Light Yagami one day finds the "Death Note" - a notebook that has the power to make people end up dead if you write the persons name in it. Since Light hates criminals that only gets mild punishments, he starts writing their names in the book and soon criminals everywhere starts to drop like flies. While Light, together with the master of the book called the Death God, is creating a Utopia of his own under the name Kira, the world's greatest detective named "L", together with a bunch of agents, sets out to capture Kira.
It's no wonder why the live-action movie Death Note, based on the manga, hit so big in Japan as it is simply a remarkable film with a fantastic comic-book like story. Death Note tells an exciting tale about a teenage boy who one day gets hold of a notebook that is called "Death Note". If you write a persons name in the book and think of that person at the same time, that very person will die. The book has a bit more to it, but that's simply how it works and just the idea of the very book was something that I was truly impressed with all the way through, as well as long after having seen the film. But it of course has more to it than just the book, and first and most that is the character of Light that also goes under the name Kira. He's a good person who wants to rid the world of evil, so he uses the book to do good, and while a lot of people seem to appreciate his work, there are also those that don't and among them are the world's greatest detective - "L".
The Death God, who's the master of the book, follows Light around as he cleanses the world from all that is bad. The Death God is a creature made with CGI, and while some may complain that the CG is not great looking, the creature still looks all right, is fun to watch and gives the movie a certain feel to say the least. Only those who have touched the Death Note can see the Death God that is Light's friend and companion, and it all looks pretty cool - a boy and his monster - a monster that only eats apples.
 
Death Note is not a horror movie mind you, but could probably still be enjoyed by a lot of horror fans out there. It's actually the type of movie that I guess most people could watch and be entertained by as it could be compared to one of those time-less fairy-tales or so. I found the film to be extremely entertaining and well as I really enjoy all the bizarre stuff in it and the cleverness of it. It might tend to be a bit corny at times, a bit too Japanese at times (talking about those weird tv-shows where they tend to take the concept of happiness to a new level that is impossible to relate to). But while a lot of Japanese high-school girl might get a kick out of it, so might you. I know it sounds strange, but see it for yourself and I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me.
Basically, we get to follow our hero that is Light/Kira using the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil while detective "L" and his agents are trying to find out who Kira is and stop him. But Light is one smart fellow and it was really enjoyable to see how he constantly tricked them and managed slip away from them. The whole film was an exciting ride and I was happy to see that it was not very predictable as I was kinda wondering how it would all come to an end. While a lot of people die throughout the film, don't expect any gore of anything like it, as it is just not that type of movie we're dealing with here. Most of them gets a heart attack and there's not much to these scenes really, but they still work and the overall movie has so much great stuff to offer that the little errors that it has are more than forgivable.
Death Note is a really awesome flick and you should most definitely check it out. So get away from "Hollywood" for a while and watch something brilliant for a change.
By
Back to Asian Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Desu nôto
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Shusuke Kaneko
WRITING CREDITS: Tsugumi Ôba, Takeshi Obata
GENRE: Adventure, Crime, Horror, Mystery
CAST: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yu Kashii
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 126 min
RATING: 9/10
Death Note Website/IMDB Click here
Death Note Trailer
|
