Death Note 2017

So I just learned this is a thing.

With Nat Wolff (who I've never really seen in anything) as Light and Keith Stanfield as L (who I've seen in a few things including Get Out, which I just saw today-that's how I came across this).

So first things first, the characters have been transplanted to America-Light's last name is Turner, Misa is now Mia, and Willem Defoe will voice Ryuk. So there may be some white-washing accusations thrown, but I don't think they actually apply here.

Aside from changing two white characters to non-white (well, L's ethnicity is mixed, but Watari was an old white man now a middle-aged Japanese man), transplanting the whole story to America makes such accusations lose a ton of weight immediately. Plus there's little about the characters that's intrinsically 'Japanese'-Light's an arrogant prodigy, Misa (or Mia) is an obsessive, and Light's father (James) is classic good guy cop archetype, and L is a very quirky superdetective and after the three recent well-accepted and all different takes on Sherlock Holmes, I'd say that's a concept that can be done by just about anybody.

And actually, the idea of some bright young American kid getting fed up with the justice system and wanting to set himself up as a God King actually makes more sense to me than someone doing it in Japan.

There's no definite release date yet, aside from 2017 but I'm excited already (I'm honestly surprised I haven't heard anything about this sooner). I've never seen anything the Director, Adam Wingard, has done though.

"And actually, the idea of some bright young American kid getting fed up with the justice system and wanting to set himself up as a God King actually makes more sense to me than someone doing it in Japan."

Yeah, I actually think that having Light as white in an American setting update makes a huge amount of sense because even in the original, his psychological profile is totally that of your (typically white) mass shooter, including/especially the intellectual pretensions. And even without the mass murdering aspect, his reactionary beliefs and arrogance as well as the online following he gets in story seems to be a really good fit for the "Alt-Right" movement.

Also, although as discussed in other threads (i.e. in relation to the Ancient One in Doctor Strange), it isn't generally good to avoid Unfortunate Implications through whitewashing, but I think that having Light be Japanese in an American setting would play into negative stereotypes about Asians being obsessed with perfection in academics and other areas to an absurd degree.

edited 25th Feb '17 2:53:38 PM by Hodor2

I hadn't even considered that-mostly because I don't think of Light's typically nerdy, but you make a fair point.

He's more like your handsome, smart, ambitious kid-a Ted Kacyzniski type (and like Theodore there's plenty of folks who think Light was right) the kind parents would want their daughters to date. I think it works, and I think L being black totally works too-since he's a character who is rather outside any sort of racial/ethnic stereotypes or norms.

Having seen Stanfield's work a little I could actually see him doing a really good job as L. he's wonderfully creepy in Get Out, and also does some different work that's a full vibe thing-body language, clothes, vernacular that I didn't recognize him. I would say more but that might spoil Get Out.

He's also in Atlanta which I should really watch one of these days.

Willem Dafoe doesn't even need makeup to play Ryuk.

What intrigues me is that Misa's character is going to be in this. She seems like the sort of character (gets the same abilities as the protagonist but with a slight twist and a very different outlook on life) that, if they're not the main antagonist of the movie, would be better either left out or saved for a sequel. There's already enough setup to be done for Kira that introducing a Second Kira seems like packing too much in, unless Misa/Mia's role in the movie is fairly minor and is mostly sequel bait.

Could have sworn this was a Netflix show and not a movie.

Me Too!.

I think that was the plan originally, but hell, people have been trying to adapt Death Note for American audiences for 10 years now.

Now to go watch something with this Wolff so I have some idea of what to expect.

As for Misa/Mia (played by Margaret Qualley from the Leftovers,) it depends on how far they go into the story of the manga and how strictly they're adapting it-Mia and her Shinigami eyes are the main reason things go Light's way.

edited 22nd Mar '17 10:15:56 AM by ArthurEld

He was in Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns. Gonna be interesting to see him as a sociopath with a god complex.

Oh yeah, I had zero interest in either of those movies. I guess he had a role in The Intern, which I did see, but I'm guessing it was incredibly minor and I didn't find that movie very memorable either way.

There's also The Naked Brothers Band show that he was in at the start of his career: Though, being ten years ago, it might not be the best example of his work.

