I don’t put too much stock into live-action adaptations of anime or manga.. That doesn’t necessarily mean I expect or want them to be bad. It’s just that despite ever-growing technology afforded filmmakers, it seems most directors have difficulty adapting such stories to the big screen, especially if it’s an American production. Even with that, though, I was curious to see this new live-action adaptation of “Death Note” because of two things: Netflix’s involvement and Adam Wingard, the director of “You’re Next” and “The Guest” who is attached to the film. I’ve really enjoyed Wingard’s style and filmography so far, so I wanted to see what he could do with great source material. While the final product isn’t anything to write home about, it is certainly much more interesting than any live-action anime adaptation so far.
First, let’s start with the good. Wingard’s direction and style is great. A lot of the shortcomings the writing and acting have are somewhat balanced out by kinetic editing, beautiful cinematography and wonderfully gory kills. It even has a killer synth soundtrack with an occasional '80s soft-rock tune thrown in there. Wingard turns a serious cat-and-mouse, investigative thriller with silly moments into a horror-comedy that feels inspired by Sam Raimi and Don Coscarelli. While the shift in tone is initially jarring, his dedication to it makes it enjoyable.
Now for the performances. The film’s a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the acting. Willem Dafoe and Lakeith Stanfield are fantastic as Ryuk and L, respectively. With the given script, I believe they’re as perfect as they can be. That being said though, Nat Wolff and Margaret Qualley aren't great. It’s clear that the writers were trying to make more relatable characters in L and Light with this adaptation because they’re really not that relatable in the source material. However, thanks to the source material’s writing, what they lacked in relatability they gained in being incredibly compelling. The film’s version of Light is unfortunately stereotypical, turning him from a ruthless psychopath with a God complex to a killer vigilante fueled by the unjustified death of his mother. A lot of the God complex elements are given to Margaret Qualley’s Mia, who is written pretty sparingly, creating a character that feels unbalanced as Light’s love interest and accomplice.
Speaking of the writing, it’s the weakest part of this film. In terms of the film’s script, I am not critiquing it in comparison to the source material. Even though I know I can’t look at this film with a blank slate since I’m a fan of the anime, all of my problems with the film have been with the film's own problems; not with its problems as an adaptation. The writing leads to odd pacing throughout, culminating in a rushed first and third act with a somewhat meandering second act. However, the writing is at its worst with its characters. The relationship between Light and Mia is not as strong as the film wants it to be, Light’s motivation to continue killing shifts around a lot as the film progresses, and L’s emotional instability unnecessarily turns to 11 when the story pushes toward its finale. While I really enjoy what the film’s ending gives us in terms of possible sequel ideas, it still isn’t enough to fix the film’s writing issues.
In the end, what we get from Adam Wingard’s “Death Note” is an interesting horror-comedy that has fun with the concepts from the source material. If you’re a fan of the "Death Note" franchise, I’ll tell it to you straight: Just enjoy this for what it is. Whether you know the source material or not, it’s a perfectly fine film to watch on a weekend when there’s nothing else to watch. It’s got a lot of good and bad going for it. In my opinion, it’s worth watching just to see Dafoe have a blast as a Japanese death god. If you have nothing to watch on Netflix, I’d say give it a watch. It could be much better but considering there are worst adaptations of anime out there (and there are, like, four previous live-action adaptations of “Death Note” from Japan already), why not try something a bit different?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvxNaSIB_WI]