*photo is of L (Keith Stanfield) and Light Turner (Nat Wolff)*
BEFORE WATCHING:
Aw man. I don't even know what to say. I have a lot of negative opinions already, mostly just about the movie not being done well. I'm going to assume a lot of great moments have been cut. I've been a fan of the original anime series, manga, the 2006 film and its 2 sequels (2006/08). I haven't seen the tv drama, or musical or any other adaptations of Death Note. I'm walking into this experience with a bit of nostalgia. Part of me wants to like it, but given Hollywood's reputation of recreating popular foreign films for American audiences, I seriously doubt this film will get any major praise from me.
I did look up the cast and I actually wasn't surprised that Nat Wolff was in this film. It seems like he's been getting himself a lot of acting gigs over the past couple of years, so I gotta give him props for that. He's been under the rug for a while since I personally haven't seen any work from him since Nickelodeon. The other cast member I was surprised to see was Keith Stanfield. I can't even believe that he's playing L. It's an interesting choice and I'm a huge fan of his so I'm actually a bit excited to see the film just for him. Last but not least, Willem Dafoe, who I believe provided the expressions and voice for Ryuk. This was a pretty cool choice given his portfolio and creepy vibe overall. As for the rest of the cast I'm clueless about who they are. So far I'm feeling pretty okay going into this film right now.
CURRENTLY WATCHING:
The movie starts with a pretty long musical montage of high school life and it's already giving me teen romance/drama vibes. Also there's a huge tangent to the original story? I actually haven't seen the original series in a couple years so my memory of it is hazy. The storyline in this movie is a HUGE turn away from the original. I'm wondering why the director or producers chose to do this? They also made Light a HUGE wuss. He's in high school so I assume his character is childish and immature? The original character is in college and he seems pretty sadistic so I guess that would have been pretty dark for american audiences huh. That screaming scene (the one where he meets Ryuk for the first time) is literally the worst thing ever. I'm currently laughing at the idea that Willem Dafoe is joking about gameboys and apples in this weird character voice he's doing.
Also, this father-son dynamic is weird. I wouldn't be surprised if he killed his own dad out of some weirdo teen rage. Oh my god. He also pronounced Ryuk's name wrong ahaha some comedic relief. I'm not fond of the character design for Ryuk. His face seems a little too squashed rather than very long and skeletal. I also dislike that this Light brings the book everywhere AND tells the first person he sees about the book? Not even the original Light did that, did he?? No.. This movie so far really sucks. Also does anyone else think this girl sort of looks like Emma Roberts? ARE THEY GONNA SEX IT UP OH MY GOD
I want to puke honestly. My star rating for the movie was gonna be 4 because the visuals (which are dark and moody and honestly my aesthetic) but now it's gone down to 2.
I'm thinking of putting up to 3 only because I really like Keith as L. So far he's helping me through this film. HA he gave Light's dad an ice cream cone.
Another peeve I noticed? That Light keeps bringing up Ryuk and the Note at school where literally hundreds of kids can hear him??? Side note: I'm pretty sure I own that same bleak gray sweater.. This Mia girl is annoying, and not in a cute obviously-doing-it-for-love kind of way that the original Misa character behaved. She's crazy, but then again, I guess someone in this weird messed up Americanized Death Note film has to be.
This Mia girl seriously reminds me of Emma Roberts. Jeez, every time these two people kiss, it's like.. it's gross.
I'm bored. But L keeps me watching! This is getting feisty now. Side note: I don't regret pausing the movie every couple of minutes, it's not like it's ruining the flow of the film for me. The film in general and Emma Roberts doppelgänger's acting does. I do have to admire her for her crazy tenacity though. She's very sure of her decisions and if Light doesn't kill her somehow then hm. But then again if he does it only makes him obviously Kira.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it, the original "love interest" of Light (the original character) was Misa (the original character) and she had her own Death God? Will that be a completely different storyline? Oh! For the sequel? I CALL DIBS.
It's currently the book passing scene, well at least the part where they go to the ferris wheel to do the deal. Before anything happens I'm assuming he's writing names to continue the murders that Kira does. I actually remember this part of the original storyline, which is pretty cool that they included in there. Another thing is that I feel as though Light wrote Mia's name in the book after after all that. Which would be the MOST PETTY thing to do but I like that. Oh well. But then again I guess that would still make him seem like Kira. But then if Light gives her the book, that means it's hers. I'm interested to see how this whole thing pans out. I hope it follows the original storyline a bit, because it was a good one. The original writer of Death Note really thought about the plot as to not leave any plot holes. I'm sure there are a couple in this movie though.
I was right about Light writing her name in the book haha. If she dies.. he gets the book.. but he doesn't die? OH he burns the page though no? Hold on. Chicago started playing..? haha
Well this movie was kind of a flop.
AFTER WATCHING:
Alright I finished it. It's not HUGELY terrible. If this was the first Death Note movie to be made ever then it would have been pretty bad because people probably would have hated the thousands of changes it had. It was super annoying most of the time. The music score is a bit weird but it didn't ruin the flow of the film for me. Maybe the beats during the chasing scene was a bit repetitive. There really isn't much to say about the film other than that I wish it was done much better. Like, for example, it could have stuck to the storyline a bit more. It didn't have to be an exact copy of course, there are already films out there that do that, but this film would have made more sense. Sequels would have been promising if it had. I'm really interested to see if Netflix does order a sequel. I watched it so my vote has already been counted as a view to add to the roster unfortunately.
I don't want to hate this film, but I can't say I like it. It was okay. It's disappointing to say the least. At the same time, I would watch the sequel if it included Keith as L. Truly, he's the character that really pushes this particular storyline through.
My Rating: ★★★/10
Until next time, readers.
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