Teaser trailer for this dropped recently-its fairly unimpressive since its a teaser (i can't imagine anyone got any real information from it if they hadn't seen/read anything to do with Death Note) but i'm already looking forward to this so this doesn't change that.

My only real complaint is Light's appearance (though having recently dyed my own hair blond as well I can't complain about that)-they seem to be making him look like a troubled/difficult teen, when he should come, off before he gets the notebook anyway, like a preppy charming guy...who will probably grow up to be a serial killer. Armie Hammer springs to mind as an older version.

Other than that, there's not much to comment on since it all happens so fast but we do get a glimpse of L that looks interesting. I also loved the cheerleader shot (I think that's Qualley as Mia but I'm not sure) because as a child of the 90s, disaffected teens smoking will forever be my jam.

It looks like the details are the same but the generalities are wildly different, and I'm actually all for that. I wonder how much of the story they'll actually put in the film-there's a lot to cover just from the manga, so they'll probably do what the Japanese live action films did and break it into two.

Also, I only saw the first of said Japanese films and I really didn't care for them (the dubwork wasn't great but that wasn't really the problem) so I'm hopeful it'll at least be better than that.

Still don't think Dafoe needs CG. Look at the dude.

His face probably doesn't need any work, its mostly the unnaturally thin body, and the wings, and the flying (in my head that sounds like Professor Frink) and of course the glowing eyes.

It's Willem Dafoe. He already has the unnaturally thin body, glowing eyes and wings.

He's just hiding the wings and glowing eyes.

Not very well, he's not.

I never thought he was that thin.

And so the film's take on L is visually incredibly different (race aside) and i wonder how much of the cutesy quirks of the character they'll keep. They're part of why he's my favorite character of the series, but I can see the filmmakers and potential audiences as finding them off-putting and "tonally jarring."

My biggest concern about this film is that I hope they're willing to take their time and make multiple films. Trying to cram Death Note into a two-hour blockbuster seems like a great way to make a rushed, jarring flick full of nonsensical transitions and Ass Pulls where logic was supposed to be.

Remember how the second half of the anime wound up butchering Near due to not having nearly enough time to flesh out and establish him properly? Imagine that was L.

I don't really. I never really gave the anime more than a cursory watch-there are certain scenes I've watched a lot cause I like how they play out, but mostly I stick to the manga.

I will say, I doubt we're gonna get Near or Mello or any second half stuff, if only because there's been no casting information about them.

Here's the teaser for those who haven't seen it.

I'm not sure I'm getting it, but the trailer really gives the idea that Light is gonna cause a lot of suicides rather than heart attacks.

well, he can kill people in all sorts of interesting ways. The heart attacks are usually just faster, when he doesn't want to do anything other than turn human "A" into corpse "A1."

...There's a steak joke there somewhere.

The public walk off the building are probably for publicity.

The anime dedicated about half as many episodes to Near's portion as to L's, despite it being an entire half of the manga. This resulted in a lot of plotlines getting rushed to the detriment of everyone, but the biggest victim was Near. Without much time to establish himself or actually go through the painstaking detail he does in the manga explaining his conclusions, Near is reduced to just showing up, going "I figured out a thing! Don't I make a great Replacement L?" and then promptly f*cking off.

Consequentially, it's pretty much a consensus amongst fans who only watched the anime and never read the manga that Near is the worst character ever introduced and the series would be much better off without him.

edited 22nd Mar '17 11:33:46 AM by TobiasDrake

The things I'm most dissapointed the anime cut out:

1) Mello getting the names of Near's team by threatening the President of the United States with the Death Note. Not simply threatening to kill him with it, but threatening to use the Death Note's power to control its victims to make him launch a bunch of nuclear missiles before he dies.

2) Light's final words being simply, "Shit."

I'm disappointed that they cut the entirety of Light's death scene. They went for a more dignified death wherein Mikami kills himself as a distraction in order to show his undying loyalty to his god Kira while Light makes his escape. Ryuk waxes poetic as he writes Light's name, which comes as a surprise to Light rather than being shoved in his face as he never finds out about it. He just knows when he has a heart attack, and in his final moments he sees an illusion of L for a weird sort of "Together in Death" conclusion.

I like Light dying like a deranged animal, thanks. None of that trying to get me to Cry for the Devil nonsense.