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I didn't really mind it. Light and Mia were boring and pretty annoying, but I did like Shea Whigham(sp?) as the dad, and I thought Lakieth Stanfield did a preregistration good job doing the weird, eccentric mannerisms of L. There were some slick visuals in it, Dafoe was a good choice as Ryuk, but wow, that ending... faaaaaaaart. It wasn't amazing but it's not the sacrilege that anime/manga fans are gnashing their teeth over.
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Aug 29, 2017 22:53
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This is basically the Asylum knockoff of the anime. They should've called it Dead Note or Death Book.
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Aug 30, 2017 03:22
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The anime is bad and also this movie is bad, for unrelated reasons. Assorted thoughts on the movie: The guy who plays Light is terrible. I like Lakeith Standfield, but he's bad here as L. It was a mistake for them to give this version of L the mannerisms from the anime when they clash so much with his temperament (he's very high strung, outraged, and emotional, compared to the laconic dickhead L of the anime). It's also strange that the movie leans so hard on the final destination poo poo in the beginning and then just drops it 25 minutes in, never to return. Ryuk looks like a pile of poo poo and would have been better if they'd just put Willem Dafoe in a bit of face paint and a leather jacket. They tried to making Light a bit more morally complex than anime Light- who's just a completely unsympathetic mustache-twirling supervillain from day 1- but somehow he manages to be even more unlikable. General Dog fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 05:25
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I can't compare to the anime, but Light didn't seem particularly morally complex. He had very conventional views on who it was and was not appropriate to kill and no compunction about directing it to be done. Part of what made him so believably awful was how simplistic his morality was.
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Aug 30, 2017 05:55
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Sir Kodiak posted:I can't compare to the anime, but Light didn't seem particularly morally complex. He had very conventional views on who it was and was not appropriate to kill and no compunction about directing it to be done. Part of what made him so believably awful was how simplistic his morality was. I guess rather than "morally complex" I meant more that he has morals period, or at least limits, whereas the anime version from almost the very beginning has no qualms about icing anyone who gets in his way.
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Aug 30, 2017 06:06
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It's hard to fully disentangle enjoyment of the anime with how I feel about this movie but I'll attempt to do so, and then give an opinion considering the anime as well. So, without: The movie felt insanely schizophrenic, just attempting to do so many different things. Weird teen coming of age story, half-assed romance, morality play, etc. Didn't flow well at all and that's even before considering L/Watari. The acting from most of the leads was, in my opinion, horrendous - Light and Mia didn't feel like they could be even remotely real. L's kooky antics don't translate to live action IMO - so his weird posture, eccentric way of talking etc. just comes across like "xD so random" instead of anything neat. Watari/L's "sleep" motif was entirely superfluous. Ryuk was really good and felt cool to watch, his scenes were the one that I enjoyed the most. Plot wise it was ludicrous and rushed through, so not a ton to say there. Wasn't a ton of depth. The visuals were pretty good for the most part, so no complaints on that front. The dialogue was horrendous and I don't think there is much debate on that. With considering the anime: I understand that a 1:1 adaption would be both impossible for a ~2 hour long movie and undesirable, so I'm genuinely not expecting anything like that. But at the same time it feels almost bizarre some of the choices that they made, almost as if they were intended to spite the source material. At that juncture I'm wondering why they bothered using the name/property? I can't really imagine the director as a fan of the original in this sense, because if you are looking for what made the (first half of the original mostly) anime work, he goes directly against the grain in almost every way. What was scary about Light was more of a "eugenics" sense, he's a pretty surface level perfect guy - handsome, genius, athletic, popular, etc. so that's why it's so eerie that he now has the ability to kill anyone he deems unworthy. On the flipside, L is frightening in the "creeper" sense, he's dirty, ugly, unsociable. That combined with some smart writing is what made the original so fun to watch. But in here they weirdly throw all that stuff away for some reason. Light becomes an outsider, they never once attempt to show that he's more intelligent than most people aside from a pithy attempt in the opening scene, L's actor doesn't do a great job of making his bizarre mannerisms feel real, and so on. The chemistry between those two, where they intersect and differ from one another, is a big part of what makes the anime so charming and watchable, but everything about this movie purposefully gets rid of that for some reason that I can't really understand. It's totally possible to have a great movie where the cat and mouse hate one another but this certainly isn't it. One really neat concept in the original as well was how unflinching both Light and L were in their concepts of justice. Light's a huge monster but he's genuinely convinced that he can make himself into a God (and considering he has a literal divine power it's not absurd to understand why). Seeing him so quick to give up here was disheartening, not because I think what he was doing was in any way right, but because a huge attraction of the original was how they realistically could paint Kira as seductive. He genuinely rids the world of almost all its crime, protects the weak, and we the reader know that he's a super-genius who looks good to boot. One of the more interesting facets of the original is how the viewer can be pulled into his mindset, but they don't even attempt to flirt with that here - he really gives up immediately and they don't ever attempt to make Mia anything more than a caricature "psycho". Mia is less interesting than Misa but a lot of what made Misa interesting can't fit into film time anyway, so it's not really worth going into, I guess. I dunno, I could see people that haven't watched the original thinking the movie was okay, but even when I attempt to disassociate my enjoyment of the source material with this experience, I still can't find myself liking any part of it aside from Dafoe
