Death Note (2017)

★ 4.3 1h 41m 4,098 votes IMDb

Horror Fantasy Crime

Light Turner finds a supernatural notebook and uses it to mete out death, attracting the attention of a detective, a demon and a girl in his class.

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Cast

Nat Wolff as Light Turner Age 31 · Los Angeles, California, USA Nathaniel Marvin Wolff is an American actor and musician. He gained recognition for composing the music for The Naked Brothers Band (2007–2009), a Nickelodeon television series he starred in with his...

LaKeith Stanfield as L Age 34 · San Bernardino, California, USA LaKeith Lee Stanfield (born August 12, 1991) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in Short Term 12 (2013), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He received furth...

Margaret Qualley as Mia Sutton Age 31 · Kalispell, Montana, USA Sarah Margaret Qualley (pronounced /ˈkwɔːli/KWAW-lee; born October 23, 1994) is an American actress. A daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, she trained as a ballet dancer in her youth. She made her ac...

Shea Whigham as James Turner Age 57 · Tallahassee, Florida, USA Shea Whigham (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series Boardwalk Empire. He also appeared in the first season of True Detective and...

Willem Dafoe as Ryuk (voice) Age 70 · Appleton, Wisconsin, USA William James "Willem" Dafoe (born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various acc...

Director Adam Wingard

Cast Nat Wolff, LaKeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham, Willem Dafoe, Jason Liles, Paul Nakauchi, Jack Ettlinger, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Chris Britton

. 8/10 Aug 25, 2017

_Death Note_ - _★★★★_

While different from the anime, and surely the manga, Death Note is an enjoyable adaption. If you watched the anime, you know that the series’s first episode titled “Rebirth” starts out in the Shinigami Realm. We unfortunately do not see this scene or ever visit the Shinigami Realm but I think that’s just fine for this adaption as when we meet Ryuk for the first time, it’s so cool and terrifying at the same time. The film didn’t feel rushed despite having a fast pace but I never felt lost. In addition, the killings were gruesome. Also let me just say Margaret Qualley is bae to unbelievable max. Her Mia Sutton (originally Misa Amane) is just UGH <3 Nat Wolff was actually fairly decent as Light Turner (originally Light Yagami). Keith Stanfield as L was different but not totally in a negative way. And as expected, WILLEM DAFOE AS RYUK IS PERFECT!

Star 4/10 Oct 05, 2017

Despite tentative hopes, the Netflix live action movie for Death Note was painful to watch. Watching with my husband and another friend who was a fan of the original anime, we switched it off after 10 minutes soon after Light's girly screaming. I did manage to play the rest on my own while multi-tasking since I felt I owed it that much. The shinigami Ryuk was the one cool thing, even if they changed his amused observer role the acting and effects for him were great. Everything else though? Instead of a top role model perfect student equally liked by fellow students and adults, Light became a whiney emo brat with so many issues. Mia, who filled in for Misa's role, instead of sweet ditzy but still somewhat smart (and definitely loyal to a fault in her love) just became a *itch. Now I always rooted for L, but these two are our protagonists of the story and unlike the original source, I could find nothing likable or admirable about them. The gore-fest was also distracting. Death Note is a very toned down thriller with most deaths happening naturally with heart attacks, implied suicides, hit by a car and so on but expect Final Destination shock-factor and gory deaths in this adaption.