The Real Reason Netflix's Death Note Failed
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Forget about that most of the casts were white. I really do understand Hollywood's adaptation has to be based from actual ethnic groups in America. If they adapt an anime into a film and make all the casts just Japanese, it makes the movie feel less Hollywood and more of a really high budget Asian movie.
Anyway, I think the movie failed because it tried to be too realistic and relatable. Light in the movie was made to be a normal teen who got into some sick mess and Misa as some messed up chick (and not in the original's way. Ryuk's part was kind of alright. I can see why they decided to make him an instigator than a watcher. Light shouldn't have been someone we should put our shoes in. He was not meant to be this guy that we should feel sympathy for. Light in the original is this guy whose goals we should keep questioning if it's for good or bad. His ambition should be something that we debate on.
Is it okay to kill every bad person in the world? Should one man dictate what's best for everyone if it means better security?
That's why the original was good. We didn't need Light to be a person we should relate to. He was someone we should be interested in and yet so conflicted. Look at Infinity War. Thanos was kind of like Light because his ambition was seen as The end justified the means. He didn't become some lovesick psychopath who just did everything bad because he wanted to get the affection of someone manipulating him like the original comic (How ironic, eh)
I believe if Light was kept in his character then the movie would've been fine. He should've remained a genius, L remains as a black guy and Misa. Well her role could've had this minor role (working behind the scenes) until the end of the movie where she comes out as the new Kira.
Date: 2020-07-14
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Comments and reviews: 9
Bri
(Just Rambing-)
I watch this for Ryuk and his character look- I won't lie. Light isn't- Himself. Light, keeps to himself, he's popular, and knows what to do, so the opening scene. Doesn't connect. Ryuk. Doesn't pressure Light, Light made choices himself, and Ryuk believed he was interesting, which is why he stayed around. Ryuk wasn't manipulative, he only teased, Light was more manupulative in the end, in a way. Of course all I'm saying is an opinion. Misa- Is Misa, Mia? Misa-Misa. no, Light never loved Misa, he used her. In reality he wanted his grasp on the world. He wasn't the punk people beat up, the dork or nerd who COULDN'T get girls, he was the dude ALL the girls wanted, and all the guys wanted to be around. The movie should. be more of- Like, as I see it, a WHOLE different plot. Because nothing matches, nothing connects- And most importantly- NO POTATO CHIP SCENE- The whole L/Ryuzaki business. Wahh, it makes me sad D: This is just me rambling, about how it doesn't and shouldn't have the name death note. Light was obsessed with himself and his power- Not love, and being manipulated.
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(Just Rambing-)
I watch this for Ryuk and his character look- I won't lie. Light isn't- Himself. Light, keeps to himself, he's popular, and knows what to do, so the opening scene. Doesn't connect. Ryuk. Doesn't pressure Light, Light made choices himself, and Ryuk believed he was interesting, which is why he stayed around. Ryuk wasn't manipulative, he only teased, Light was more manupulative in the end, in a way. Of course all I'm saying is an opinion. Misa- Is Misa, Mia? Misa-Misa. no, Light never loved Misa, he used her. In reality he wanted his grasp on the world. He wasn't the punk people beat up, the dork or nerd who COULDN'T get girls, he was the dude ALL the girls wanted, and all the guys wanted to be around. The movie should. be more of- Like, as I see it, a WHOLE different plot. Because nothing matches, nothing connects- And most importantly- NO POTATO CHIP SCENE- The whole L/Ryuzaki business. Wahh, it makes me sad D: This is just me rambling, about how it doesn't and shouldn't have the name death note. Light was obsessed with himself and his power- Not love, and being manipulated.
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DucksDoctor
Personally I think this would have been an alright spin off movie, taking place more from the perspective of Ryuk. However, change all the humans names into something else. Don't have the Kira arc either because Light Turner clearly does not have the intellect Light Yagami is supposed to have. So making Turner more of an anti-bullying killer and significantly smaller in scope would have been more digestible. Also Turner could have potentially had a better antagonist in a typical serial killer that he's trying to find the identity to as a junior detective.
They could've stuck with the 80's thing as well and made this take place before Yagami ever got the death note to begin with as long as Turner died at the end. So yea they could have made this work.
The problem is they wanted to use the source material and then rewrote it to an absurd degree. Writing a movie in the world of death note (as long as it's pre-kira) should honestly be pretty simple especially if it's going to be about teen drama.
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Personally I think this would have been an alright spin off movie, taking place more from the perspective of Ryuk. However, change all the humans names into something else. Don't have the Kira arc either because Light Turner clearly does not have the intellect Light Yagami is supposed to have. So making Turner more of an anti-bullying killer and significantly smaller in scope would have been more digestible. Also Turner could have potentially had a better antagonist in a typical serial killer that he's trying to find the identity to as a junior detective.
They could've stuck with the 80's thing as well and made this take place before Yagami ever got the death note to begin with as long as Turner died at the end. So yea they could have made this work.
The problem is they wanted to use the source material and then rewrote it to an absurd degree. Writing a movie in the world of death note (as long as it's pre-kira) should honestly be pretty simple especially if it's going to be about teen drama.
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NimByAnyOtherName
They should have kept it mostly the same and just made it a side story with some other kid not associated with Light Yagami, I honestly wouldn't have any issues with it if it wasn't a retelling or whatever its called these days, it would have been easy to have it some ten years after the original with a new L, and with Ryuk just bobbing around trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time.
They could have called the deaths from the series out as a simple part of the world and a mystery to most until this kid gets the notebook figures out what had happened and decides to follow in kiras footsteps, the rest of the movie could have played out mostly the same.