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Aug 30, 2017 07:18
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I'm not really a fan of the original, although I've read it and thought it was okay fun up until the big twist, but I didn't like this movie both from the point of view of an adaptation and as a stand-alone thriller. As an adaptation, well, it basically throws most aspects from each character into the garbage, making Light sort of a charmless doofus until the very end, L. waaay more emotional than I remember him ever being, Mia the opposite of devoted and Ryuk an active malicious force instead of an aloof and lazy God of Death along for the ride. Sometimes it felt like the idea here was to purposefully go "opposite-day" on the characters, and I mean, that could've been a really interesting take...except the movie doesn't feel like it commits fully to playing with those elements, especially considering the finale. It also doesn't commit to the dark comedy angle, which is what I feel the movie did the best. Ryuk's reveal was hilarious and the entire ferris wheel sequence was some Cabin in the Woods bullshit, and if it went 100% camp I'd have liked it a lot more. As it stands, I decided browsing Twitter was more compelling than watching the Watari orphanage scene or the by-the-books chase during the movie's climax. I did tune back in for the AMAZING Mia death scene, it's definitely the best part of the movie and not even from a "so bad it's good" perspective, it's pretty solid dark comedy.
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Aug 30, 2017 07:58
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General Dog posted:I guess rather than "morally complex" I meant more that he has morals period, or at least limits, whereas the anime version from almost the very beginning has no qualms about icing anyone who gets in his way. That makes sense. And it's one of the comic aspects I enjoyed about the movie, seeing two believable moral simpletons bounce off each other.
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Aug 30, 2017 18:56
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The thing I liked best about the Death Note (Desu Nōto) anime is the part where L chased Light down an alley while screaming and waving a Blade Runner pistol. Really captured the source material
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Aug 30, 2017 22:11
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I also liked the part where L smooshed that guy's face into the mashed potatoes for no reason. There goes our guy, England(?)'s greatest detective, in hot pursuit of Dylan Sprouse, ready to catch a two by four with the back of his million-dollar cranium
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Aug 30, 2017 22:22
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Squashing Machine posted:The thing I liked best about the Death Note (Desu Nōto) anime is the part where L chased Light down an alley while screaming and waving a Blade Runner pistol. Really captured the source material people keep pointing this out as really weird and out of character for L, but... honestly, it kind of worked for me here's the thing: L is basically 25% World's Greatest Detective, 75% stunted baby-man. this is way more obvious in the anime, but they establish it in the movie, too. unlike in the anime, however, the movie sets up L as being pretty much hosed without Watari; Watari is his father figure, but more than that, he keeps L on task, on his routine, makes sure L sleeps ever, and essentially is the superglue that holds this version of L together. L losing his poo poo in the movie is a direct reaction to Watari getting ganked. it makes perfect sense that this version of L would not only take that pretty poorly, but also pretty much completely snap when that happens. e: like, the thing about L you have to realize in any version of this is, he's basically what happens when you attempt to use the same techniques used to groom child soldiers to make Sherlock Holmes. he is completely hosed in the head and it becomes immediately, blindingly obvious the second he's doing literally anything other than detective work. the movie actually amplifies this, because the movie's version of Wammy's House is an outright loving torture room and not just a really weird orphanage. WeedlordGoku69 fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 22:28
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:people keep pointing this out as really weird and out of character for L, but... honestly, it kind of worked for me It also robs the movie of any of the structure that the anime had. L has a strong hunch that Light's guilty really early in the show, but he is bound by the rules of the game, not out of any moral or professional obligation but because he loves it, just like how how Light loves being God. Everything he does is in service of trying to outsmart Light and getting him to hang himself. Light responds to this, and L responds to the response, and so on and so forth. It's what keeps the show moving. There's no game in this movie (until the very end, but by then it's way too late to save this thing). L accuses Light, Light goes to the prom, L whips out his zapper and goes after him. That's why this movie feels like it has long periods where nothing happens and then crams a bunch of poo poo in out of nowhere. You need that structure.
