Why the New “Death Note” Movie Didn’t Suck
January 5, 2018
Out of the many things currently surfacing in social media, one of the most controversial topics is about the Netflix movie adaption of the very popular anime, Death Note.
Death Note is one of the most popular anime series watched in the United States. The story stars a genius high schooler named Light who discovers a book called a death note that is able to kill someone simply by writing down their name. Along with Light’s death note comes the Shinigami (god of death), Ryuk. He encourages Light to become a power-hungry serial killer who murders hundreds of criminals based on his own judgments. The citizens become concerned about the sudden unexplainable deaths of the numerous criminals, and this catches the attention of a world-renowned detective known only as L. The series features a very intense game of cat-and-mouse as L is constantly on the verge of finding out the identity of the killer-of-killers.
But the Netflix version altered the story slightly, and fans were not happy about it. The main change was the physical appearance and personalities of many of the characters. The main story plot was also altered.
On August 25, 2017, Netflix released its adaption of Death Note, and before it was even out to the public, hate comments began to roll in.
Fans had a bad feeling about the movie before it was even released, so the moment Netflix released the movie to the public, comments saying that the film was “boring,” “awkward,” and “corny” immediately began popping up.
How could a movie about a book that can kill a person simply by having a name written in it possibly be considered “boring” or “corny”?
Opinions on the film seem to be unevenly split. The popular opinion arising throughout social media is that the movie was horrible because the acting was bad, the story was uninteresting, and the overall film was cringe-worthy.
There are, however, those glorious few who gave the movie a chance and actually enjoyed it for what it is: a unique and entertaining adaption of an already popular show.
The main problem seems to be that everyone is comparing it to the anime. If the fact that the anime exists is ignored, people will begin to watch the film and realize that it really is a great movie despite what social media has to say about it.
If the haters and common everyday Internet trolls would stop for one second and actually attempt to find something good in the Death Note movie, they would end up being pleasantly surprised.
The film was filled with many wonderful features, like the animation quality for Ryuk was very well done, and, seriously, Willem Dafoe (a famous actor) was the perfect choice as voice actor for the character. His gritty voice suited the character’s physical appearance very well.
Another character who was accurately portrayed was the main character, Light. Even though he probably would not be everyone’s first choice as Light’s live action actor due to the physical differences between him and the anime character, Nat Wolff (another famous actor) still played his part well and brought the character’s psychotic mindset to life.
Luke Lansciardi, whom many could refer to as a “Death Note guru,” shared his opinions on the Death Note movie. He believes that the movie was about 50% accurate to the anime, but even though the movie did not follow the plot of the original anime does not mean that the movie was automatically awful.
Lansciardi stated that Light was the most accurately represented character because of how well his personality and intelligence were represented in the movie.
He agrees that if the anime is ignored, the Death Note movie was pretty great.
Sakura Kirby, a PVHS Junior, agrees with Lansciardi that Death Note is given less credit than it deserves.
Even though he is her favorite character in the anime, Kirby stated that L was her least favorite character in the movie due to his inaccurate representation in the film. His mindset and actions did not match the attributes of the original character. He “lost his cool” way too easily, which is something the character would never do.
Despite the few inaccuracies in the film, both Kirby and Lansciardi recommend the movie to anyone willing to watch it because it truly is very entertaining.
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Jacquelynn Escobedo • Feb 12, 2018 at 5:20 PM
Compared to the anime, the Death Note movie was shoddy, and the characters were not accurately represented. It’s true that some parts of the movie “[were] filled with many wonderful features” but if you had not seen the animated series then you wouldn’t really understand how people felt about the movie. When anime lovers learn that a company is planning to produce a real-life version of an anime, they expect it to pass their expectations. For example, when the Dragon Ball live-action movie came out it wasn’t what I had expected. In my opinion, if animated shows turn into live-action movies then they should do it well enough to where it is similar to each other.
Kara Charles • Feb 12, 2018 at 11:37 AM
I strongly disagree with this article; the movie was completely mistreated and more people were interested in the character, L ; but , not the main character, Light . The director made Light less composed than the anime version which made people begin to think the movie was “boring or corny” for the anime version to comparison.
Zarah Whittle • Feb 9, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Death Note was average but compared to the anime, it was an unsatisfactory movie. But I do agree that “the animation quality for Ryuk was very well done, and, seriously, Willem Dafoe (a famous actor) was the perfect choice as voice actor for the character.” Looking at Ryuk in the movie is exactly what one would think of based on the anime.
Adrian Castro • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:58 PM
There was so much information that I feel like I didn’t even have to watch the movie. Good job explaining but the article could use more pictures. Other then that it’s a good article and anyone can easily know what the movie is about by reading this.
Kyler Strickland-Adams • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:54 PM
I am one of the students that disagree with the movie being good. Most of the charters were off and seemed pretty poor ; however, some were good like Ryuk. He was dead on in his roll as the god of Death creepy with an evil laugh; he was causing mischief just by standing on the side lines. Overall, my main problem was that the movie made everything happen too fast unlike in the anime the story was dragged out, but if you do not compare the movie to the anime, it was not bad.
Emanuel Ribeiro-Reyes • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:50 PM
While some critics believe that the movie took many of the aspects that made Death Note amazing and ruined it, it really does stand out as an amazing independent movie. The movie should be thought of as an alternate world, where L may very well be the winner. This gives both the anime and the movie their own twist, with Light dying to L’s predecessors in the anime, and L successfully defeating Light in the movie. Overall, the article gives a much needed light (haha, get it?) to a great movie.
Andrew Mosley • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:46 PM
To me the movie was okay. I like how it was presented but I personally didn’t like that the most important parts of the anime series wasn’t in there and that other parts were added that didn’t seem to fit in. Overall, I love the plot twists and the new story line.
Nevaeh Black • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:38 PM
It was very descriptive and informative. Without watching the show or movie, I was still aware of what the topic was. It was an amazing article.
Robin Benbo • Jan 19, 2018 at 1:35 PM
Emma, I’ve seen the show but I haven’t yet watched the movie. This article made me want to watch the movie and see how good it is. Your article is very interesting and you did a wonderful job, keep writing like this and I know you’ll go far.
Ashley Jones • Jan 19, 2018 at 8:33 AM
This is a very controversial topic to tackle, and it’s great that it was. I loathed the movie because it was nothing like the anime, but now I see it in a different light. It’s its own independent film and spices things up. This definitely made me more open minded to the movie.
Agreeing with your interviewee though on least favorite character. L was a different person entirely.
Ryan Cook • Jan 19, 2018 at 8:21 AM
I don’t really know much about the anime series but I have seen the movie. The movie was excellent in my perspective. It really did catch my attention and it wasn’t at all awful. Great story!