Death Note review: A teenager wreaks havoc on the world after coming into possession of a mysterious notebook, in Adam Wingard’s latest venture into horror.
Death Note review, Kat Hughes at Frightfest 2017.
Death Note review
Arriving on Netflix from 25th August, Death Note will first premiere at this year’s Frightfest. Based on the series of graphic novels and anime shows of the same name, the film tells of Light (Nat Wolff), a young man who comes into possession of a very strange notebook. Aided by Death God Ryuk (Willem Dafoe), the notebook has the power to kill anyone whose name is written down in it. Light, alongside girlfriend Mia (Margaret Qualley), set out to make the world a better place, targeting terrorists under the moniker of Kira. As they get bolder, they find themselves hunted by the enigmatic L (Lakeith Stanfield), and things start to escalate.
Death Note review
Fans of the source material might be a little miffed as inevitably some aspects have been changed. For the most part these changes make sense and create a richer experience for the uninitiated. Light worked prominently alone in the anime, and was a somewhat conflicted Jekyll and Hyde type. Here he has a kindred spirit, Mia. This Light and Mia form the two halves of the anime Light.
Though a constant feature previously, this iteration of Ryuk instead lurks in the shadows appearing only occasionally here and there. This diminishes his importance a little, something that will surely infuriate some. Willem Dafoe channels his inner Andy Serkis for the role, performing all of Ryuk’s movements personally. He’s great as the character and is effectively creepy. The voice too is perfect, but then who has vocal cords more creepy than Dafoe?
Death Note review
The stand-out performer though has to be Lakeith Stanfield. Stanfield plays L, an investigator trying to uncover the identity of the person murdering the masses. He’s part Mr. Robot‘s Elliott and part super sleuth. It’s a complex character that had a lot more time for exploration in the series, and finessing that down must have been a daunting task, but Stanfield manages admirably.
Stylistically Death Note is stunning. Suitably heightened and hyper-stylised, everything feels otherworldly. The gore, and there is plenty, is similarly heightened, and could easily be straight out an anime. The colour palette is dark and foreboding with just a touch of sci-fi in the aesthetics; the city streets in particular are very reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, they are smog-ridden and forever raining.
Death Note review
As audiences have come to expect from Adam Wingard, the soundtrack accompanying these visuals is superb. It’s slick and super-cool with just the right amount of nostalgia. If you enjoyed The Guest soundtrack, then this is the score for you. Essentially it feels like Wingard has stuck all the songs that he couldn’t fit onto Guest here, and the result is a thumping, synth-soaked audio delight.
There’s just something about how everything is put together that gives the film a dreamlike quality. Given the subject matter contained within the narrative, this is a very clever move on Wingard’s part. Were he to have instead chosen to gone super-realistic, the whole thing might have fallen apart, the plot coming over as too ridiculous and the audience being lost. By making it overly stylised and unreal the idea of Death God’s and notebooks with a death count are much easier concepts to swallow.
Director Adam Wingard is a well known name in modern horror circuits. His resume thus far includes The Guest, You’re Next and Blair Witch, all of which have been exceptional, and Death Note continues that trend. Hyper-stylised visuals coupled with a killer soundtrack create a dream-like and sinister yarn.
Death Note review by Kat Hughes, August 2017
Death Note is currently playing as part of the Horror Channel Frighfest 2017 programme.
