Netflix’s Death Note is a terrible adaption of the source material but it’s still charming in its own disastrous way. Netflix as of late has been more consistent with making better content than Hollywood. They even have nailed making the first truly good video game adaptation with Castlevania (the only video game movie to earn a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes). But even Netflix hasn’t managed to crack a decent anime adaptation quite yet. Innovation only comes in spurts.
The premise of Netflix’s Death Note is basically the same as the original anime with a few alterations. A death god named Ryuk drops a Death Note, a book that kills whoever name is written in it, into Seattle at the feet of teenager Light Turner. After a display of the book’s power Light, who hates injustice, uses the book to kill criminals whilst taking on the persona of “Kira”. But use of the Death Note has repercussions, including an unusual detective named “L” determined to bring him to justice.
The biggest problem with the film is over acting. It’s hard to take everything seriously when you’re always laughing. Nat Wolff plays Light Turner, who becomes the serial killer Kira using the Death Note to punish criminals. Wolff is acting is so cheesy at times it makes me wonder if he’s doing it on purpose. Lakeith Stanfield plays L, a brilliant but unusual detective tracking down Kira. Stanfield tries to mimic the Anime’s L with similar mannerisms and quirks, but comes off as trying too hard with little subtly. Margaret Qualley plays Mia Sutton, Light’s love interest. Qualley's performance is really uneven; sometimes she has good moments but mostly comes off as a discount Kristen Stewart. Shea Whigham plays James Turner, Light’s father and a part of the Kira investigation. Whigham’s acting is better and more consistent than his costars (he fits the cop role). But Whigham’s angry outbursts feel too frequent and remind me of a discount Jeremy Renner. I feel like the director must have been giving consistent bad direction to everyone.
Unfortunately the acting isn’t the only offender. Light and Mia’s romance happens so fast it’s unconvincing at best and unnecessary at worse. It almost as if the filmmakers wanted a love scene just for the sake of having it. The film really lacks tension that was well defined in the anime. Instead of a cat and mouse game we get exposition and events mashed together. Some of scenes from the anime were recreated but without any sense of pace or progression they don’t amount to much. The gore in the film is also very over the top, as if they watched Final Destination too many times and tried to copy that. Even when the film does something clever, such as a foot chase late in the film, they still manage to make it clumsy, awkward and laughable.
The film does have two saving graces. Firstly, the production values are very good, with special mention to the lighting. Secondly, the absolute best thing about this adaptation was Willem Dafoe as the voice of Ryuk. Somebody was paying attention when they were casting this role. Dafoe absolutely kills it with his voice direction, dialogue, and facial expressions (through performance capture). Jason Liles physically portrays Ryuk physically in costume and does a solid job as well. Their performance is like night and day compared to the rest of the cast. It’s as if the director wisely choose not to give Dafoe and Liles any direction at all, just letting them act and do a good job. Dafoe specifically fit the part so well that if someone tried to properly adapt Death Note he needs to reprise that role.
This film isn’t without controversy. The film has been bashed for white washing the main characters, specifically the role of Light. I’m going to address this because it’s an important issue. The original Death Note was set in Japan, featuring a Japanese cast. Netflix’s version being set in America will obviously have a different perspective, cast and nationalities. I don’t mind that they cast a black actor to play L but there is no reason they couldn’t have had an Asian actor play Light. That feels like both a cop out and a missed opportunity for the film. Of course since the film is pretty bad anyway perhaps it best they didn’t drag a good Asian actor into it (someone dodged a bullet there).
Another missed opportunity for the filmmakers was trying to adapt existing characters into an unlikely Americanized version. With this in mind, the events of this film could have happened in the same universe as Japanese anime. If this were the prequel, Wolff’s character would have a different name and would never take the title of Kira but something similar in the same spirit (like an American death god name). Stanfield would also have a different name but would play the same role, perhaps even coming from the same school that trained the original Japanese L. The film would end with an additional scene where Ryuk goes to Japan and drops the Death Note at the feet of Light Yagami (the actual Kira from the anime/manga). This would effectively tie the two adaptations together and it would totally fit the canon. On the flip side they could have made this a sequel to anime, where Wolff is a Kira copycat and Stanfield is the new “L”, the next in a long line of young detectives inspired by the original L. These possible scenarios sound miles better than the film we actually got.
Despite everything that went wrong with this adaptation I still recommend it. This is a movie you put on in the background, watch with friends over beer to make fun of or if you genuinely enjoy bad movies. Apparently there is talk of a sequel in the works, which is funny thought. Hopefully they’ll learn from their mistakes by starting from scratch, giving us a worthy adaptation and breaking a long bad streak. If they choose to do it right hopefully Dafoe is on board to come back.
