Okay, where to start with this one. Some of you reading this may have read my impressions of the first few episodes of the TV Drama version of Death Note a few years ago, where I stated that Death Note was one of if not my favorite Anime. So going into this you would think I would hate that this exists, but you'd be wrong because here's the thing. I've seen so many different versions of Death Note it's ridiculous. I've seen the Anime beginning to end multiple times, read the Pilot chapter and novels, seen two of the three live action movies, and watched the J-Drama. And all of them. ALL OF THEM. Changed things from the anime and manga from L actually beating Kira to Death Erasers to Near being played by a girl with a weird Mello Puppet. So going into this I expected that this American made Death Note movie would be different since even the Japanese adaptations don't always stay true to the original. So if your here to hear someone bitch about this movie you may want to go somewhere else cause while I did have problems with this there were also some things I liked. So let's get started.
---SPOILER WARNING---
So I may as well get to the elephant in the room first, Light. I'm not going to lie I don't like this version of Light that much. He just seems like he's going threw the motions, and only doing what everyone else tells him to do. He doesn't show any of that super advanced scheming like in the other versions until Mia writes his name in the Death Note and he has to figure out how to get out of it. Plus they make him a troubled teen because his Mom has been killed, and I guess that makes him justified in killing people. His whole god complex in this seems like an afterthought and multiple times he just wants stop being Kira until Mia or Ryuk talks him or forces him to keep killing people. Plus his constant screaming when Ryuk show up was silly as hell.
Speaking of which Mia is a better Light then Light is. She's suppose to be based on Misa but I think her personality and attitude is closer to Kiyomi Takeda especially since she goes to school with Light. Mia in this is a goth cheerleader who constantly manipulates Light into killing people and even goes as far as stealing pages from the notebook in order to kill the FBI agents that we're watching Light when Light didn't want to use it against them. It's obvious she's just using Light for the notebook, and this all becomes obvious when she writes down Light's name in order to blackmail him into giving her the Death Note. Their relationship was as one sided as it was in the anime but they switched which side, and the whole generic go to a dance because it's a highschool movie could of been left out.
Now to talk about my favorite character L. For the most part they stayed true to the character, they kept his weird mannerisms, the eating sweets, and the way he sits which I thought for sure they would get rid of. Although this version is a bit more bold addressing Kira himself instead of getting Lind L. Taylor. This sort of becomes an issue after Light kills Watari which makes L lose all sense of composure and starts trying to take Light down at all cost. There is even a chase scene where he chases Light down at gun point. There is a moment at the end when you think L is going to write Light's name in Mia's page of the Death Note but it leaves it ambiguous which I think is good because it would go against L's character, even in this movie.
However the best part of this whole thing is Willem Defoe as Ryuk. When I first heard that he was cast in the role I thought it was perfect and It was. He retains his sarcastic commentary during the events of the movie constantly taunting Light and always reminding him that he's not exactly on his side. The effects for him aren't really the best, I think he looks better when he's in shadows and the more you see of him the more it doesn't quite look right but everything else was great and stole the show. They also altered some of the rules in the Death Note but noting too out there. The biggest is you can apparently write a Shingami's name in the Death Note and kill them. That is if you can do it before they kill you. There is also a rule that states if you burn a page before that person dies the death won't happen but you can only do this once. I didn't mind that it's no more silly then a Death Eraser. Also one other small thing is only the owner of the Death Note can see the Shinigami now even if you touch the notebook.
Now there aren't much other characters I want to mention. Light's Dad is more of a hard ass and while there are some moments where his original character shine threw he just comes off as a cliche washed-up cop. Although I'm real interested to see if he's still going to after Kira now that he found out his son is Kira. Watari is pretty close to his original self but younger and apparently his real name is just Watari and it's not an alias. Sadly besides a few nameless people in the background there is no one else from the Police helping L so none of the characters on the Kira Investigation Task-force are in this and sadly no Matsuda. Apparently Light's sister also dropped off the face of the planet.
The film looks decent enough although it's either very grey looking, almost like a CW show, or very neon. Think Riverdale meets Batman and Robin. The OST is pretty good but some of the music choices are really bizarre and out of place. Like a love song playing when Mia is falling to her death. Speaking of death's they dialed them up to 11. Instead of just killing people with heart attacks this Kira goes full out Final Destination on their asses. I think it went a bit too far with the gore, and also with the cursing. I mean I don't mind cursing but Light and Mia say fuck so much I was starting to wonder if I was watching an episode of the Angry Video Game Nerd.
Overall I don't think is the best thing ever but it's far from the worst. It's far better then Dragonball Evolution or The Last Airbender. I recommend you see it for yourself and make your own opinion, but know this isn't going to be as good as the anime. For newcomers they might enjoy this better but they might be a bit lost due to the fact they don't explain a whole lot of things like what exactly a Death God is or why they like apples. Thank you for reading this and have a good night.
Ps. There was no Potato Chip Scene 0/10
