Death Note is a 2017 American neo-noir supernatural thriller film loosely adapted from the Japanese manga of the same name created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.The film is directed by Adam Wingard and written by Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides and Jeremy Slater.
Running time 100 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $40 million Death Note is a 2017 American film loosely adapted from created. The film is directed by and written by Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides. The film stars, Jason Liles and, and follows the story of an introverted Seattle high school student named, who finds a mysterious supernatural notebook known as the 'Death Note' and after being intrigued with its god-like abilities, eventually decides to trigger a world-wide massacre of criminals and terrorists, in order to change the world into a utopian society without crime, eventually attracting the attention of an enigmatic international detective, known only under the alias of 'L', who determines himself in finding and apprehending Light. The film was released on on August 25, 2017. Upon release, Death Note received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. Much of the criticism was directed towards the incoherent writing, pacing, numerous changes from the source material as well as omissions of many of its crucial elements; however, Wingard's direction and the cast were praised.
A sequel is currently in the works, with Greg Russo attached to write the screenplay. Contents.
Plot In, high schooler stumbles across the 'Death Note', a mysterious leather-bound notebook with instructions that state that by writing a person's name down within it, that person will die in the manner prescribed. Light is sent to detention after confronting bully Kenny Doyle harassing cheerleader Mia Sutton, and there meets the, the notebook's owner. Ryuk convinces Light to use the notebook; Light writes down Doyle's name and shortly witnesses him killed in a freak accident. That night, Light tries it again, using the name of his mother's killer, Anthony Skomal, and learns the next morning from his father James, a police detective, that Skomal died as Light had written. At school, Light shows Mia the book, and demonstrates by killing a known criminal felon during a televised hostage situation. The two decide to work together to rid the world of criminals and terrorists, using the name 'Kira' (Japanese trans-literation for 'Killer'). Kira's actions draw the attention of enigmatic international detective '.
L deduces Kira is a student based in Seattle with close ties to the police, and indirectly concludes Kira can only kill by knowing the name and face of their victim. Working with James and police, L has several FBI agents track Light and other suspects. Light refuses to kill them when Mia suggests it, but soon the agents commit mass suicide, which Light believes Ryuk did. James threatens Kira over public broadcast but when he fails to be killed, L confronts Light about being Kira, and prepares the police to thoroughly search Light's home. Light decides to use the Death Note to force L's personal assistant Watari to travel to Montuak, New York and find L's adoption record there; Light plans to burn the notebook page with Watari's name once he knows L's name to stop Watari's death, and then kill L.
Mia helps to sneak the notebook out before the search. Light and Mia go to the school prom, using the event to ditch L and police. Light recovers the notebook just as Watari contacts him with L's name, but Light cannot find the page in the notebook. Watari dies before he can reveal L's name. Light discovers Mia took Watari's page, was responsible for the FBI agents' suicide, and further has written Light's name in the book, set to kill him at midnight, but she offers to burn his page if he turns the notebook over to her.
Light tells Mia to meet him at the and flees. Meanwhile, L learns of Watari's death and becomes unstable, leaving on a personal manhunt against Light, while James orders L to be detained. L corners Light, but a passer-by, hearing that Light is Kira, knocks L out, letting Light escape. Mia meets Light at the Ferris wheel some hours later, and they take the ride to the top. There, Mia steals the notebook, but realizes too late this was Light's plan: Light has written her death in the notebook contingent on her taking the book. The Ferris wheel collapses, and Mia is killed after falling out, while Light and the notebook fall into the nearby waters. The page with Light's name lands in a burning barrel in front of L's eyes, Prior to meeting Mia, Light had used the book to coerce a criminally-charged doctor to rescue him and put him into a medically-induced coma, while having other criminals recover the Death Note and continue Kira's killings before returning the book to his bedside; each being killed after their role is complete.
