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Rewatching Netflix's Death Note...it really isn't that bad

Typhon

Typhon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,103
Probably not a popular opinion. Sure it doesn't reach the heights of the anime or manga and it takes a few leaps in logic, but overall it really isn't a train wreck. I've seen worse adaptations. I'd have preferred a smarter Light, but I got a less annoying Misa out of it, and L was perfectly serviceable. I can even ignore the goofy ending. If it's anything it's entertaining.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,642
I wished I had watched it with friends. One of those "so bad it's good" movies for sure, it was unintentionally quite hilarious.
 
ChasingANiche

ChasingANiche

Member
Oct 26, 2017
151
The actors are fine, and some of the changes are understandable.

That said you couldn't pay me to sit through that train wreck again
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,616
I called it "so bad it's good" when it first came out. Some people... disagreed. But I still stand by that assessment.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,642
The way Light casually reveals he's a murderer to Mia basically because he's horny. His only clue that she'd be cool with knowing this is because... she said a morbid thing once.

The twist of Mia, not Ryuk, using the book without Light's permission being so obvious you'd have to be blind to miss it. (Agents literally die after she goes up to his room alone. After they just had a huge argument...)

How Watari dies... despite not knowing his last name?

The ridiculous way L chases after Light in an attempt to murder him.

Everything about the ferris wheel scene.

Priceless.

---

It's almost offensively bad, but it just ends up being something I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel for. They should've just made Mia the protagonist instead though.
 
Bran Van

Bran Van

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,540
It was too dumb. Death Note at it's core is a cat and mouse game between unrealistically intelligent characters, all for the better. It really didn't capture that flavour.
 

dapperbandit

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,162
It was shit, they fucked up the plot and the characters and the acting was mostly awful.

The bit where the guy got decapitated by a ladder made me laugh out loud but that's all the film was good for.
 
Galkinator

Galkinator

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,944
It's horrible.
Light is a stupid whiny bitch, while in the manga he's calm, brilliant and evil.
L is stupid as well, lets his emotions go wild and ultimately fails.

The whole plot is rushed, non of the characters are given any real sense of purpose or morals, while in the manga every main character has a strong sense of what's right and how the world should work.

The acting is downright terrible (wtf @ Light screaming like a Justin Bieber fangirl when Ryuk appears?)

I expected the movie to be an enjoyable B grade adaptation but man it was horrible, dropped the ball hard on this one.
 

Deleted member 18347

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,572
I know it's a good idea to not copy paste the exact source material, but Light's character here was the opposite of the manga/anime. A wimpy little shit.

It was a bad movie.
 
BernardoOne

BernardoOne

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,289
Its pretty bad, but entertainingly so. The last half hour is an amazing train wreck you cant get your eyes out of.
 
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Cokie Bear

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,944
I thought it was a pretty good adaptation honestly. It's not easy to reduce 12 hours of anime into 90-120 minutes, so I like that they basically just took the core concept and ran with their own ideas instead of just creating an abridged version of the anime. Anime is better, but the film is fine.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,325
I'm not a snob about adaptations at all but I found it pretty grating for the most part.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
32,721
No, it's pretty bad.

They had a few good ideas but they either completely botched the execution on every level or just didn't realize what they had to work with could be used in a more interesting way.

Setting the whole thing in the US and whitewashing the characters is dumb, but could have been justified had they used that change to actually say something about the state of race and incarceration in America. They very set up of the movie allowed for it as did the source material. And that's just the most obvious thing they could have done.

The changes they made to the source material opened up so many doors for them to do interesting and creative things, but instead they ignored anything that wasn't lame, boring, and rote. A better team behind this film could have made it something amazing to see, the source material itself has a lot of untapped potential, but we didn't get any of that.

