Review: ‘Death Note’

Before I get started, let me first say that Death Note (Desu noto) originally released in Japan in 2006, with a U.S. festival release in 2007. I knew nothing of this movie until recently when I was browsing NCM Fathom’s website and read about the two-night only screening [nation-wide] of this live-action movie, which is based on an extremely popular mange series. I am far from being an expert on anime and manga, but I chose to see this movie because the story sounded really cool.

The story initially centers on Light Yagami, a college student studying law. Light is a brilliant young man, but his true interest lies in becoming a detective, like his father. His girlfriend, Naomi, is the one who desires a legal career. Light finds himself disillusioned with the state of the legal system and feels justice isn’t truly being served. One rainy night, Light happens upon a strange notebook lying in the street, but is somehow not getting wet as the rain drenches everything around him. He takes the notebook and returns home, where he reads inside and finds instructions on how to use the plain black notebook with the words “Death Note” embossed on the cover.

Laughing it off at first as some silly joke, he places the name of a criminal he saw that night on TV in the notebook. Shortly after, he is shocked to find that person mysteriously had died of a heart attack. Light begins to experiment with the notebook and gradually becomes obsessed with its power, believing it has given him the duty of issuing justice to those he feels have escaped their deserved punishments.

After a while, Light meets Ryuuk, the Shinigami (Death God) who placed the Death Note for Light to discover. Only Light, or anyone who touches the Death Note, can see Ryuuk and the two converse frequently throughout the film. Taken in mind that this movie appears to have been produced for Japanese TV, the Ryuuk special FX are relatively lame and poorly rendered. While the character is really a fascinating concept that isn’t done justice by the special FX, they do the job getting the idea across. Ryuuk, who sees himself as a neutral observer of the humans, often serves as comic relief in this otherwise dark story. At certain points, Ryuuk is perhaps too silly, but much of this comes from the comically bad special FX.

As Light becomes more obsessed with his power, he also becomes more knowledgeable of the Death Note’s capabilities. As a result of the authority’s search for Kira (Light’s alias), Light begins to abuse his power in order to elude the authorities. Where Light sees Kira as a righteous source of justice, the authorities see him as a mass murderer. Desperate for help, the authorities enlist the help of a mysterious detective named “L” to track down Kira. This is where the story really begins to get interesting. “L” is about the same age as Light and, while he eats nothing but sweets and junk food, he also has an incredible mind for problem solving.

Death Note slowly evolves into a dark, twisted detective story pitting the brilliantly warped mind of Light against the brilliant mind of his arch-rival “L” who sees this as a game on a grand scale. Unsure of what I was in for seeing this movie, I left the theatre surprisingly impressed and wanting more. Without giving away the film’s ending, I will only say that it doesn’t end here. Death Note ends just as the story really has you gripped tightly within its claws, leaving room for an entire film to pickup where this one left off. After doing a little research, there is apparently a sequel that does just that. I will definitely be looking for that.

[rating:3.5/5]