When Light wakes from the coma, he finds James there, who has come to conclude Light is Kira. Meanwhile, L has been ordered off the case, but in defiance he raids Mia's home, finding the notebook page with the FBI agents' names. In a hysterical fit, he contemplates writing Light's name. At the hospital, Light tries to convince James that his actions were 'the lesser of two evils', prompting Ryuk to laugh and comment that 'humans are so interesting'. Cast. as: A bright yet isolated high-school student who discovers the titular 'Death Note' and uses it to kill criminals by writing their names and causes of death, in a bid to change the world into a utopia without crime, and thus, becoming the world-famous serial killer known as 'Kira', while being both praised and feared by law enforcement agencies and the worldwide media and public.
as: A nameless, highly-intelligent and esteemed—but also socially eccentric and quirky—international consulting detective with a past shrouded in mystery and who is determined to capture 'Kira' and end his reign of terror. as: Light's classmate and girlfriend, who assists him in his world-wide massacre of criminals as the god-like vigilante: 'Kira', eventually seeking to kill those who seek to stop them and becoming dangerously obsessed with the book's power.
In an interview with, revealed that rather than being based on original manga character, Sutton as a character is based on the sociopathic qualities of. as: Light's father and a veteran Seattle police detective, who assists L in finding the mysterious 'Kira', unaware that he is his own son. as: L's assistant and foster-father. Jason Liles and as: A demonic (god of death) and the original owner of the Death Note, who begins communicating with Light when he receives the book and inquisitively observes his activities as 'Kira'.
Liles played the character in costume, while Dafoe provided voice work and for the facial elements. Production In 2007, the Malaysian newspaper stated that more than ten film companies in the United States had expressed interest in the Death Note franchise. The American production company was originally set to develop the remake, with Charley and Vlas Parlapanides as screenwriters and, Doug Davison, and Brian Witten as producers. On April 30, 2009, reported that, the distributors for the, had acquired the rights for an American remake, with the original screenwriters and producers still attached.
In 2009, responded to rumors that he would be playing the film's lead role by stating that the project was 'not on the front burner'. On January 13, 2011, it was announced that had been hired to direct the film, with the script being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Warner's studios planned to change the background story of into one of vengeance instead of justice and to remove from the story. Black opposed this change, and it had not been green-lit.
Black confirmed in a 2013 interview with that he was still working on the film. In July 2014, it was rumored that would replace Black as the film's new director, with Dan Lin, Doug Davison, Roy Lee and Brian Witten producing through Vertigo Entertainment, Witten Pictures.
On April 27, 2015, revealed that would direct the film, that Lin, Lee, Jason Hoffs and would produce, and that Niija Kuykendall and Nik Mavinkurve would oversee the studio. Producers stated the film would receive an R rating. In April 2016, reported that because Warner Bros. Had decided to make fewer films, the studio put the film into but allowed Wingard to take the project elsewhere.
Within 48 hours, Wingard was reportedly approached by nearly every major film studio. On April 6, 2016, it was confirmed that had bought the film from Warner Bros. With a budget of $40–50 million and a recent draft of the script being written. Production officially began in British Columbia on June 30, 2016, overseen by DN (Canada) Productions, Inc. And composed the score for the film. The cast and crew of Death Note at the 2017 On September 29, 2015, was cast in the lead role. On November 12, 2015, joined the film as the female lead.
In June 2016, joined the cast. On June 30, 2016, it was announced that and had joined the cast. On August 2, 2016, was announced to voice the Shinigami. In the wake of Dafoe's casting, who voiced Ryuk in the English dub of the anime, voiced his approval citing the casting of Ryuk.
Oka, one of the film's producers, announced that he also has a role in the film. Early casting announcements, similar to other Hollywood productions based on Japanese manga such as and, resulted in accusations of. In response, producers Roy Lee and Dan Lin stated that 'Our vision for Death Note has always been to.introduce the world to this dark and mysterious masterpiece. The talent and diversity represented in our cast, writing, and producing teams reflect our belief in staying true to the story's concept of moral relevance—a universal theme that knows no racial boundaries.' Wingard addressed the concerns over the film, explaining that the film is an American take on the Death Note story, stating, 'It's one of those things where the harder I tried to stay 100 percent true to the source material, the more it just kind of fell apart. You're in a different country, you're in a different kind of environment, and you're trying to also summarize a sprawling series into a two-hour-long film.
For me, it became about; what do these themes mean to modern day America, and how does that affect how we tell the story.' Retrieved August 29, 2017.