Defoe was the only part of this film that they actually nailed. He was great.
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,642
B-Dubs said:
Setting the whole thing in the US and whitewashing the characters is dumb, but could have been justified had they used that change to actually say something about the state of race and incarceration in America. They very set up of the movie allowed for it as did the source material. And that's just the most obvious thing they could have done.
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I love how people kept defending it, saying that they're clearly gonna go this route, yet it never gets addressed. The closest thing you get to that subtext is L easily getting off scot-free after trying to murder Light.
 
Bambi Is My Dad

Bambi Is My Dad

Member
Nov 13, 2017
459
I enjoy it better than the Japanese Live Action adaptation. In fact, I'd dare say that the Japanese version is soulless and boring, while the Netflix version is really fun in all the wrong ways.

Fight me.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
32,721
Lotus said:
I love how people kept defending it, saying that they're clearly gonna go this route, yet it never gets addressed. The closest thing you get to that subtext is L easily getting off scot-free after trying to murder Light.
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It's the most obvious thing they could have done to make a truly great movie, but they never did it. Having Light be an alt-right asshole, killing anyone even accused of a crime by the police, pursued by the greatest detective of his time, an African-American L, could have led to a really interesting and modern story, going even further than the original manga did with it's premise.

The entire movie was just a complete waste of it's premise, casting, and setting. A complete waste and I can't believe no one noticed what they had to work with. It's just incompetence.
 
wizard

wizard

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,096
California
User was warned for this post: Insulting another user.
B-Dubs said:
No, it's pretty bad.

They had a few good ideas but they either completely botched the execution on every level or just didn't realize what they had to work with could be used in a more interesting way.

Setting the whole thing in the US and whitewashing the characters is dumb, but could have been justified had they used that change to actually say something about the state of race and incarceration in America. They very set up of the movie allowed for it as did the source material. And that's just the most obvious thing they could have done.

The changes they made to the source material opened up so many doors for them to do interesting and creative things, but instead they ignored anything that wasn't lame, boring, and rote. A better team behind this film could have made it something amazing to see, the source material itself has a lot of untapped potential, but we didn't get any of that.

Defoe was the only part of this film that they actually nailed. He was great.
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Yeah okay anime edge lord.

Everything that is wrong with this movie is at the production level.
 
ThroughtheVoid

ThroughtheVoid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,890
It's flat-out terrible, and this is coming from someone who was excited about it.

It would have been way better if they made it a show and didn't have to rush every major plot point and put it into a two-hour movie.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
660
I enjoyed it too. It's nice that it's a different take on the original concept, while many people see it as its main flaw. The characters are somehow more relatable/interesting than the caricatures of the manga/anime. While it doesn't always make perfect sense, it adresses some issues with the plot that the anime sidesteps (like
"if you can control someone's actions before a death, why don't you do this or that ?"
).
It's not a great movie nor a must-see, but it's entertaining.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,300
Lotus said:
How does the source material have the caricatures?
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There's also so much time dedicated to inner monologues that there are genuinely long stretches of time where characters are literally staring at each other saying nothing.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
660
Lotus said:
How does the source material have the caricatures?
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Light is a megalomaniac genius sociopath for no other reason than "that's how he is".
L is an almost omniscient genius (he too often jumps to the right conclusion "it must be a trap because so and so" because of the script rather than rational reasons), with no emotion whatsoever.
Misa is just an empty "I love Kira because he avenged my parents" plot device, no depth nor evolution of the character.

The cat and mouse stuff is entertaining and all, but one can't say there's much depth to any of the characters.
 
MrBadger

MrBadger

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,552
I thought the Death Note gave Light way too much control. He didn't have to be smart and calculating, he could basically make people act exactly how he wanted until their deaths. And the pacing was really bad. It was too big a story to tell in such a short amount of time. L was fantastic though and the Death sequences were hilarious
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,642
Alx said:
Light is a megalomaniac genius sociopath for no other reason than "that's how he is".
L is an almost omniscient genius (he too often jumps to the right conclusion "it must be a trap because so and so" because of the script rather than rational reasons), with no emotion whatsoever.
Misa is just an empty "I love Kira because he avenged my parents" plot device, no depth nor evolution of the character.

