A few days ago I decided to watch the new movie Death Note produced by Netflix. As a fan of the anime and manga, and having watched the Korean live-action drama that was produced a few years ago, I was excited to see an American take on it, especially because the CGI used to make Ryuk in the Korean one bothered me because it looked too CG and not real enough to balance with the actors in that series, I was optimistic about what us Americans could produce.
Now, before the movie was released, I had heard some grumblings about how they changed up the characters, and by extension the city where it took place (it went from Japanese characters in Tokyo to American characters in Seattle), but I wasn't too concerned with that, because it was done well with the American remake of Let the Right One In (American version is Let Me In) and Rec (Quarantine). In both of those, the characters were changed from their originals and the setting was changed from either Stockholm (Let the Right One In) or Madrid (Rec) to an American city, and it worked - the story was kept the same, with the only changes being in reference to where it took place, and I didn't think that was a bad thing.
Enter Death Note. I was not happy with the final result of the movie. They changed too much. For starters, in all the other versions, the second biggest thing that connected all the deaths was the fact that the cause was heart attacks (with a few exceptions at the beginning), and that was a major point in figuring out that the same person was somehow responsible for all the deaths - that's all either been changed or glossed over. The other thing that bothered me was that they changed up some of the side characters, in particular Mia (originally Misa in the Japanese versions). She went from an obsessed fan of Light's and pop star, to just another high school loner. She wasn't a pop idol or musician or model, or anything that made her unique in the manga. She also was crazy, putting her love for the Death Note above that of Light, which is something that Misa wouldn't have done. Those two things were major, but the thing that has to have bothered me the most was that almost none of the confrontations that happened in the manga didn't happen in the movie. I was waiting for the warehouse scene near the end and instead I got a Ferris Wheel finale. Instead of the second Death Note appearing, I got a lover's quarrel over the original Death Note. Overall, it could have been a good movie, but carrying the name of Death Note means certain things were expected to happen, characters were supposed to act a certain way, and as a whole, it missed the mark.
Williem Dafoe was great though.
Now, before the movie was released, I had heard some grumblings about how they changed up the characters, and by extension the city where it took place (it went from Japanese characters in Tokyo to American characters in Seattle), but I wasn't too concerned with that, because it was done well with the American remake of Let the Right One In (American version is Let Me In) and Rec (Quarantine). In both of those, the characters were changed from their originals and the setting was changed from either Stockholm (Let the Right One In) or Madrid (Rec) to an American city, and it worked - the story was kept the same, with the only changes being in reference to where it took place, and I didn't think that was a bad thing.
Enter Death Note. I was not happy with the final result of the movie. They changed too much. For starters, in all the other versions, the second biggest thing that connected all the deaths was the fact that the cause was heart attacks (with a few exceptions at the beginning), and that was a major point in figuring out that the same person was somehow responsible for all the deaths - that's all either been changed or glossed over. The other thing that bothered me was that they changed up some of the side characters, in particular Mia (originally Misa in the Japanese versions). She went from an obsessed fan of Light's and pop star, to just another high school loner. She wasn't a pop idol or musician or model, or anything that made her unique in the manga. She also was crazy, putting her love for the Death Note above that of Light, which is something that Misa wouldn't have done. Those two things were major, but the thing that has to have bothered me the most was that almost none of the confrontations that happened in the manga didn't happen in the movie. I was waiting for the warehouse scene near the end and instead I got a Ferris Wheel finale. Instead of the second Death Note appearing, I got a lover's quarrel over the original Death Note. Overall, it could have been a good movie, but carrying the name of Death Note means certain things were expected to happen, characters were supposed to act a certain way, and as a whole, it missed the mark.
Williem Dafoe was great though.
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