First a Manga series, Then a popular Anime show, and a massive fanbase. What’s next? Well, how about a movie?
When it comes to Japanese Manga/Anime, very few are able to successfully make the transition to film. They usually suffer from bad writing, poor special effects, and perhaps most of all: lack of attention and respect to source material.
Death Note is in a different case. I'll admit when I heard there was a live-action version after watching the anime, I was a bit skeptical. But hey, I willingly watched movies like Coneheads, Batman and Robin, Dragon Wars, 2012 and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, how could this be any more bad than those? I can say that as far as Manga/Anime adaptations go, 'Death Note' is by far the best.
It plays out almost like the show. Light Yagami is a high school student, hates the current justice system, finds the Death Note, tries to eliminate crime and evil, and is found out by the detective: L, and the cat and mouse-like battle between two genius’s plays out.
I was even more surprised to learn that this was not made in America, but in its country of origin, which I think was a great choice. The main reason might be that when Americans watch this film, instead of seeing familiar Hollywood actors, you see the characters being portrayed. I myself have never seen films like 'Battle Royale' or 'Bright Future'. But Tatsuya Fujiwara, who plays Light and Kenichi Matsuyama, who plays L, pretty much nail their parts, staying true to the original characters. The other actors do great as well; they look the parts, act their parts and sound the parts. In fact, most of the people who dubbed the voices for the anime actually return to voice their characters, which is just awesome.
Of course, Ryuk is brought to life through CGI. The CGI however is probably some of the best things in the movie. Half the time I thought it wasn't done in the computer, it was that good. The music is also pretty good, it doesn't have any sort of opera pieces, but ya know what? This doesn't have to be exactly 100% like the Manga/Anime, if it were, that would be boring. Ya know? Show us something new.
So, is there anything I didn't like about it? Well, there are a few nitpicks. For example: Ryuk seemed a little too giggly in the beginning, when he should have been more creepy and imposing. And in my opinion, the song by The Red Hot Chili Peppers at the end is REALLY out of place. But this is minor stuff only.
All-in-all, a great movie that does the original material justice.
Final Rating: 8/10
But of course, it's hard to squeeze a 37 episode show (each episode at least 24 minutes or more) into just one 2 hour movie, the solution? Sequel!