The cat and mouse stuff is entertaining and all, but one can't say there's much depth to any of the characters.
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Bruh, I can be just as reductive regarding their movie counterparts. Let's not act like these characters have more depth.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,300
Lotus said:
Bruh, I can be just as reductive regarding their movie counterparts. Let's not act like these characters have more depth.
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I don't think anyone's saying that the characters in the film aren't caricatures,
YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BUT YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO KILL KIRA!! KIRA! KIRA! KIRA!KIRA!
just that they're more relatable than the source material. Which tbh isn't that hard all things considered lol..
 
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Alx

Alx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
660
Lotus said:
Bruh, I can be just as reductive regarding their movie counterparts. Let's not act like these characters have more depth.
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They're actually (a tiny bit) more complex and flawed in the movie. Movie Light has the "idealistic" urge of his anime counterpart, while being balanced by family bonds and attraction to Mia. Movie Mia is anime Light's sociopathic side, is manipulative and attracted by his "power", but less smart. And both together remove the necessity of an empty character like Misa, while offering a more believable couple than "I want to use her/I'm so in love with him".
I don't remember much of movie L to be honest, except that he lost it towards the end. But that already makes him more relatable than the zombie of the anime.
 
hurroocane

hurroocane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,866
Germany
I really liked the movie. The big "all according to keikaku" thing at the end felt very satisfying, it looked gorgeus, I didn't have any real issues with the actors.

My only grievances are that Light got to Watari way too easily and netflix-Ryuk is a lot less likeable than anime-Ryuk. Oh and the entire thing would have been better as a series - more time to develop the plot and everything.

I hope they make at least one more movie to wrap the story up.
 
FeliciaFelix

FeliciaFelix

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,778
I actually liked it a lot watching again on Xmas and it's Final Destination fun. The more you forget the source the more fun you'll have.
 
MazeHaze

MazeHaze

Member
Nov 1, 2017
8,575
Nah, it was really bad.

I've never seen the Anime, but this movie was some next level cringe. The Ninja cop detective guy was some of the shittiest acting I've seen. Maybe it works better as an anime, but live action it's just really corny and completely unbelievable. I felt like I was watching a straight to DVD Twilight sequel or something.

Ryuk was pretty dope though. Everything else, bad bad bad bad bad.
 
lmcfigs

lmcfigs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,091
"If you beat me up, I'll call child protective services, because it's child abuse". Remember how Kira was supposed to be a genius?
 
wrowa

wrowa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,372
Alandrus Sun said:
I actually thought it was a wonderful adaptation. Misa's character change was my favorite.
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Misa's character change was a stupid way to make Light appear to be a victim instead of a villain. "What?! No, our YA protagonist can't possible be an evil mastermind! Let's change the character so he's really just being manipulated by his girlfriend!"
 
BernardoOne

BernardoOne

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,289
Calling the movie characters more "relatable" or "interesting" is quite hilarious. Movie Light is basically Anime Light but never got out of the first episode. Movie Mia is nothing more than MURDER MURDER MURDER.
 
nicolasacmf

nicolasacmf

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,515
The movie is pretty awful both as an adaptation and a "standalone" movie. Regardless of how you look at it, it's just bad. The characters are poorly written, the scenes are mostly poorly acted, the changes were completeky unnecessary and bogged down the story. And that's only like... half of the movie's problems.

[EDIT] I will say this though: it's hella funny... for all the wrong reasons, sure, but it's damn funny. I watched it twice and both times I was laughing so bad my sides hurt. I'd recommend watching it with friends and not taking it too seriously. It'll be a good time.
 
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cjkeats

cjkeats

Member
Oct 27, 2017
271
S. John's, NL Canada
Went in with low expectations, and I loved it. Put me in the same mind as horror comedy's like Idle Hands. It was a lot of fun.

Dafoe is a perfect voice for Ryuk.
 
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