Death Note: The 2010 American Remake

[BlackWolf]

To be fair she was a threat to Light and since he killed all the other FBI agents that were poking around, what was another body to him? Letting her live may prove to be his undoing because of what she knew or what she could potentailly figure out. Though i'll agree that the second half should be left alone since to me the first half is the best half.

Oops, sorry I wasn't being clear!

I understand why Light killed her off ...what I don't get is why Tsugumi Ohba chose to have her killed! :wink:

Ahh now i see what you mean it was probably done to show how ruthless Light was or how even at that point how deterimned he was to cover his tracks and protect himself.

 

[ayase]

I'm pretty confident that if it ever actually gets made, it's going to be pretty dire. The Japanese live action version was bad enough (and the CG Shinigami were the least of it's troubles) but I don't think there's ever been an instance of an American adaption being better than the original non-American version.

They dumb things down. They give anything which isn't a sure fire hit a smaller budget which means they get sub-par actors, directors and scriptwriters (and even then a lot of big name Hollywood actors are terrible these days). This may seem unfair as you could level all these criticisms at the Japanese version - but I can almost forgive it more as Japanese live action films are rarely of a high standard. There are exceptions though, one of which I've just watched. More on that later...

I think Hollywood could make a fantastic Death Note adaption if they wanted to. But it's unlikely they will.

 

[Just Passing Through]

The Battle Royale film is awesome depending on your IQ and if you've read the novel or the manga. It doesn't hold a candle to the novel.

I've got a high IQ, I like Battle Royale...

You appear to have a low opinion of Japanese live action cinema in general Aion.

Have you tried any movies not adapted from anime/manga?

I happen to think that some of the most inventive creative and challenging cinema comes from the Far East, and of late, I've been watching more Japanese and Korean cinema than Hollywood movies.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

I haven't read the Battle Royale novel yet but I can't see how it would diminish my enjoyment of the film.

Speaking of Korean movies, I've had the highly regarded "A Bittersweet Life" sitting on my shelf for at least a year. I really should get around to watching that.

 

[Aion]

You can't see because you're currently ignorant. It's like the Death Note live-action fans who think the first film has an amazing story, not realizing that the story contained is a bastardized vesion of the real story.

The film has no character development, just lots of screaming and death. It annoyed me because it was such an awful, thughtless adaptation and it bored me as a film.

I haven't watched many Japanese live-action films because, if film makers can't get adaptations of hugely popular Japanese stories right, I can't see how they could handle creating a decent original story. Japanese acting is ruins the films anyway - how the lead in BR and DN won awards is behind me when he can't actually act.

I have, however, seen one lice-action Korean film -Once Upon A Time In High School - which happens to be one of my favourite films. That film actually had good acting; unlike the Japanese **** I've seen.

 

[fabio de lunatico]

The film has no character development, just lots of screaming and death.

But that's why I love it

I'm sure I'll enjoy the novel and continue to love the movie for what it is -- a violent, visceral 90 minute adaptation of a 600 page book.

 

[Aion]

Likewise, I'll continue to dislike it for lacking any depth due to the removal of everything that made me enjoy the real story. I liked understanding the characters and putting myself in their shoes. But, in the case of the film, I didn't give a toss about what happened to anyone because of the removal of conversations that fleshed everyone out and the fast-forwarding of the plot just made it into a brainless film with lots of death.

It simply irks me that that such a poor adaptation has a rating of 8/10 on IMDB, just like it irks me that the first Death Note film has a rating of 7.8/10. It's less bothersome with DN because it doesn't have 40,000 votes, though.

 

[Just Passing Through]

You can't see because you're currently ignorant.

Finely honed Internet Social Skills at work there!
I am now pulling faces and making rude gestures at my PC screen.

I have, however, seen one lice-action Korean film -Once Upon A Time In High School - which happens to be one of my favourite films. That film actually had good acting; unlike the Japanese **** I've seen.

Once Upon A Time in High School. Great, great film.

Other Korean films I like...

