[31 Days of Halloween 2017: DEATH NOTE is now available on Netflix.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
A high school student finds a magical book that lets him
kill anyone he wants just by writing their name in DEATH NOTE. Based on a Japanese manga which was, in turn,
previously filmed as an anime feature film, director/writer Adam Wingard’s
version tries to adapt the premise for western audiences.
The student in question is Light Turner (Nat Wolf), a smart
kid who sells term papers and is still coping with the murder of his mother.
Once he finds the book and starts reading it, a demon named Ryuk (voice of
Willem DaFoe) appears and explains that he can kill anyone Light wants him to,
provided he writes the victim’s name in the book and can concentrate on their
face.
Light decides to use this newfound power over life and death
to be something of a superhero, taking out the kind of bad guys his policeman
father (Shea Whigham) often has to let go due to technicalities. Sort of a
supernatural Dirty Harry, if you will.