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Aug 30, 2017 22:46
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I found the movie to be briskly paced. Not sure what these long periods where nothing happens are supposed to be.
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Aug 30, 2017 22:58
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Squashing Machine posted:It also robs the movie of any of the structure that the anime had. L has a strong hunch that Light's guilty really early in the show, but he is bound by the rules of the game, not out of any moral or professional obligation but because he loves it, just like how how Light loves being God. Everything he does is in service of trying to outsmart Light and getting him to hang himself. Light responds to this, and L responds to the response, and so on and so forth. It's what keeps the show moving. There's no game in this movie (until the very end, but by then it's way too late to save this thing). L accuses Light, Light goes to the prom, L whips out his zapper and goes after him. That's why this movie feels like it has long periods where nothing happens and then crams a bunch of poo poo in out of nowhere. You need that structure. okay I really feel like you didn't pay a lot of attention to the movie because there's at least one very important thing you missed the catalyst for L losing his poo poo is, specifically, getting the phone call that they found Watari's body. when he realizes Watari's missing, he's pissed, but still willing to try and catch Light "legitimately." when he realizes Watari is outright dead he loses his poo poo and goes into full "gently caress this Light guy" mode, because again, Watari was the thing chaining L to some form of sanity and without that, this L goes batshit crazy. I do agree that this movie got rid of the cat-and-mouse structure for the most part, but I sort of feel like that was necessary for a movie that barely cracks 90 minutes. if they'd adapted the "game" from the anime perfectly, it would have either had to be ultra-compressed or split into multiple movies; instead, they made the relationship between Light and L a little more standard, and fleshed out the characters themselves a little more to try and make up for it.
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Aug 30, 2017 23:00
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:if they'd adapted the "game" from the anime perfectly, it would have either had to be ultra-compressed or split into multiple movie Brian De Palma's Death Note
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Aug 30, 2017 23:11
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:okay I really feel like you didn't pay a lot of attention to the movie because there's at least one very important thing you missed They make that perfectly clear that's what sets L off. It just completely ruins L's character as a genius detective with an extremely strict moral code, because someone gets murdered and he decides to go full-on Terminator and chase Light through the streets like a crazy person. Also, why the hell was Watari's real name so easily accessible in the first place? It makes zero sense and if anything makes L look even MORE incompetent, asides from him making insane leaps of logic that are completely laughable. LIke he can deduce from a press conference where nothing happens that Kira needs a face and a name but he can't guess that this would happen? It's terrible. Not to mention that Watari explains that the genius detectives were created by being held in isolation for seven months, and only the ones who didn't go insane were kept on. Do they seriously want us to believe that L could withstand that as a child but would go completely bonkers over Watari being killed? What? house of the dad fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 23:11
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Terrific Accident posted:They make that perfectly clear that's what sets L off. It just completely ruins L's character as a genius detective with an extremely strict moral code, because someone gets murdered and he decides to go full-on Terminator and chase Light through the streets like a crazy person. Also, why the hell was Watari's real name so easily accessible in the first place? It makes zero sense and if anything makes L look even MORE incompetent, asides from him making insane leaps of logic that are completely laughable. LIke he can deduce from a press conference where nothing happens that Kira needs a face and a name but he can't guess that this would happen? It's terrible. How's it established he has an extremely strict moral code? If anything, the absurd coincidence is that L's name is secret. People usually have easy-to-discover names. That's normal. And once your name is on, like, Facebook or whatever, you can't undo it.
