context (ala Silent Hill Shattered Memories), or create an original story in the Death Note universe. And most of all, pick one of those options, tell the executives who want to cover their butts to fuck off, and stick to your guns. Combining natto with hamburgers, dumplings, and gelato in a blender; serving the smoothie to the Americans, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese audiences; and expecting an standing ovation is such a stupid and needless suicide mission that I have no empathy for the creators when they are surprised at the criticism. Death threats, however, are a whole other story. As much as I detest this movie, sending hateful and personal insults at the director reduces the attacker into a pathetic toddler throwing a tantrum. On the other hand, Adam Wingard's jabs at Death Note fans and childishly lashing out at the critics does not paint him in a flattering light either. Thanks for displaying the awfulness of everyone involved, internet.
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| I've become so numb~ I can't feel you there~ |
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| Ma harel lasa! |
I cannot recommend this movie unless you want to have a night with friends playing drinking games and cracking snarky jokes. Death Note fans, save yourself the agony of high blood pressure and rage. Anyone who wants to get into the franchise? Just watch the anime. It's not a masterpiece, but it treats its viewers with more respect and the production team know what they were doing from beginning to end. The third biggest sin this movie commits is cramming 100+ chapters and 37 episodes of plot into 90 minutes. Even if by some miracle the characters and plot events more accurately resembled or emulated the spirit of the original Death Note, there would be nowhere near enough time to pace everything without creating a Powerpoint slideshow rather than a full-length movie (4).
There are some scenes in which the tone, lighting, cinematography, acting, writing, and story come close to hitting a sweet spot of cohesion that I have to praise. The dinner scene between Light and his father had awkward dialogue, but the sound of a train passing nearby shakes the house and rattles pictures on the walls of the Turner family before Light's mom's murder as Light and his father wait for it to pass still sticks out to me clearly. Light's father going to work to see his office trashed thanks to Kira supporters was also memorable. And while I hate how the world greatest detective morphs into an angry black man with a lust for revenge (aka the point I officially gave up all hope on the movie), I enjoyed the small moments between L and Watari enough that I was upset when Watari died.
Alas, the damage has been done. There's talks of a sequel, but even if it does get green lit, I'm not watching it. I am officially done with Death Note. Forever.
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| L Lawliet, ありがとう。さようなら。 |
In conclusion, the 2017 Netflix adaptation of Death Note is yet another addition to the ongoing curse of Americanized adaptations of anime and manga being creative failures in the eyes of critics and viewers. Nothing else to see here but the painful reminder that history repeats itself. If I were to rank this, I'd give it a 1 out of 5. Until the next adaptational attempt comes, expect the worst but hope for the best until someone cracks the seemingly impossible code.
At least Edge of Tomorrow was decent for an adaptation of a Japanese light novel. And Netflix's Castlevania was pretty great for an animated adaptation of the Konami video game franchise. I think I should watch them again sometime soon.
~~~~~~~~Notes:~~~~~~~~
(1) - I found this survey to be interesting since I have never known what Japanese consumers think of certain anime series beyond word-of-mouth. Like all surveys and polls, there is bias, but even skewed data can still paint a picture worthy of discussion and debate. Here are the results: top 100 anime from male participants; top 100 anime from female participants; top 100 anime from all participants; and 101-400 ranked anime from all participants. Plus, The Anime Man made a video on this, so feel free to watch his video since he goes through one of the lists for those who don't understand Japanese.
(2) - All that typing technical sociopolitical labels did for me was making me further believe in one thing I valued all along: labels are bullshit boxes that limit the true vision of an individual human being's spirit.
(3) - The Youtube personality That Japanese Man Yuta gave a taste of what Japanese viewers said about Death Note 2017 on Twitter. It's an interesting watch, and I admit I am curious to see what else was said about the movie in other circles and parts of the Japanese-speaking side of the internet.
(4) - Maybe I would be less harsh on this movie if it was a mini series. That would allow more time to establish and develop the characters, demonstrate what kind of dynamic L and Kira have, explore the toxic nature of Light and Mia's romance, and address many dangling plot threads that are never explored or resolved in a meaningful manner. But then again, it wouldn't change some of the attitudes expressed and decisions made by the creators that sank this ship.
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