Death Note

As a non-aficionado of manga, I am always wary of manga-inspired productions. Nana, for example, panders purely to its manga fan-base and fails to engage a wider audience.

Death Note, however, manages to break free of its comic book origins. Light finds the Death Note, a jotter that allows him to pass a death sentence on anyone whose name he writes in it. Ryuuk, the apple-addicted Angel of Death who owns the book, turns up to play sidekick to Light's procession of executions. The police are at a loss, till super-sleuth 'L' takes on the case and figures out the MO and narrows the suspects down to the lead detectives' family.

Tatsuya Fujiwara is perfectly cast, his angelic features in shocking contrast to the character's dark heart. Ken'ichi Matsuyama is all quirky brilliance as L. The pace is brisk, the twists plausible and surprising. The ending sets up the sequel but in a forgivable manner. Fun, entertaining cinema.

Though the message of the film is to imply that absolute power corrupts, 'Deathnote', is a film that failed to impress me. Yes, I have seen the sequel too and I understand why it appeals to the young generation (the reasons are obvious). We see that the 'hero', Light, initially intended to use the deathnote in order to rid the world of criminals … but one thing leads to another and he becomes obsessed with power. A good premise indeed. However, there are some silly twists and several plot holes and the pace is extremely slow. Situations just become a little too unbelievable. It almost becomes another clichéd Japanese Teen-Horror film. The special effects make the Death god look fake and even some of their actions are unexplained (as are so many things in the film). I'd also like to warn that the film's ending is inconclusive (as it's continued in the second film), so if you still want to know what happens, there's the sequel.

Well, I am new to death note, I decided to watch it in cinema and it was great. There was a twist in the plot. It made me want to know what was going to happen soon. It did not waste my two hours, but although it was a bit slow but still it was a great movie. I did not read the comics but guessing from the poster, it look great. Although, the characters from the comics did not really fit the actors, the acting was okay. The story was simple, Light received the death note and killed bad guys....L was tracking him down. Dead simple but there were twists in the plot, the ending was a big twist. I would decide what would happen. I hope Death note 2 is better than this when watching Death note 2 trailer.

I saw the movie last night, and I thought it was very good. Repeating others, it would probably be better to read the manga a bit to see the changes, but the changes weren't that horrible. Some of the action is a bit wishy-washy(such as the heart attacks), but L was very good. The actor definitely captivated you as the character from the anime and movie. Raito was believable, but he didn't seem as genius as he did in the movie. The animation on Ryuk was also pretty sweet, only bad in one or two angles. I definitely can't wait to see "The Last Name". Already reading the ending, I think the director did a good job in changing some of the views and order of things.

Overall though, this movie is a must see!!!

I dunno why some people think that the CGI of Ryuuk was bad... I thought it was excellent - realistic but not too out of place. It doesn't have physical fights and thrill (and if you've read the manga, you would know). The actor choices were pretty good - Tatsuya Fujiwara was, and still, well-known for his on-stage productions, and Kenichi Matsuyama's (from Nana fame - he was Shinichi, the bass player of the band 'Black Stones')L / Ryuuzaki was awesome! His every 'weird and strange' movements were exactly how I imagined the actual L would be ^-^ If I have to choose one thing negative about this film, it would be the character - Shiori. I have nothing against her, but then again, she was just some additional romance line that the director thought was a good idea. So in the end... if you're a fan of the DN manga, and you don't mind the directors changing the scenes abit, you should definitely give it a try!!