I recently went to see ‘Death Note’, my favorite anime and manga translated to the silver screen in live action form. Needless to say, I was on the edge of my seat every second of this film. When I first saw the trailer during a screening of ‘Iron Man,’ I was ecstatic. The ‘Death Note’ trailer was actually the largest highlight of ‘Iron Man’ for me. After seeing it, I can easily say that ‘Death Note’ is one of the best movies in recent memory.
‘Death Note’ has a very compelling premise that draws me into it at least. It’s mainly about a notebook that grants the power of death to people. For whoever’s name is written in the note dies. There are various rules to this that allows the user to control anywhere from the fashion in which the person dies to all the actions the person does before dying.
In addition to the capabilities of the Death Note, the main character also makes the story interesting. Light Yagami is the only person who has access to the Death Note in the recently released live action version. He’s a very intelligent college student with a strong sense of justice. As a result, he’s made a point to only kill criminals… at first. However, Light soon believes that he’s justice incarnate. Consequently, everyone who opposes him is evil. Conversely, his main opposition cannot be killed at the moment.
Light’s rival is the highly secretive, world renowned detective, ‘L.’ whose real name and face are a mystery. The Death Note’s limitations are that the writer must know the person’s name and face in order to kill. Since both of these things are unknown to Light he cannot kill his greatest threat. On the other hand, ‘L’ will also have his fair share of difficulty trying to catch Light due to the anonymity the Death Note adds to murder. This like many other aspects of the film remain true to the anime.
However, the film still has some welcome deviations that make it more interesting. Due in part to only being a two hour film, ‘Death Note’ had to take a few liberties with the story naturally. Mostly the alterations were to emphasize Light’s determination and inclination towards evil. There are also a few extra twists whose sole purpose could only have been to throw off those who’ve seen the anime and read the manga. Generally, these extra twists made ‘Death Note’ vastly more interesting than it would have been otherwise.
On the whole, I loved this movie and can’t wait for the sequel. At the end of ‘Death Note’ there was actually a trailer for ‘Death Note: The Last Name. ’ I honestly cannot wait for the conclusion to this riveting story. Judging from the liberties taken on the first part of the story I think that anything is possible with the second. For the duration of the second movie I’ll be taking out a permanent lease on the edge of my seat.