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Aug 30, 2017 23:24
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Terrific Accident posted:Also, why the hell was Watari's real name so easily accessible in the first place? It makes zero sense and if anything makes L look even MORE incompetent, asides from him making insane leaps of logic that are completely laughable. LIke he can deduce from a press conference where nothing happens that Kira needs a face and a name but he can't guess that this would happen? It's terrible. This could be a byproduct of L's hosed up upbringing. He's so focused on catching Kira that he completely misses the fact Watari has a huge bullseye painted on his back. Although it would seem that Watari is not as much as liaison for L as hi manga counterpart if James reaction to meeting Watari is any indication quote:Not to mention that Watari explains that the genius detectives were created by being held in isolation for seven months, and only the ones who didn't go insane were kept on. Do they seriously want us to believe that L could withstand that as a child but would go completely bonkers over Watari being killed? What? That seems pretty straightforward to me. L was an orphan so he didn't had anything he really considered valuable when he was locked on the vault. But afterwards he spent years with Watari by his side, thus forming a bond that he lacked. And thus, is perfectly understandable he would lose his poo poo when Watari is gone
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Aug 30, 2017 23:30
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Sir Kodiak posted:How's it established he has an extremely strict moral code? Some of this is comparison to the anime, which I think is fair since it shares most of the characters, the basic plot, a magical notebook that murders people for you, and a giant japanese ghost, but there's no real point to L's character if he's not a foil/opposite of Light. He's not a great detective in the movie, as he barely does any detecting and just decides out of a country of 300 million people that Light is Kira on the flimsiest evidence possible. So what's the point of this character? A morality play that even the people on the side of justice can be swayed by power or revenge? Not exactly new or interesting ground. I will admit that they don't really go into L's morality in the movie or address what he would do with Kira's power, but I think that's also a misstep because there's no rules, and by the end of the movie L looks like as much of a petulant child as Light, as well as a hypocrite about taking justice into your own hands. Dark_Tzitzimine posted:This could be a byproduct of L's hosed up upbringing. He's so focused on catching Kira that he completely misses the fact Watari has a huge bullseye painted on his back. Although it would seem that Watari is not as much as liaison for L as hi manga counterpart if James reaction to meeting Watari is any indication I can accept the first point, but it just feels like lazy writing. We could have easily had a short scene where L is beating himself up for not realizing how vulnerable Watari was or something along those lines, but for L to just completely overlook it entirely when Watari is so clearly important to him doesn't make sense to me. I think it's sloppy. I only bring up the second point because it's seems that telling that story was to illustrate how L has been designed from childhood to be the person who never breaks. If Watari was seriously the only thing holding his sanity together, then why the hell wouldn't he do a better job of protecting him? house of the dad fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 23:40
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:I do agree that this movie got rid of the cat-and-mouse structure for the most part, but I sort of feel like that was necessary for a movie that barely cracks 90 minutes. if they'd adapted the "game" from the anime perfectly, it would have either had to be ultra-compressed or split into multiple movies; instead, they made the relationship between Light and L a little more standard, and fleshed out the characters themselves a little more to try and make up for it. The cat and mouse is the entire point of the show and this kind of plot in general. Se7en, while a movie that clocks in at a little over 2 hours, maintains this feeling of feeling of give and take, discovery and defeat, all throughout. I think the lessons from that film could've been applied here. It doesn't have to be very long or very smart, but the bulk of this movie should've been spent on the ruse-counterruse and not on Light and Mia sneaking upstairs to gently caress, or Watari stumbling around a boo haunted house looking for a folder whose contents are ultimately meaningless.
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Aug 30, 2017 23:45
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Squashing Machine posted:It doesn't have to be very long or very smart, but the bulk of this movie should've been spent on the ruse-counterruse and not on Light and Mia sneaking upstairs to gently caress, or Watari stumbling around a boo haunted house looking for a folder whose contents are ultimately meaningless. Light and Mia sneaking upstairs to gently caress was part of the ruse/counter-ruse because Mia is Light's primary antagonist.
