Death Note (Live Action)

I have actually  had this for a long time... And I thought I had already watched it (probably because my sister talked about it so much). But I put it on last night and realised, "Ah, I haven't actually seen any of this.". So, I think it's a good thing to blog about.

The basic plot is, obviously, like the original manga. But there are definitely a lot of differences in how they done things. For those who have not read the manga: first, go by the manga NOW, it's brilliant; second, I'll be nice and tell you the basic plot.

Light Yagami [Tatsuya Fujiwara], the genius son of a police officer. He's studying law and feels VERY strongly about justice, but his bored. So he hacks into his dad's computer to see whether criminals are being punished fairly. To his horror, he see loads of criminals avoid punishment in one way or another! 

And that's when he finds: the death note. "The human whose name is written in this note shall die.". So light takes matters in to his own hands, killing those who are unfit to live in the world. As criminal upon criminal die of unexplained heart attacks, the world starts work out that this is all the works of some kind of God, or saint, or (on the flip-side) a devil.

As criminal upon criminal die, the police are forced to intervene. Set with the impossible task of catching someone who kills with heart attacks they decide to call in a professional detective. The best in the world. L [Kenichi Matsuyama]. It becomes a battle, a game, between two geniuses. Light Yagami pulling tricks to shun suspicions, L pulling tricks to pull Light out of hiding. Who wins? You'll have to watch Death Note 2. Whose right? It's up to you.

But it's amazing! Tatsuya Fujiwara has such and evil smile. It's just how he should look! And L is perfect. The clothes, the hair, the habits. They're all exactly the same as the manga. The most epic scenes from the manga have been put into the movie perfectly (the "Lind L Tailor scene" and dramatic "eating crisps" scene were among my favourites in the manga). But I think everything else has changed. The final scene in the art gallery was entirely evil and thought up completely by the geniuses from the film.

I think that this is a brilliant re-interpretation. They really out-done themselves in the character design, everyone looks just how they should do. And the mix of original scenes and scenes from the manga creates a really good effect. The manga scenes are really impressive and make the fans re-live those epic moments; all the new scenes ensure it's not like your just watching the anime, they make the whole film new and exciting. It's definitely a great live action for anyone whose read the manga. I think some of it's epic-ness would be lost on those whom haven't read the manga, but it's a good film none the less.

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