Death Note

HeartOfDarkness

I'm not gonna pretend the Japanese films were masterpieces but they are indeed masterpieces compared to Netflix's Death Note.
Bad acting, bad script, cringey direction, awful music choices, and what a non-ending!

Why did Shane Black quit again?
I really think Adam Wingard is a terrible director.

Remember that awesome L theme song from the anime, and other music pieces that became an essential part of the experience?

Well American director thought that just throwing generic random songs in there would surely be an good idea…....and it fucking sucked.

MetaMario

What a fun(ny) ride this was

! So I do have to knock it for its creative decisions in relation to the original story, but also as a story itself, it…..phew boy.
Anyways the first change I saw was Light himself, he was less a quiet, overachieving genius and more of a.....well, the big big thing is that they give him a personal reason to start using the Death Note (his mother was run over), which does humanize him a bit, but that just makes the descent into "kill all criminals" more jarring.
! What was up with the Final Destination deaths, with gratuitous blood/gore shots? It was the funniest shit ever.
Mi(s)a was more in control, opposed to the original dynamic of Light roping her into being his minion. Like you could easily tell she was going to betray him in that shot when she ran up the stairs.
! Light's dad did ok but the story didn't give him much room (and had to kinda justify why the investigation was cooperating with a Seattle detective).
L's actor did an EXCELLENT job, nailing his tone, mannerisms, even the sitting positions perfectly. Although I had to facepalm really hard when he was STANDING IN THE CROWD. L would not risk himself being seen so early, plus they didn't even do that cool scene where he baits Kira into killing someone who claims on live TV he was L.
And of course, Willem Defoe was amazing. Helll, you could've just had him irl stand in the shadows.
! But there's still stuff I HAVE to point out that bothered me.
a) Watari's death. I looked carefully, they did NOT write down a last name, and even if Watari's identity was easy to know, wouldn't the supposed genius L keep him far away? Was intense to see him slowly crack, but Watari's control made no sense - the note doesn't "pause" and let the caller instruct them over the phone IN REAL TIME. Actor himself was great though.
! b) the fucking rules. "You can only burn ONE name/note?" the seven days thing? What's with the arbitrary additions? And they didn't obey all of the established ones. Mia couldn't see Ryuk, for example.
! c) oh my god, the music. I laughed, laughed when that Chicago song played.
! Shot-wise, there was an overabundance of rain/titled angles. I guess the movie also makes a lot of the important scenes very very hokey. L vs. Light, battle of the minds? Lolno, just give L a blaster-looking gun and have him chase Light. Then have some rando busboy knock L out and go "Lord Kira", lmao
Light's dad finding out? Give him a plain "well that happened" look. All of the detectives lining up to fall to their doom just came off being funny, not scary.
Also Light and NotMisa did all that, and only killed 400 people? Didn't Light kill thousands in the manga?
! Then we have Light's final plan at the end, which was kinda cool, buuuuuut….I'm pretty sure the Death Note controls just people, not to go as far as "the note will EXACTLY fall to this spot and burn"
! Taking away my knowledge of the series, it's a not-totally-bad movie that takes too much from Final Destination? Based it ON the series, it's not the worst adaptation I could've imagined but it could've been a lot better. L was great, Mi(s)a was decent, Light was bad.

Robby

@MetaMario:

Didn't Light kill thousands in the manga?

tl;dw
Around 280,000 between Light and his underlings.

MetaMario

@Robby:

tl;dw
Around 280,000 between Light and his underlings.

so over 600 times that, lol.

Robby

@MetaMario:

so over 600 times that, lol.

To be fair, manga Light was smart and able to keep it up for like 6 years. Movie Light was a dumbass an had it for like a month.

KageKageKing

There is a new chapter of Death Note out and it's Gold!

imperioonepiece

I like it a lot, Trump and Xi were gold too!

Also, perhaps we will have another sequel, if it were to be as good as this one, I'm up for it!

Desperado

I have doubts Trump can swim.

Nobodyman

@Desperado:

I have doubts Trump can swim.

Huh?

Anyway, good one shot. Had pretty much the same feel as OG Death Note. And it is rather amusing that Near turned out to be totally useless.

desa

The end is a good reminder that Ryuuk is a dick and give zero f.

A really fun chapter. Reminds me that one shot when there was an eraser. It seems one shot does well for this "universe".

Robby

That was a fun little chapter.

These guys should consider doing a Twilight ZOne style anthology. Given what they showed off in Bakuman they're good at creating lots of random plots pretty fast. So just do short stories. Maybe not one chapter, thats too short, but 3-4 chapters each, a new story every month, and just do some weird twisted moral dilemna thing. I don't know that Jump would be the proper place for it unless the created a mascot narrator character to glue it all together, but that'd be up their alley I think.

Blissed

That was really great, now I kinda want this series back.

desa

I hope not. This story was great as a one shot and a neat exploration of a more basic usage of the notebook. I did not need it transform into a 5 volume cat and mouse.