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Aug 30, 2017 23:51
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Sir Kodiak posted:Light and Mia sneaking upstairs to gently caress was part of the ruse/counter-ruse because Mia is Light's primary antagonist. Well, I would say she's not, as she ultimately does very little in the movie, has no real motivation for anything that she does do besides GIVE ME THE NOTEBOOK, and is written to be as intelligent as a rock. If all of this was part of her grand scheme to get the notebook from Light she could have just killed him with the page she stole and taken it herself, or even when she was in entire possession of it later on. She has no way of knowing that ownership would pass back to Ryuk if Light didn't pass it on himself, as she can't see Ryuk or hear anything he says, and she even writes his dang name in the notebook intending to kill him. Instead we get some weird, unconvincing Twilight romance that feels like it was manufactured in a boardroom by old men. house of the dad fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 00:03
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One thing I really missed was the "fake L" from the anime, which showed that Kira was fine with killing innocent people to try to protect himself. Without that part, L's conclusion that the killer needs a name and face doesn't follow - it could just as well have been that his suspicions are wrong and AmeriKira only kills criminals.
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Aug 31, 2017 01:11
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ymgve posted:One thing I really missed was the "fake L" from the anime, which showed that Kira was fine with killing innocent people to try to protect himself. Without that part, L's conclusion that the killer needs a name and face doesn't follow - it could just as well have been that his suspicions are wrong and AmeriKira only kills criminals. The news conference makes no sense too because Kira could have just been not watching TV, or was doing something that prevented him from seeing the broadcast, or didn't live where the broadcast was being shown, or was loving asleep, or could recognize it was a ploy to gain information and wouldn't kill L to further confuse matters, or was morally opposed to killing L. Something not happening is not proof of anything, and it's the dumbest change they made from the anime, and the conclusions L draws from it make zero sense. He is a lovely detective house of the dad fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 01:19
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Terrific Accident posted:I can accept the first point, but it just feels like lazy writing. We could have easily had a short scene where L is beating himself up for not realizing how vulnerable Watari was or something along those lines, but for L to just completely overlook it entirely when Watari is so clearly important to him doesn't make sense to me. I think it's sloppy. I only bring up the second point because it's seems that telling that story was to illustrate how L has been designed from childhood to be the person who never breaks. If Watari was seriously the only thing holding his sanity together, then why the hell wouldn't he do a better job of protecting him? Have you considered that holding small children in isolation to see which one of them holds on just long enough not to snap doesn't actually work, even in the heightened context of the movie? ymgve posted:One thing I really missed was the "fake L" from the anime, which showed that Kira was fine with killing innocent people to try to protect himself. Without that part, L's conclusion that the killer needs a name and face doesn't follow - it could just as well have been that his suspicions are wrong and AmeriKira only kills criminals. Light isn't fine with killing innocent people in this, because at some subconscious level, he realizes he's full of poo poo. He kills people that society has already condemned, insistent on taking personal power, but denying personal responsibility. He reacts with guilt and denial every time he's challenged on it, with one exception that I'll get to in a bit. His confrontation with the bully at the beginning of the movie is premised on his smug notion that "if you hurt me, society will punish you worse, therefore I'm untouchable" and he's instantly proven wrong. His awakening to this realization -- that society has promised him things and then welched on the deal -- characterizes everything he does with the Death Note. He just wants what everyone has been telling him is rightfully his all along. (Which is especially significant in an American remake because this movie very pointedly depends on Light being white, male, middle class, and frustrated.) I mentioned this in one of the other threads, but Light and Mi(s)a's positions have been reversed compared to the anime. He's the idiot follower, she's the teenage ubermensch. Mia believes absolutely in her own moral intuition. She's ready to make snap judgements not based on societal condemnation, but because someone asked her (or rather, Kira) to help them. She's willing to kill Light's father out of love for Light and to preserve their project. She's a monster, but she's a liberated and liberatory figure in a way Light couldn't be because he's ultimately just a condensed version of the status quo. My biggest regret about this movie is we get very little by way of interaction between Mia and L -- the Light / L relationship from the anime wouldn't work here, because these two aren't equals and will never be friends. But Mia and L both basically want to present themselves as savior figures, and just choose completely opposite ways of going about doing it -- and, significantly, Mia never wavers in her path, although L does at the very end and we're left not knowing if he gave in or not. Anyways, the exception I mentioned earlier is at the very end of the movie where Light calmly explains everything to his father. This is interesting because it follows the scene where Light and Mia fall into the water, die, and only one of them returns to shore and is revived. It's a lot of imagery that suggests rebirth and the unconscious. You've also got a movie where a character repeatedly insists that "sleep is key to strong thought" followed by a character deliberately putting themselves in a coma. By the end of the movie, Light has learned from Mia -- symbolically, you might even say they've become one person -- and so you're faced with the possibility that Light has overcome his weaknesses and become something closer to the Light of the anime. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 02:50
