Opinion on the 'Death Note' Movie?

[Tao]

Also they whitewashed the entire movie and changed peoples names to fit white names

...Except for L. Or is that okay because at least he's not white?


Do we hate the Attack on Titan movie because they 'asianwashed' (?) what were canonically supposed to be primarily European population? No, -we hate it because it's crap- because there's a difference between making something that appeals to a certain demographic and actual straight up whitewashing.



Regardless, it's a crap adaptation. I would say crap movie entirely, but it's hard to look at it based on its own merit when it so woefully failed to even retain the point of the source material. I don't mind if they change some things and make it it's own thing, but it just totally missed the point.

 

[visibleghost]

Hate it. I actually haven't seen it but from what my friends tell me, they make L be childish and naive, take away his love for desserts and the odd way he sits. They basically take away his entire personality. Also they didn't portray Light right...

lmao how is liking desserts his entire personality

he still sits the way he does, just bc he doesnt have giant anime hair and three centimetres of eyeliner under his eyes doesn't mean that he isn't like L at all. imo L wasn't more childish in the movie than he was in the manga. L is immature in many ways in the manga like w the entire tennis thing and w/e. i never really liked L that much but he was not So Much Better in the anime/manga. tbh i really like how they made him less annoying and more caring in the netflix adaption, i think the compassionate side of him is kinda Neat .

anyways i think that if you want to enjoy the movie you have to view it as an adaption that's loosely based on Death Note. i get why you'd still dislike it (it has a lot of faults) but complaining about L not being your perfect anime bf and them changing things to make it less confusing in a movie format gets annoying

 

[Thunder]

Gosh, I'm so sick of the term whitewashed. I really am. First of all, (I can't believe I have to bring this up again) L was not black in the original. Second, it's not whitewashing, the film was Americanized to match our sense of culture. Like Mach Go Go Go was changed to Speed Racer and the main character's name was changed to Speed. It's done in a lot of different things. I'm not defending this movie by any means, it looks bad from the clips I've watched. Just tired of these comments.

I think ja2mine is using it as a blanket term here, it's probably not as accurate as "mostly whitewashed but I guess L is black" but it's less of a mouthful, at least. That aside, L's race doesn't exactly negate the point being made.

I mean, it's not like having Asian actors/actresses in the lead roles suddenly makes it any less "Americanized"? You kind of lost me on that point, buddy.

 

[glow]

this movie was horrid [obv spoilers ahead]

awful acting, even worse casting, super angsty ~teenage love~ plot that completely ruins the true character of kira. the intelligence of L remains intact overall, tbh i'd say L was the only somewhat likable character. but even then, he was still almost a different character. the composure of L was always meant to be calm and calculating, always somewhat distant from his emotions. by the end of the movie we're left with a flailing and screaming L in pursuit of light on foot....yeah no that's not how L works

i think i was much more upset with how they basically butchered kiras whole plot in half. kira is a villain. but he doesn't start off this way, he seeks justice. he believes he has the burden to carry forth this justice, until it no longer becomes a burden. he grows increasingly manic, pushing the boundaries of justice into obsession to cleanse the human race through genocide. his character was so dynamic, evolving from school boy to sociopathic self proclaimed god. in the movie we have.... a high schooler with a ~tragic past~ who immediately tells the first person who asks about the death note everything about it. this girl who, big surprise, is his love interest ends up dominating the persona of kira and outsmarting light himself (who is supposed to be a kind of genius)

so yeah lights chara is flat and his development goes from angsty highschool loser to angstier highshool loser with a death note in a hospital bed

not to mention all the suspenseful scenes were downright cheesy and anticlimactic. especially the ending lmao. anyway ya the only reason to watch this movie is to make fun of it

 

[DarkDesertFox]

I think ja2mine is using it as a blanket term here, it's probably not as accurate as "mostly whitewashed but I guess L is black" but it's less of a mouthful, at least. That aside, L's race doesn't exactly negate the point being made.

I mean, it's not like having Asian actors/actresses in the lead roles suddenly makes it any less "Americanized"? You kind of lost me on that point, buddy.

Well here's the thing, it doesn't take place in Japan like the original. It takes place in Seattle this time around to my knowledge. Caucasians make up a large majority of the population in America in comparison to Asians overwhelmingly in Japan. Now that's not to say they couldn't have used anyone. I personally don't think it matters since they changed location and everything. They're obviously not playing it word for word. I don't even like live-adaptations whether they be from Japan or America. The original anime will always be better.

 

[visibleghost]

this movie was horrid [obv spoilers ahead]

awful acting, even worse casting, super angsty ~teenage love~ plot that completely ruins the true character of kira. the intelligence of L remains intact overall, tbh i'd say L was the only somewhat likable character. but even then, he was still almost a different character. the composure of L was always meant to be calm and calculating, always somewhat distant from his emotions. by the end of the movie we're left with a flailing and screaming L in pursuit of light on foot....yeah no that's not how L works

i think i was much more upset with how they basically butchered kiras whole plot in half. kira is a villain. but he doesn't start off this way, he seeks justice. he believes he has the burden to carry forth this justice, until it no longer becomes a burden. he grows increasingly manic, pushing the boundaries of justice into obsession to cleanse the human race through genocide. his character was so dynamic, evolving from school boy to sociopathic self proclaimed god. in the movie we have.... a high schooler with a ~tragic past~ who immediately tells the first person who asks about the death note everything about it. this girl who, big surprise, is his love interest ends up dominating the persona of kira and outsmarting light himself (who is supposed to be a kind of genius)

so yeah lights chara is flat and his development goes from angsty highschool loser to angstier highshool loser with a death note in a hospital bed

not to mention all the suspenseful scenes were downright cheesy and anticlimactic. especially the ending lmao. anyway ya the only reason to watch this movie is to make fun of it

yeah imo mia is way smarter than lght is in this movie. light just does stuff and then he freaks out and runs around like a scared chicken not knowing what he's supposed to do.. like My Dude you are an edgelord and idiot ..

 

[tae]

it was complete garbage.
like, anytime people make a live-action anime with white people how can you expect it to be anything remotely good.

 

[lunatepic]

I tried not to take it too seriously/compare it to the anime too much and it was... alright? very different, and sometimes very annoying but, in general, entertaining enough? Idk

 

[PandP]

After watching the trailer I don't even want to give the movie a chance, since it seems to off-topic from the anime. Personally, I don't think it's an overall good idea to convert animes into real life movies, but that's just my opinion. I know I shouldn't judge merely by the trailer, but it just turned me off so much that I don't want to waste my time.

 

[ibelleS]

If you completely remove it from the source material it's an okay scary movie. Just. Okay.
If you go into it knowing much of the source material it's probably just gonna make you angry and disappointed

 

[Chris]

Awful.

The only thing I liked was the casting choice of Keith Stanfield as L. His mannerisms were for the most part perfect and reminded me of Kenichi Matsuyama's portrayal of the character in the Japanese live action films.

 

[Thunder]

Well here's the thing, it doesn't take place in Japan like the original. It takes place in Seattle this time around to my knowledge. Caucasians make up a large majority of the population in America in comparison to Asians overwhelmingly in Japan. Now that's not to say they couldn't have used anyone. I personally don't think it matters since they changed location and everything. They're obviously not playing it word for word. I don't even like live-adaptations whether they be from Japan or America. The original anime will always be better.

Honestly, unless the movie itself was set in Japan, I wouldn't have expected a localized movie to keep such a large Asian cast, anyway. That said it's disappointing when Asian actors and actresses are overlooked for a lead role in something like Death Note.