Death Note Review
Light Yagami is an extraordinarily smart student who finds the Death Note, a notebook that kills any person as long as that person's name is written in the book. The notebook has written inscriptions inside which say that anyone can be killed as long as the person writes a name and has a matching face in mind. The one who possesses the Death Note can even create any scenario for their victim's death. The death god, Ryuk, starts following Light after Light uses the notebook a few times. Initially, Light used the Death Note to kill criminals that are still at large or acquitted of their crimes, and the public start calling him "Kira" (which means "killer" as well as "light"). The government cannot allow these random killings to take place, even if the victims are criminals, so they begin an investigation to find out who Kira is. After being stumped by the case, the police enlist the help of a mastermind detective named "L" to catch Kira. In an effort to prevent the government to know his identity, Light starts abusing his powers and killing the people that are involved in the case. Light's ultimate goal soon becomes to finding the identity of L and using the Death Note to kill him.
After watching a series of horrible movies, I was incredibly glad to finally see something worthwhile. The storyline was incredibly wowing simply by how ingenious and innovative it was. Of course, the movie
is based off an already successful manga, but the translation from print to the silver screen can be tricky, and this movie adapted perfectly.
If anything, this movie is a smart film. From the get-go, you can already tell that Light is clever, but after the movie introduces L, you really begin to see how intelligent Light actually is. The mind games that L and Light played were intense and brilliant, and since L matches the genius of Light, the clash of two nearly-equal powers proves to be incredibly entertaining. Just the battle of Light versus L could be seen as the major storyline.
It's best to understand that Light is actually an antagonist although he feels like a protagonist at the beginning. Very similar to Darth Vader, Light begins as a character fighting for justice, but eventually falls to the dark side as he begins to abuse his powers. Personally I would rather have Light as a good character, his progression towards evil is one of the major themes of the storyline:
power corrupts.
L is the actual "good guy," and I also felt that his character's bizarre nature was perfect for this film. Wearing a dash of eye shadow and possessing an intense desire to eat, L had a quirkiness that made him the most interesting character in the film. He wasn't developed as well as Light, but this is probably due to the fact that this movie only comprises half of the actual story and will be continued with the sequel (entitled Death Note: The Last Name).
Ryuk, the shinigami, is actually an animated character. His animation was one of the worst faults of this drama since the CG looked like it came out of a PS2 game in most scenes. But this minor defect didn't really detract from the story since Ryuk doesn't play a huge role in the movie, and his biggest impact is just a random companion to Light.
This movie is a must watch; there wasn't a moment that made me bored. You won't find a storyline that is more unique than this one. During the movie I was literally shaking with excitement. I can't wait to see the sequel. Hands down, the best movie I've seen this year.
Written by Lance
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Death Note Cast Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami
Ken'ichi Matsuyama .... L
Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora
Shigeki Hosokawa as FBI Agent Raye
Erika Toda as Misa Amane