Death Note (2017) - Review
My investment: A short 101 minutes, and one that I didn't pay 100% attention during that time.
The sales pitch: A new take on a beloved anime as it is brought to the big screen and set in an American high school.
The reality: A beloved anime series is stuffed into 101 minutes and for no reason at all it's set in America.
The good: Ryuk and L are good, both have good actors and the characters translated well from animation to live-action. This could have been difficult with Ryuk because his image is very jarring compared to the human characters, but they made this a less harsh comparison by often keeping him in shadows. L, on the other hand, is very different from his anime self. There are enough illusions to the original character to keep the fans happy, and carefully calculated changes to make the character more appropriate for a Western audience and live-action depiction.
My highlight: The deaths are enjoyably gory.
The bad: The film isn't Death Note as we know it. By that I mean that the story is incredibly different, and there are only a few touches of the source material. I believe it would have been a much more intelligent choice for the creators to produce a sequel, or something similar, rather than making a fairly poor imitation. This would explain the American setting, and they could have created new, more interesting characters to follow. They could even still have Ryuk, because it could be his death note, and possibly L who might track this case too. The film itself isn't great, but it is definitely worsened by the comparison to its source material.
My lowlight: There is a completely pointless love sub-plot. It has nothing to do with the plot and it doesn't benefit the film because no one cares about the characters' relationship.
My investment: A short 101 minutes, and one that I didn't pay 100% attention during that time.
The sales pitch: A new take on a beloved anime as it is brought to the big screen and set in an American high school.
The reality: A beloved anime series is stuffed into 101 minutes and for no reason at all it's set in America.
The good: Ryuk and L are good, both have good actors and the characters translated well from animation to live-action. This could have been difficult with Ryuk because his image is very jarring compared to the human characters, but they made this a less harsh comparison by often keeping him in shadows. L, on the other hand, is very different from his anime self. There are enough illusions to the original character to keep the fans happy, and carefully calculated changes to make the character more appropriate for a Western audience and live-action depiction.
My highlight: The deaths are enjoyably gory.
The bad: The film isn't Death Note as we know it. By that I mean that the story is incredibly different, and there are only a few touches of the source material. I believe it would have been a much more intelligent choice for the creators to produce a sequel, or something similar, rather than making a fairly poor imitation. This would explain the American setting, and they could have created new, more interesting characters to follow. They could even still have Ryuk, because it could be his death note, and possibly L who might track this case too. The film itself isn't great, but it is definitely worsened by the comparison to its source material.
My lowlight: There is a completely pointless love sub-plot. It has nothing to do with the plot and it doesn't benefit the film because no one cares about the characters' relationship.
Comments
Post a Comment