TheMovieDoctorful
Great satire is rarely recognized in its own time. That goes double when said satirical material is genuinely ambitious and technically impressive. That goes triple when said satirical material is an adaptation of a beloved IP. Films like Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers and the especially reviled Showgirls were met with mass critical panning on release, it wasn't until over a decade later that they would gain appreciation from the critics who once slammed them. So it makes sense that the initial reception to Adam Wingard's Death Note is almost universally negative. However, much like the reception of the aforementioned films, the critics and audiences are again wrong. Death Note is the most clever, interesting, well made and misunderstood social critiques since Showgirls and easily the most underrated film of 2017. Furthermore, I would make the argument that the film is actually superior to the anime in which it is based on, which unintentionally fed the juvenile power fantasies of too many a teenage boy. Unlike Light Yagami, the unironically edgy and seemingly invulnerable Gary Stu of the anime, Nat Wolff's Light Turner possesses a genuine pathos. The arrogance and narcissism of his anime counterpart are still present, but Wolff imbues the character with a deep insecurity and sensitivity that Yagami never had. The screenwriters never make the mistake of justifying Turner's God complex; he's a selfish, naive teenager in way over his head. Light Turner is not only an effective allegory for entitled and pathetic school shooter youth a la Elliot Rodger, but for every mouth-breathing, edgelord fanboy of the anime who unironically idolized Light Yagami; unsubstantial, pretentious, vulnerable and cowardly. Light Turner is simultaneously amusing and tragic, as is his narrative downfall.And how fitting it is for a critique of entitled edgelord youth to take Misa Amane, Yagami's obedient sex object from the anime, and transform her into Mia Sutton, the ruthless, manipulative, calculating and intelligent seductress played by Margaret Qualley? (Who makes a hard and convincing case in this film for playing a teenage Poison Ivy in the DCEU.) Qualley steals the show as Sutton, giving easily the best performance in the film as every Yagami worshiper's worst nightmare; an uncontrollable and untameable force of nature, unfazed by Turner's adoration and unconvinced by his insistence of a moral highground. "You don't get to feel superior for being a p*ssy." she tells Light. Qualley's biting delivery perfectly sells the hard truth of her words. At the same time, Qualley's Mia does evoke a genuine sympathy that a lesser actress may not have achieved. She's a character who isn't taken seriously or respected by anyone; not even her supposedly loving boyfriend. While not overplayed, Qualley does an excellent job displaying this disappointment and hurt in Mia in her facial acting.Shea Wingham gives a powerful and nuanced performance as Light Turner's father, Detective James Turner. Fiercely protective of his unworthy son, the inevitability of the collapse of their relationship hangs over their every interaction, even as it seemingly grows warmer over the course of the film. This is the core of truly great tragedy; the certainty of its arrival and the false hopes of the audience that things can end any other way. Lakeith Stanfield does for L what Heath Ledger did for The Joker, what he pulls off is extraordinarily transformative. From his physical mannerisms to his vocal ticks to his subtle facial expressions, Stanfield is an anime character brought to life in glorious fashion. Much like Wolff's Light, Stanfield's L has a real emotional vulnerability and sensitivity that was never present in the anime incarnation. L may be brilliant and eccentric, but he is also breakable and fallible. Capable of being pushed too far. I found him truly fascinating.Fanboys will pine for the ultra-serious and nihlistic tone of the anime. Wingard's Death Note brings self awareness to the material and a brilliant sense of dark humor. The film's gore is increased from the anime to an almost cartoonish degree, straight out of the most ludicrous and over-the-top fantasies of an Eric Klebold or Dylan Harris. Much of the soundtrack almost appears mocking and condescending of Light and his pathetic struggle for mass validation. This is satire at its finest.The direction of the film is gorgeous. Much like the aforementioned Showgirls, Wingard uses aesthetic beauty and grandeur as a visual metaphor for the "All that glimmers isn't gold" themes of the film. Particularly effective is a scene in which Light is reunited with Mia after discovering her treachery, the beautiful Qualley almost sparkling aside packs of teenagers that may as well be faceless. Qualley's Mia is most enchanting at her most dangerous and independent and the cinematography reflects that. Even more effective is the film's climax on the Seattle Great Wheel, in which Light experiences the grand finale of all his failures and the ultimate cost of his unjustified hubris.Speaking of, the climax of Death Note is everything it needed to be. Chicago's "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" is hilarious when juxtaposed with Light's deepest low of the film. Conversely, the later image of Light Turner in tears at a hospital bed in light of everything he lost in his misguided quest for validation and godhood is hard not to be affected by (In no small part due to Nat Wolff's outstanding facial acting. "I thought it was simple at first, I'd just kill all the bad guys and the good guys would win but it wasn't like that," he cries.)Netflix's Death Note is easily the most underrated film of 2017 and I firmly believe it will find its audience as a future cult classic. A funny, emotional, tragic and beautiful satirical work that's merely waiting for the fanboy fervor to slow down and critical reappraisal to begin. A much more self aware, and more intelligent, story than the anime and a wonderfully post-modern critique of edgelord and school shooter youth. Paul Verhoeven would have loved Adam Wingard's Death Note.
brightsidereviews
I did not watch this movie with any pre-conceived notions of what Death Note has to be. I saw a clip with Willem Defoe as Ryuk and was sold. Having just rewatched the movie, I enjoyed it even more. The performances are great, it's filled to the brim with interesting and cool shots (with lots of Dutch angles and great background details,) the OST is full of 80s synthy goodness, and the whole movie is so much fun. Lakeith Stanfield gives the best performance of the movie, which made me pay attention to him before he showed up in Get Out and Atlanta, but Nat Wolff, much reviled I've seen for his portrayal of Light, is equally if not more deserving of praise for his hilarious line deliveries and for throwing himself full-force into this role. This role which isn't the same Light as in the manga or anime, but is the right character for this movie. This is a funny movie, and doesn't take itself to seriously, but is also very professionally and carefully put together on a technical level. Particularly at the beginning it struck me as being quite similar to Donnie Darko, but becomes its own twisted self as it goes on. I have heard the complaints, the angry fans, but as a movie, not as a Death Note adaptation but purely as its own film, I can find very little wrong with it, and countless reasons to enjoy it.
Rectangular_businessman
I normally hate live-action versions of animated series, and before watching this movie I was already preparing myself for the worst, since everything about it seemed to be terrible beyond belief. And while it was indeed a pretty bad movie, I kinda enjoyed watching it.Make no mistake: As an adaptation of the Death Note manga/anime, this is simply awful from beginning to end, In many ways, it almost feels more like a parody of the story rather than an adaptation, and I honestly prefer to see this movie in that way. It's very ridiculous and cheesy (Yes, I know the original Death Note had its couple of cheesy moments, but not to this extent) , but at least is not incredibly dull as "Dragonball Evolution" or "The Last Airbender."