Let it stay a world they can do a quick visit in from time to time if they have a cool idea and not something where they have to make an awesome follow up full story because the interest is still there. Let things rest dammit. It is fine for good stuff to end without having to be run to the ground first.

Yobiyopi

@desa:

I hope not. This story was great as a one shot and a neat exploration of a more basic usage of the notebook. I did not need it transform into a 5 volume cat and mouse.

Let it stay a world they can do a quick visit in from time to time if they have a cool idea and not something where they have to make an awesome follow up full story because the interest is still there. Let things rest dammit. It is fine for good stuff to end without having to be run to the ground first.

Better to leave a sense of wanting more, than to receive it, be disappointed after chasing that high again, and never want anything from it ever again tainting or ruining what made you love it in the first place.

As usual their understanding of the natural sequence of events and human reactions to them is great. Also grateful that the Shinigami King wasnt shown.

puffing.cinema

the story was fun if you don't think a lot about it, like OG Death Note

desa

That messenger was hilarious design wise.

RobZilla

Very enjoyable one shot

Was cool to see a situation that could stump even Near but still had dire, unexpected consequences for the user

Crossword

So even the Shinigami King draws the line at Trump having a Death Note.

maxterdexter

The implication is that Ryuk would have tried to save the kid if he didn’t make him promise to never contact him again.

Then again, one person not touching that money and being alive would show up in near’s radar.

desa

Even if he could go there he would still kill him because the book was already sold when he made the rule. For me the implication is he couldn't be bothered with the kid and his whole I can't there is just him crossing him off and wondering what his next source of entertainment is gonna be.

El-Matematico

Tanaka died when he took money from the ATM, so that's when the rule considered him a seller. Ryuk could have told him like he told Trump about the rule, but he followed Tanaka's instruction to never appear before him again. All the time he was playing along, following exactly Tanaka's instructions to see what would happen, even if he didn't understand at first. Also it's best for Ryuk to not get attached to a human, since that could potentially kill him.

RobZilla

@maxterdexter:

The implication is that Ryuk would have tried to save the kid if he didn’t make him promise to never contact him again.

Then again, one person not touching that money and being alive would show up in near’s radar.

I dunno, I imagine across all the people who received the money that there would be quite a few who wouldn't touch it

People who just want the money to sit and grow with interest

People who don't trust that they won't have to pay the money back at some point

People who are unaware they had such an account or were physically incapable of withdrawing the money from it

etc

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@desa:

For me the implication is he couldn't be bothered with the kid and his whole I can't there is just him crossing him off and wondering what his next source of entertainment is gonna be.

Nah, I think the fact he was withdrawing the money at the time makes it clear this was the consequences of the selling rule being applied

I do really like this outcome tbh

Minoru thought of an almost perfect plan but his fixation with not being caught via Ryuk was his downfall

andre

I was reading this and a thought came to my mind. How fun would it be if Hisoka had a Death Note to use. His powers would be perfect for how it works, but he would never use it to kill the people he wants to fight, only get closer to them and murder those in his way.

Maju

it was an enjoyable read, but i really don't get all the "oh this plan is so smart, this new a-kira is incredibly smart" talking…the plan was really straightforward and something anyone could come up with when thinking about it for hours like he did.

also didn't like the end, unnecessarely dark and the "oh we add a new rule now" thing came out of nowhere

desa

@Maju:

it was an enjoyable read, but i really don't get all the "oh this plan is so smart, this new a-kira is incredibly smart" talking…the plan was really straightforward and something anyone could come up with when thinking about it for hours like he did.

also didn't like the end, unnecessarely dark and the "oh we add a new rule now" thing came out of nowhere

I mean he himself said he wasn't particularly smart just really meticulous with test taking and hate taking risk. So I don't think the new kid was particularly smart. As for the plan being smart it is considered smart because it does well at blending him in a crowd and makes it highly unlikely he would get caught. You plan doesn't need to be overtly convoluted to be smart.

I can understand not liking that ending.

RobZilla

@Maju:

unnecessarely dark

I feel like this is an odd reaction to have to Death Note?

NateRich

Just read it and that ending was a bit unsatisfying. So just like Vanilla Death Note. I expected a dark ending, but the kid just got screwed over. When Ryuk was talking to Trump I thought the new rule was a bluff by the Shinigami King and then it shows the dead kid. Guess the juvenile idea for the Death Note didn't completely work out.

So he obviously had to think of the plan before giving back the Death Note the first time. That means he the only reason he waited 2 years was to be old enough for a bank account? Not sure why else he would wait unless I skipped over something.

kevo_koma

@NateRich:

So he obviously had to think of the plan before giving back the Death Note the first time. That means he the only reason he waited 2 years was to be old enough for a bank account? Not sure why else he would wait unless I skipped over something.

Yeah, he wanted to be old enough to have his own account since he was in high school at the time.