Death Note (Netflix)

[Sdog1982]

This is one adaptation where they absolutely should not have White-washed the cast. I can give the Ghost in the Shell movie a little leeway but not this.

 

[Albert_1]

If its set in America and they change the names to be more western I'll give it a pass. Having said that tho it looks like shit.

 

[EspiKvlt]

Setting it in America removes all cultural context and completely ruins the entire story. So no, you shouldn't give it a pass for doing that.

(Also Asians exist in America, shockingly)

 

[LadyZombie]

I refuse to even acknowledge that America is doing this to one of my favorite anime's.

 

[Lelo1]

The original anime was great; but after like 6 seasons it started to drag.

 

[EspiKvlt]

The original anime was great; but after like 6 seasons it started to drag.

The manga is way better. I couldn't even get into the anime.

 

[Ythee_Fox]

One thing i dont understand well is why most of the complaints around there are about L being black? Its like -oh ok lets whitewash everyone who was asian, but the only originaly foreigner character has to be white- ?? For me it looks like they would be ok with a a full white stuff or something, bc: -its ok whitewash everyone, lets be triggered by a black actor-

I cant even see posts about this on my facebook because i feel sick by reading people´s random excuses to cricticise L being black

 

[Kokoro]

There is so much I wanna say about this. I watched it out of curiosity today and it's not so bad. I understand them trying to adapt it for western audiences but it's just so sloppy and poorly written. Honestly the only time I felt like I was watching something even close to the original death note was when L was in screen. They did a good job castin Keith Stanfeild as L and Willem Dafoe as Ryuk but those were the only decent things about the movie. I'm a huge DN fan and this was so disappointing and cringe worthy to watch.

 

[Marceline]

Spoiler Alert!!
This film was such a let down. Maybe to anyone unfamiliar with the original manga/anime it would be alright, but I can't imagine any fan of the series actually liking this. Even with setting it in America and white washing it, if the writing wouldn't have been absolutely terrible it could have been somewhat saved.
What makes it totally unforgivable, in my opinion, was the portrayal of Light's character. Originally, he was a sociopath with a god complex and extremely skewed perceptions on good and evil. He nonchalantly kills not just villains, but anyone who stands in his way. In no way does the Light in this film come anywhere close to that sort of complexity. In the English film, after the first two murders it seems like he's just doing it all to impress the girl. The relationship between Light and Mia (Misa?) is ridiculous. You find a notebook that gives you death god powers, and you tell someone you hardly know presumably because you think they're hot and want to get laid? Unlikely. Even if you aren't aware of how the original relationship was (Misa being completely obsessed with Light and Light unable to stand her, but also unable to kill her so instead using her for her death note) the relationship between them in this movie is very hard to believe.

They did a good job castin Keith Stanfeild as L and Willem Dafoe as Ryuk but those were the only decent things about the movie.

Totally agree!
After watching this I feel the need to cleanse myself by binge watching the anime.

 

[Pia]

I didn't like it, the dark and complicated story was reduced to a no-bullying story where two kids were fighting to see who's best.

 

[Mintx]

The film was awful. I mean just straight up terrible. We got through twenty minutes of it, skipped to the end, gave it a down vote on Netflix. The whole Mia being an edgy teenager smoking is just so cringey, and Light is now a whiny exposition filled creep, then the whole story of it being ~don't bully~ was so fucking blah. Also, people complaining that L was black was so gross and awful. L and Ryuk were the only characters I remotely enjoyed seeing on the screen who seemed to be closer to their source material than anyone else. People seem to get all huffy about black actors making a film terrible (like the newer Fantastic Four movie) instead of the fact that the film is just legitimately awful and has terrible writing. (Like that newer Fantastic Four movie! Holy God that was awful.)

 

[SchoolOtter]

I don't like it really, It's incomparable to anime ver.

 

[LadyZombie]

The only thing that I didn't like about L, was his random explosions of emotions and the fact that they gave him a gun. Ryuk was great, Light was a whiny bitch, and Mia? Don't even get me started. This movie was just awful. It wouldn't even be a good movie if it wasn't based off of an anime. The stupid tv show they did in Japan was better than this, and that was pretty awful.

 

[Lelo1]

The only thing that I didn't like about L, was his random explosions of emotions and the fact that they gave him a gun. Ryuk was great, Light was a whiny bitch, and Mia? Don't even get me started. This movie was just awful. It wouldn't even be a good movie if it wasn't based off of an anime. The stupid tv show they did in Japan was better than this, and that was pretty awful.

It's all about writing names inside a bag of chips. XD

 

[AlexaCrush]

It's all about writing names inside a bag of chips. XD

I'll take a potato chip....and EAT IT.

 

[Empress Mika]

This film was absolutely horrible. It's not even worth our time in a deeper analysis, imo. Only Ryuk was good. xD

 

[Psych]

I watched it with hubby last night (he's familiar with original). I fell asleep because I was exhausted from starting school last week and traveling this weekend so I couldn't give it a fair enough chance. From what I remember seeing (I swear I only closed my eyes for a moment hahaha) it was an interesting concept

 

[Magnolia]

Dafoe fucking killed it, that is all.

 

[DuoShi]

This movie was absolutely horrid. Too far from the source, and the direction it was taken in was terrible. The best thing about it was Light's high pitched scream, since that made me laugh.

 

[BiancaBaker]

If your a fan of the anime this is the worst thing in the world. If your not familiar with it MAYBE it would be passable. My daughter (who is a huge anime fan) and I both cringed through the WHOLE thing. Im so fucking disappointed and so wasn't she. I really wish they did this differently it could have been amazing.

 

[Neorulez]

Only my thing i liked about movie is Light's scream and Ryuk's design. Other than that I did not like movie. It was too cringey.

 

[RileyScarlett]

I love the original anime. I watched this and it was soo bad oh god.