Shinigami, the God of Death, dropped a notebook in the human
world where a weary genius picked it up. “The human
whose name is written in this note shall die”, it said.
This was the notebook of death that determined people’s
death.
Light
Yagami, an extremely bright elite university student was the
one to possess this ultimate tool that should remain only
in the hands of God. Light decides to create an ideal world
and begins to hold the scales to judge the criminals in his
discretion.
Meanwhile,
ICPO (International Criminal Police Organization) has placed
a mysterious detective called “L” in the Japanese
police force to investigate the series of criminal dying suddenly.
“L”, having solved many unresolved cases in the
world, begins to tighten the investigative screws over these
cases. But Light cleverly manipulates the notebook of death
to toss and shake off the investigation. The future of mankind
is at the mercy of this crucial and fierce battle of the two
brains.
Movie Review:
During my first exposure to Death Note manga, it just feels
like two gifted chess players playing a dangerous game of
life and death within the supernatural constraints set in
the Death Note World.
A
bored Death God, Ryuk, drops a magical notebook into this
world. This notebook can be used to kill just by writing a
person name in it. It falls into the hands of a smart college
kid, Light. Dismayed with the fact that so many criminals
escape unpunished from their crimes, Light takes on the role
of judge and executioner to punish the wicked.
His
actions soon catch the attention of the masses and soon became
worshiped with the nickname, Kira, the God of Death. While
there are supporters of his actions, there are also a fair
number of those who felt that killing is a crime even if it
was killing criminals. The international cops want to capture
Kira but were at wits’ end until the mysterious L appeared
to assist them.
The
Death Note manga is a page turner with plenty of unexpected
twists and surprises that catches enough manga readers’
attention to establish its fandom. Given its epic theatrical
proportion, it’s hardly surprising that it has been
adapted into a movie which made its way to Singapore.
For
the fans, the question on their minds would be if this movie
is a successful adaptation of one of their favorite manga
mini series. There have been a lot of comic book adaptation
movies out in recent years and while there are some terrible
ones, there are also a few gems that generate a new generation
of fans. The crux of a successful comic book movie adaptation
is not how faithful that it follows the source material (as
it’s practically impossible to condense volumes into
a two hour feature) but whether the movies can captures the
essence of the characters and events that transpire in the
book.
Let’s
just say that Death Note the movie is a fairly successful
adaptation of the source material.
Most
of the early plot elements were followed to the T with very
few modifications and restructuring. One notable modification
the movie presented was the different abilities of Death Note
but it took away the limitations of the Death Note. While
it is adequate information for viewers who are new to Death
Note, it took out the fun for the fans by not going in depth
in that area.
As
the manga run 12 volumes and the movie can only cover so much
within the time span, this movie wisely covers only the first
quarter of the finite series. But if you have been reading
the manga, you would be aware that the first quarter didn’t
contain any cinematic finale. In order to rectify that, it
strays from the source material and presented the biggest
twist to both fans and new viewers.
This
movie will appeal more to the people who are new to the Death
Note concept than Death Note fans. As I read the first volume
of Death Note prior to watching the movie, the presentation
of the events in the movie felt like a slow crawl. The transition
of those tense moments that I read in the manga didn’t
translate well onto the film. The adaptation of the first
three volumes means plenty of ground to cover and it might
have work better in a TV series where story telling can happen
in a more leisure pace.
After
going through some nitpicking on how the movie didn’t
fulfill the potential it could have, it was still an enjoyable
film to catch. The dilemma of one playing God is ever presence
in this movie and it does raise an interesting question such
as does power corrupt even the noblest intention? The cat
and mouse chase between Light and L here still thrills as
much the manga and of course Ryuk, the Death God, is even
more adorable on film.
Do stay back till the end of credits for a special presentation
by Encore Films and Golden Village. If you enjoyed the movie,
I am sure you wouldn’t mind staying for a bit longer
to see what our distributors have in store for you.
Movie
Rating:
(The
darkest and most thrilling Japanese Manga Adapation to date)
