On August 25, Netflix released their live action film adaptation of Death Note. The film is based of the popular anime and manga series and as I was watching the film, a lot of changes can be seen in this film. I mean, it’s good if it was seen as a stand alone film but if you compare it to earlier adaptations, you can notice the mass amount of changes that have been made. According in an interview with Adam Wingard with the Verge, he states that “Death Note can be translated in different ways and still retain its core values’, stating that the anime series can be opened to multiple interpretations.

Note: I only watched up to episode 17 – 20 of the anime.

Thoughts on the film – WARNING SPOILERS

The film tries to steer away from the source material as much as possible, creating a whole take to the series itself. The film pretty much scrapped a lot of things from the source material such as the fact that Misa/Mia can’t see Ryuk even if she touched the Death Note since she’s not the owner. Another is that Ryuk hasn’t been involved as much in the film unlike past adaptations (but more to that later). There were some common aspects as well such as the agents spying on Light’s every movement, but other than that, there were not that many that seem that very significant. The film felt a bit rushed as so many things occurred in an instant unlike in the past, it took it’s time to make its way on screen.

If there is one thing that I liked about the film, it’s the ending when Ryuk says ‘You humans are very interesting’ which in my opinion, was the closest thing we got to a near copy to the original and probably a good way to end it. But the way it’s said however, the intension felt different to what he originally meant in the anime series.

There were quotes and scenes that I was hoping to make it to the live action but unfortunately, it wasn’t there. The Netflix adaptation pretty much tried it’s very best to steer away from the original source material, which is both a good and bad thing (depending on who you are).

Characters

Light in this film however, felt like he needed to be pushed in order to do something. Like he needs to be convinced to do certain actions which is good since it allows him to figure out when it’s time to stop, however, it does causes him to be caught in a lot of trouble. In the anime, Light did whatever it takes to distract/steer away attention towards him being suspected as Kira, but in the live action… not so much. I think it’s good in some degree since it allows him to be ‘less guilty’ of his actions.

Ryuk just wants someone to cause chaos since in the film, he didn’t care about the outcomes/consequences that occurred between Light and Mia. In fact, he makes things it worse. In the 2006 live action and the original anime, he was at least concerned about Light and Misa, so much so  that in the live action, he was surprised that Light would sacrifice his girlfriend for his own intensions.

Pretty much, a lot has changed, like there were a few similarities but a lot has been changed when creating of this film. As someone who watched the anime and the past live adaptation, I was slightly upset with the changes. But if you look at this as a stand alone film, without any context or knowledge of the original source material, it’s decent and gives a basic understanding on what Death Note is. I’d cut Adam Wingard some slack since he did his very best on creating a new take on the popular anime.

I give it a rating of 3.5/5. It’s a whole new interpretation to the series. Despite it being totally different and ignoring a lot of of aspects from the original source material, it’s worth a watch.