Or just disassociate it entirely, if it was just not supposed to be light I would have a thousand less problems with the movie, on its own, its really not that bad at all, great? god no, but i have watched and enjoyed much worse movies.
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They should have kept it mostly the same and just made it a side story with some other kid not associated with Light Yagami, I honestly wouldn't have any issues with it if it wasn't a retelling or whatever its called these days, it would have been easy to have it some ten years after the original with a new L, and with Ryuk just bobbing around trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time.
They could have called the deaths from the series out as a simple part of the world and a mystery to most until this kid gets the notebook figures out what had happened and decides to follow in kiras footsteps, the rest of the movie could have played out mostly the same.
Or just disassociate it entirely, if it was just not supposed to be light I would have a thousand less problems with the movie, on its own, its really not that bad at all, great? god no, but i have watched and enjoyed much worse movies.
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Vince
I think that if people had watched the movie first (as I did, they would feel different about it. I agree the directing lacked in several places, but I think Light as a 'normal' kid, is far more interesting and complex than as a sociopath. Same for Ryuk. Why would an-other-worldly character be more interesting as a tag-along, than as an instigator?
I get that the anime fans like to stay true to the original story. We see that time and again in movies made from books or comics- it doesn't make them by nature better or worse, it just makes them different. I would love to see a Netflix multi-season evolve. with the best of both worlds, with good screenwriting and directing.
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I think that if people had watched the movie first (as I did, they would feel different about it. I agree the directing lacked in several places, but I think Light as a 'normal' kid, is far more interesting and complex than as a sociopath. Same for Ryuk. Why would an-other-worldly character be more interesting as a tag-along, than as an instigator?
I get that the anime fans like to stay true to the original story. We see that time and again in movies made from books or comics- it doesn't make them by nature better or worse, it just makes them different. I would love to see a Netflix multi-season evolve. with the best of both worlds, with good screenwriting and directing.
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LeTHALxHeaDBanG
Why are companies so keen on making life action adaptations anyway? They always suck cause they refuse to harness the source material.
Plus you cant take an episodic show and make a condensed movie out of it. Youll always fail when doing this because it feels diluted to all hell.
Love the anime, one of my favourites. The movie gets a 4/10 from me because it wasnt completely awful, it just sucked because like I said, you cant condense a long story into a small one. It will never appeal to fans of the source material. Its comes off as blasphemy.
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Why are companies so keen on making life action adaptations anyway? They always suck cause they refuse to harness the source material.
Plus you cant take an episodic show and make a condensed movie out of it. Youll always fail when doing this because it feels diluted to all hell.
Love the anime, one of my favourites. The movie gets a 4/10 from me because it wasnt completely awful, it just sucked because like I said, you cant condense a long story into a small one. It will never appeal to fans of the source material. Its comes off as blasphemy.
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Splitting
I still found enjoyment in the movie despite it's many differences. It's extremely hard to put so much content into such a short time. Not saying they did it good or not, just saying.
Think the biggest thing for me was me not really liking L (no not cuz he's black)
L was my favorite character in the anime and I just felt this guy didn't fit the look or personality as well. I guess the hood can make sense to avoid the need to put in a stand in when he announces himself on TV but still. I don't like hooded L. I like baggy eye no emotion L: (
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I still found enjoyment in the movie despite it's many differences. It's extremely hard to put so much content into such a short time. Not saying they did it good or not, just saying.
Think the biggest thing for me was me not really liking L (no not cuz he's black)
L was my favorite character in the anime and I just felt this guy didn't fit the look or personality as well. I guess the hood can make sense to avoid the need to put in a stand in when he announces himself on TV but still. I don't like hooded L. I like baggy eye no emotion L: (
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Barash
Also one of my options is that light was incredibly smart in the anime and manga, and in the movie he is so dumb. He immediately shows Mika the death note and he actually hides the death note from others. And the part with L he was Beyond smart. In the movie he gets crazy over someones death, I forgot who but besides the point. He loses his calm and goes out to kill Light and i hate to be that person but the movie was just awful it Barely follow through with the anime. Thank you for joining my ted talk
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Also one of my options is that light was incredibly smart in the anime and manga, and in the movie he is so dumb. He immediately shows Mika the death note and he actually hides the death note from others. And the part with L he was Beyond smart. In the movie he gets crazy over someones death, I forgot who but besides the point. He loses his calm and goes out to kill Light and i hate to be that person but the movie was just awful it Barely follow through with the anime. Thank you for joining my ted talk
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fanjoy
I watched this before seeing the anime and I thought this was an awesome movie. Sure it wasnt anything like the manga and original Death Note but who said it will be? They literally said they will make the Netflix adaptation DIFFERENT, it will be made american way and the characters will be different. They said that before the movie even came out yet everyone is yelling about it. If you watch the movie without expectations, it's an alright movie
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I watched this before seeing the anime and I thought this was an awesome movie. Sure it wasnt anything like the manga and original Death Note but who said it will be? They literally said they will make the Netflix adaptation DIFFERENT, it will be made american way and the characters will be different. They said that before the movie even came out yet everyone is yelling about it. If you watch the movie without expectations, it's an alright movie
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KyuubiNo
It's part of the japanese culture some figure as the shinigami, so why try to do something with a total different culture? Why choose a black man to do Elle? They ruining one of the main character with this choice. Of course nothing to do with the color's skin of the actor, only Elle is a sick looks character and strange not an healthy black man. I started to see it but I can't watch it after I see the original japanese version!
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It's part of the japanese culture some figure as the shinigami, so why try to do something with a total different culture? Why choose a black man to do Elle? They ruining one of the main character with this choice. Of course nothing to do with the color's skin of the actor, only Elle is a sick looks character and strange not an healthy black man. I started to see it but I can't watch it after I see the original japanese version!
reply
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