30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 24- Death Note (2017)

After today, there are only six days left in the challenge and I am feeling pretty good about myself at this point so we are just cruising right through to the finish line. Netflix built itself to be a global powerhouse when it literally eliminated movie stores across the country as it took over with it's mailing subscription. Netflix literally changed the game again when they started the online streaming and then came the Netflix original films and that changed the game again. So, the task for today was to check out a Netflix original film and I chose 2017's Death Note which was directed by Adam Wingard (V/H/S). The film stars Nat Wolff (Stella's Last Weekend) as Light Turner, you typical everyday teen with teen problems whose problems are about to get a lot worse when he inherits a book that all he has to do is write someone's name down and they die. The film also stars Shea Whigham (Vice) as Officer Turner, Margaret Qualley (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) as Mia,  LaKeith Stanfield (Uncut Gems) as L, Willem Dafoe (Murder On The Orient Express) as the voice of Ryuk, Jason Liles (Rampage) as Ryuk, Paul Nakauchi (Carmen Sandiego) as Watari, Jack Ettlinger (Good Witch) as Kenny Doyle, Chris Britton (The Romeo Section) as Peltz, and Christian Sloan (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ) as Agent Franks.

I have seen these kinds of films before where someone is given ultimate power to choose outcomes, but there is always an ugly side to it like the film Wishcraft or even Wishmaster. This one definitely separates itself from the others, but that's because it's based off of a Japanese Manga series I believe. I know there were three films made from Japan that this film is also based off of. It's much of the same idea though, the book happens to land on him and after being tempted by the books keeper Ryuk, he gets a little out of control with it, but when he reaches the moral dilemma it's almost too late for him. Now the film has been accused of whitewashing as they literally removed everything that identified itself with Japanese lore and they set it in Seattle and made every major character lose it's touch with the original source material. I'll have to take the time to watch the original films so I can better educate myself, but one reviewer was right and that Light was kind of a stupid character as he literally set himself up for everything that occurred to him in the film. It does have a very high school feel to it because a lot of us make decisions based on gut and not logic which is probably what I liked about it, but again I need to watch the originals. There's nothing really special about this film as far as effects or kills are concerned and what I mean is that they don't really shock you that much. I would have loved to see Ryuk in action a little more than we got to, but I understand how he makes things happen. So, I am going to go ahead and give the film an B- for a final grade (when I watch the originals, this grade could change).