Monday, May 06, 2013

Review: Death Note the Movie

Death Note is a live-action Japanese film released in 2006. The  movie is based on the Death Note manga and the later anime series.  

The film primarily center on a university student, Light Yagami, who finds a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it.

Light begins a campaign to rid the world of evil with the help of the notebook but soon blurs the boundaries of real evil and perceived evil.  

If you have watched the anime you know that the series goes much further than this.  In truth, Death Note is two part series.  Part 2 was released shortly after the first and deals mainly with the actress Misa.

When watching this movie, I really did not think that the director could pull off the same look and feel as the original anime series that I had watched earlier.  I was however surprised as just how accurate they managed to get.  Yes Ryuk, the Shinigami who was the original owner of the Death Note book was CGI but really masterfully done!  Plus the interaction between the live and cgi characters was seamless.  

If you liked the original DeathNote anime then you should enjoy the live action as well.  In the original anime I really had trouble liking some of the anime characters.  I can't even go so far as calling some Anti-heroes.  The sets are good and really to be honest, it is the best try I have seen so far. 

With that in mind, the movie deserves an 8 and the extras which good are one of the most frustrating ways to navigate!  Good extras...hard to get to! 6  for a total of 14 and an average of 7 which is low for the movie, but more than generous for the extras. 

Thanks to our movie guy Mark for the find.

1 comment:

kallamis said...

Loved the anime version, never saw the live action though. I'll have to catch this when I get a chance. Been looking forward to it, but the truth is, I just forgot about it. So thanks for the reminder as well.