JSA (by the same guy who made the Vengeance trilogy)
Save The Green Planet
The Quiet Family *
The Bow
Brotherhood
Natural City

Chinese and Hong Kong Films I rate
(Not including the classic Golden Harvest kung fu era that I love)

Chinese Odyssey 2002 (hopelessly cut in the UK though)
Initial D Drift Racer
Shaolin Soccer *
Mad Detective *
Police Story
Running Out Of Time

Some Japanese films you might try, and might make you change your mind. Probably won't though

9 Souls *
Bright Future
Bullet Ballet
Good Morning - Ozu *
Kagemusha, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, Rashomon - If it's Akira Kurosawa... *
Kikujiro *
Memories of Matsuko
Survive Style 5+
Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers *
Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers
Fine, Totally Fine
Wild Life *

You'll probably hate these for being manga adaptations, but try Ping Pong * and Kamikaze Girls.

* = Among my favourite films

 

[Just Passing Through]

The film has no character development, just lots of screaming and death.

But that's why I love it

I'm sure I'll enjoy the novel and continue to love the movie for what it is -- a violent, visceral 90 minute adaptation of a 600 page book.

Have you seen Battle Royale Special Edition?

It's the full 2 hours with added character development.

 

[Ark]

As for Dragonball Evolution, it's obvious why that failed without even watching it. It was transformed from a light-hearted and amusing martial arts story into a more dark (and generic) fight to save the planet from an evil person.

Are you really saying that if they'd added some slapstick humour it would have been a good film?

 

[fabio de lunatico]

Have you seen Battle Royale Special Edition?

It's the full 2 hours with added character development.

Yes, that's the version I've got. For some reason I thought the film was closer to 90 minutes than 2 hours. D'oh.

 

[Rui]

Light wins. Just the way it should have been. ;_;

I always wondered about you...

I have enjoyed quite a number of Japanese-made live action anime/manga movie spinoffs - notably Nana 1, Sakuran, GTO, Gokusen, Honey & Clover, Always Sunset on Third Street and Kamikaze Girls.

Most of these are aimed at women though, and I have pretty wonky taste. The problems seem to arise when the studios try to do blockbuster-style movies. The understated films with fewer special effects seem to come off much better. Period dramas are great too.

I agree that Light's actor in particular in the JP Death Note films didn't seem to be strongly cast; I think that contributed heavily to my initial dislike of the first movie since he was carrying the first half [badly]. He never really seemed to be taking it seriously and I wanted to slap him half of the time, unlike manga-Light who was extremely charismatic and interesting. I thought that most of the others were fine.

R

 

[Aion]

Dragonball Evolution would most likely have still been rubbish if it had been a faithful adaptation. There's just no way you can do a good job of covering so much material in a couple of low budget films, and Dragonball as a story is too silly to be executed with flesh and blood people playing the roles. But, had it been even semi-faithful, it might've at least stood a chance of pleasing a portion of the fans the series has worldwide and not been hated by everyone.

With regards to the new American Death Note news, it's interesting that only the events of the first three volumes will be in the film. I wasn't expecting the film to be at all faithful, and I also assumed it'd speed through the material. If only the first three volumes are going to be covered, it means the film might have a decent pace and not ****-up too badly. It also, obviously, means that there will be at least one sequel if it doesn't do as badly as Dragonball.

Rui: It wasn't easy to play Light in the first film because he was different than manga light. Where as manga Light always explained his actions (he didn't let the police guess his age for no reason) in detail, movie Light did stupid actions constantly for no reason other than stupity - it was as if the people in charge wanted to make him into a complete idiot. The addition of a filler girlfriend and the Light being a moralfag (4chanism) in the film also made him awkward to play as. But, nonetheless, it's true the pretty boy who played him just didn't seem right and didn't seem to have done any research on the character...actually, I think he said on the DVD extras that he hadn't done much in the way of research.

In the second film he was a little better. As mentioned previously, he nailed the scene where he met Misa - a scene which was copied from the manga near enough word for word - and he also did a good job at potraying the downfall of Light at the end. However, what he didn't do was manage to do a good job for the duration of the film, often smirking in an evil manner when Light was telling him, in an overly simple and direct Kira that he's Kora... It was as if film Light couldn't be arsed to act (both in terms of the character and actual actor) and thought it best to look as guilty as possible.