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I've never seen the anime version of this so I came in without any notion of how it should go and I really enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It's really solid shlocky comedy-horror (the first vague memory that popped into my head was the 1999 Seth Green vehicle Idle Hands) I'm going to give it a second watch soon where I can take some notes because it seems like a production pretty ripe for some interesting critique. I might give the anime a shot though I'm worried about the anime considering I found the relationship between Light and Mia easily the most interesting part of this film and it sounds like that was a pretty serious departure. The tight characterization in the opening of the film does a huge amount of work for Mia before she ever even says a word - when the movie was over I just figured she was one of the original progenitors of the Yandere stereotype (not knowing a lot about anime besides modern buzzwords at this point) L was also a pretty fun and interesting character with some really clear visual language that led to some great shots. He's strongly associated with strong neon lighting that tend to alter and flood the frame with color - example from his introduction scene:  Now - here is a good shot that shows off Light and Mia in their usual setting - the school. Light and Mia are in contrast to L and Watari usually set against sparse and uncluttered naturalistic lighting and sets. I really enjoyed this scene and shot from the early stages of their relationship:  And we can also contrast these images with a scene where L is stepping into Lights visual territory to challenge him:  (As an aside everything about this image is just so drat loaded out of context that it's really just an insanely good shot in general) Meanwhile - when Light is about to be confronted by a meeting with L the space is defined by the strong neon lights.  There is a lot more to it but it's real fun to see just how much work that lighting motif does to characterize L's side of the story and give him some presence even when he's not in the scene. Edit: Some spelling corrections. Also I didn't even realize the bloodspatter and rain referring eachother in the first and last shot when I was picking them out! 
Picard Day fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 02:51
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Also, expanding on my first thought in that last post, L's character is kind of a grim joke -- this idea that being an orphaned, impoverished, mistreated young black man desperate for a father figure is something that creates superheroes and not just, like, what society does to kids every day. L isn't a genius because of what was done to him -- he's a genius in spite of it; his upbringing is a chain around his neck that signifies both what he's had to sacrifice to get here, and also sabotages his efforts to catch Kira and do the right thing.Picard Day posted:
You're goddamn right it is. 
Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 02:54
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I watched this only being familiar with the premise of the anime from like, Toonami commercials. I enjoyed it. The story was pretty easy to follow, the performances were okay, and Ryuk is pretty spooky looking and cool. Then I went on the Death Note Reddit and saw 5+ pages of complaints. They apparently changed the rules of the book, changed some characters (and their race, wow who gives a poo poo), etc. I learned that there are like 4 live action Death Note movies made in Japan that the fans also don't like. As a standalone product I enjoyed this, and it made me curious enough to go read a wiki about the anime. I think it did it's job. E: Also apparently Light does convoluted horse poo poo like the paragraph of bullshit "then THIS happens, then THIS happens" stuff in the anime and the fan consensus was that was the only moment in which Light was the super-genius he was in the anime. Honestly, I thought that part was just terrible and it worked better with a concise "write name, dies" rather than being able to control people's lives for something like 30 days in the anime (2 in the movie, a little better). E2: Was that Carpenter Brut in the chase scene? The score is pretty good. Made me want to replay Hotline Miami Firstborn fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 03:02
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Changes to the characters' race is incredibly important, it's just that this is a good thing in the context of "an American Death Note remake" -- America doesn't have the same problem with putting incredible pressure on teenage boys to overachieve in high school for fear their whole lives will be determined by it, and Japan doesn't have identical racial issues to America.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:07
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I mean, as an adaptation this changes a LOT and it's frankly real bad. Thing is, everyone knew it wasn't gonna be a straight adaptation so...
