Although Margaret Qualley’s 2017 horror movie Death Note is often seen as a terrible adaptation of the original manga, the movie itself is arguably still a pretty fun horror thriller in its own right. In 2017, Netflix released a live-action adaptation of the iconic manga series Death Note. Previously, the manga had been adapted as a 31-episode anime series in 2006.
Around the same time, between 2006 and 2008, a trio of live-action Death Note movies was released. Unlike these adaptations, Netflix’s Death Note brought the story of the series to America to follow Nat Wolff’s meek Light Turner, a seemingly ordinary student who discovers a magical notebook that can kill anyone once he writes their name inside its pages.
Death Note (2017) Is Not A Bad Movie
Death Note star Nat Wolff in Paper Towns (2015)
The book brings with Ryuk, a Japanese god of death who encourages Light to take advantage of its awesome, awful powers. After offing his school bully and thwarting a hostage situation, Light begins to think that the book could prove useful as the twisty story of 2017’s Death Note adaptation continues.
Soon, he attracts the attention of Margaret Qualley’s love interest, Mia, a classmate who could be infatuated with Light, but might just as easily be simply ensnared by the book’s powers. Meanwhile, LaKeith Stanfield’s consulting detective L seeks to track down Light and work out how he is conducting these mysterious supernatural killings from afar, leading to an unpredictable climax.
If this all sounds exciting and engaging, that’s because it is. Directed by indie horror legend Adam Wingard, fresh off the one-two punch success of You’re Next and The Guest, Netflix’s Death Note is an old thriller/horror with impressive visuals, a stacked cast, and a killer soundtrack.
Netflix’s Death Note Should’ve Been An Original Story
The problem is, Netflix’s Death Note is also a bad adaptation, and even the most casual fan of the original manga/anime can tell this. Moving the story to the US and making Light an American high school student shifts its entire cultural context, resulting in a movie that feels nothing like its inspiration in terms of tone and style.
This could easily have been ameliorated if the creators of the 2017 movie simply said the Netflix thriller was an original Death Note story with new characters set in the world of the existing franchise. However, since the movie positioned itself as a straightforward adaptation, Death Note fans were predictably furious about its massive creative liberties.
Release Date
August 25, 2017
Runtime
101 minutes
Director
Adam Wingard
Writers
Charley Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides, Jeremy Slater, Tsugumi Ôba, Takeshi Obata