Trendacosta, Katharine (August 28, 2017). Retrieved September 10, 2017. Kitty Sensei (January 14, 2007). Archived from on August 2, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2009.
Fleming, Michael (April 30, 2009). Retrieved May 1, 2009. Weintraub, Steve (November 22, 2009). Retrieved April 10, 2016.
Fleming, Mike Jr (January 13, 2011). Retrieved January 14, 2011. Loo, Egan (November 2, 2011). Anime News Network. Retrieved April 10, 2016. Connelly, Brendon (April 24, 2013). Retrieved April 10, 2016.
Whitehead, Donna (July 10, 2014). The Tracking Board. Retrieved July 10, 2014. Kit, Borys (April 27, 2015). Retrieved April 10, 2016.
Goldberg, Matt (February 22, 2015). Retrieved April 10, 2016. Sneider, Jeff (April 6, 2016). Retrieved April 10, 2016. Kroll, Justin (April 6, 2016).
Retrieved April 8, 2016. May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2016. Mirchandani, Amar (June 3, 2016). Retrieved June 3, 2016. Idea, Nimfa (June 8, 2016). Movie News Guide.
Retrieved June 8, 2016. ^ Trumbore, Dave (June 30, 2016). Retrieved June 30, 2016. White, James (September 29, 2015). Retrieved September 29, 2015. Fleming, Mike Jr; Hipes, Patrick (November 12, 2015).
Retrieved November 15, 2015. Kroll, Justin (June 10, 2016). Retrieved June 11, 2016. Barkan, Jonathan (June 30, 2016). Retrieved 30 June 2016. Sneider, Jeff (August 2, 2016).
Retrieved August 2, 2016. Brian Drummond @BrianDrummondVO (August 3, 2016). (Tweet) – via. Abrams, Natalie (November 17, 2016). Entertainment Weekly. Leon, Melissa (September 30, 2015).
Retrieved April 10, 2016. Jaworski, Michelle (November 13, 2015). Retrieved April 10, 2016. Sanchez, Miranda (June 29, 2017). Opam, Kwame (March 22, 2017). Retrieved August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
Retrieved December 2, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017. Catsoulis, Jeanette (August 24, 2017).
Retrieved August 30, 2017. Debruge, Peter (August 24, 2017). Retrieved August 30, 2017. Tallerico, Brian (August 25, 2017).
Retrieved August 30, 2017. O'Connell, Sean (August 17, 2017). Cinema Blend. Retrieved August 18, 2017. 3 January 2019.
Retrieved 3 January 2019. Couch, Aaron (August 25, 2017). Retrieved August 26, 2017. Outlaw, Kofi (August 22, 2018). Retrieved August 24, 2018. External links.
on. on. at.
I want to preface by saying that this movie was my introduction to Death Note, my friends were big fans of the original material so I knew what it was about but I never read the manga or watch the anime. I understand they are also not very interested in this film, anyway the movie just launched on Netflix so I watched it. I thought Adam Wingard overall did a good job, it's not a great movie by any means, but I thought it was well-directed and entertaining, even though it's also largely flawed. The biggest problem with this film might be the tonal changes and the pacing, the movie had trouble finding its voice and is trying to move to fast. There was moments of horror, followed by a quick comic relief and then serious conversations.
Tonally, I have to admit it was a little bit all over the place. The performance by Nat Wolff was uneven for me, part of it was great, for example, no spoilers, but there's a scene with his father at the beginning where I thought he was nailing it, but I'm not sure I was into all the screaming and over-the-top reactions, which goes back to the problem with the tone of the film. The script is also messy and might be the sole reason why this movie did not exactly land. Regarding Ryuk, Willem Dafoe did a nice job voicing him, but I guess I was hoping to get more of his flavor into the character, the effects on Ryuk looked great in the shadows, but sometimes he's sitting on a bed clearly and you can notice some imperfections, but that might only be me because he was definitely a strong part of this adaptation.
I'm curious what the fans of the original thought of Ryuk in this movie, because I get the feeling that overall most of them might be disappointed. Yes the script is problematic but, Wingard knows how to direct a movie, loved the visuals, the soundtrack, it was interesting and I slightly enjoyed it.