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Aug 31, 2017 03:08
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It's not Dragon Ball: Evolution or Ghost in the Shell levels of whitewashing. I think the change to the US is handled fairly well. Would it have been better if it took place in Japan with Japanese people? Yeah, probably. Still - as a standalone product separated from the anime it was enjoyable shlock. I can't say the same of a lot of other anime adaptations to live action. They usually either presume you already know the story and change integral anyway (leaving you lost without much context - GiTS), or disregard the source entirely and run on name recognition - displeasing fans and casual viewers alike. This is a solid C+ creepy movie.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:12
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Naw, it changes a bunch and most of those changes are for the better. I wish there'd been a little more breathing room early on, showing a bit more of the Light/Mia relationship or some more deaths outside of the montage, but I enjoyed how fleet the whole thing felt so it's a fine trade-off.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:13
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The only parts where I really felt the condensation/adaptation of a long running plot: Light immediately showing Mia the book. Just from context I can tell this was probably a few episodes or issues. The montage of Kira emerging as a name by killing a bunch of dudes Light being able to tell Ryuk "gently caress you" or whatever he said after hilarious girl-screams at his entrance 35 minutes ago I think I read that Dafoe didn't bother looking up the source material because the character was easy for him to grasp. Glancing at Ryuk's wiki page I can see that maybe a more nuanced sort of bored god persona instead of enabler/monkey paw thing.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:21
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You know the best thing about casting Willem Dafoe as Ryuk? Willem Dafoe is Jesus.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:22
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I think I also read that if the interest was there, a sequel would be made.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:24
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Picard Day posted:I'm going to give it a second watch soon where I can take some notes because it seems like a production pretty ripe for some interesting critique. I might give the anime a shot though I'm worried about the anime considering I found the relationship between Light and Mia easily the most interesting part of this film and it sounds like that was a pretty serious departure. (Spoiler bars are for the anime, not the movie): While the two met on equal footing in the movie, in the anime Misa only comes into the picture after Light has already begun using the Death Note regularly. She herself is actually a separate Death Note user entirely, with her own Death God hovering over her, and was able to identify Light as Kira because of that. The reason she seeks Kira out to begin with is because her the man who killed her parents was killed via his Death Note, prompting her to become a worshiper of his. She becomes a very valuable ally and falls in love with him, but it's really hard to say how much Light actually reciprocates because she's practically a pawn to him in all his plans. I'd say Misa and Mia have similar smarts, in that I could see Misa pulling off the same plan Mia did, but Mia is far more self-motivated by her own desires for power whereas Misa was doing it out of love for Kira/Light. Misa would basically never betray Light the way Mia did. Only thing I wish is Mia got more backstory because I feel like there must be a story to how callous she is. She resembles Kira in the source material far more than Light does in this movie.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:37
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LesterGroans posted:Naw, it changes a bunch and most of those changes are for the better. I wish there'd been a little more breathing room early on, showing a bit more of the Light/Mia relationship or some more deaths outside of the montage, but I enjoyed how fleet the whole thing felt so it's a fine trade-off. I kinda disagree on the Light/Mia relationship thing - Mia is characterised very clearly without a lot of talk or exposition.  Before we ever even see the Death Note we see the relationship dynamic between Light and Mia - She's a loving bad bitch, standing on top of a human pyramid, before she gets down and starts smoking a cigarette. It's extremely economical visual language but that's just necessary adapting any serial down into a feature film no matter what. The film is also extremely particular about who exists in the left side of the frame - It's almost always Light's space and the only time that isn't true is when he's being physically threatened by other characters. Mia is often found to the left because in general she is the violent id focused character of the pair.  I think I'm gonna have to watch the rest of this directors movies. Picard Day fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 03:37
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Picard Day posted:I kinda disagree on the Light/Mia relationship thing - Mia is characterised very clearly without a lot of talk or exposition. With my analysis or just with the idea that she (and her relationship with Light) isn't characterized enough? Picard Day posted:I think I'm gonna have to watch the rest of this directors movies. You'll have a blast. I like Death Note a lot, but You're Next and The Guest are better.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:39
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:With my analysis or just with the idea that she (and her relationship with Light) isn't characterized enough? I got distracted while responding to your post and forgot I had it quoted on top there. Edited it out - I'll respond in a different post! Sorry about that
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Aug 31, 2017 03:41
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| # ? May 5, 2024 18:13 |
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Picard Day posted:I kinda disagree on the Light/Mia relationship thing - Mia is characterised very clearly without a lot of talk or exposition. This is all very cool. I thought her just smoking in the middle of cheer practice was a nice little bit of characterization. I like Mia, and her character -- as different as it is from her anime counterpart -- is one of the big improvements in this movie. I just wish we got a little more of Light and her together, which is kinda condensed with the death montage.
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Aug 31, 2017 03:45
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