First, I don't care about the whitewashing, or the shinigami lore... Death note was not great because it was set in Japan but because those who made the manga did an intense thriller with some great philosophical point !
In the manga Light is an brilliant young man, with an opportunity to change the world and a desire to maintain a legacy and not get caught. We got a strong moral code and think that he is in the right ! Well, this new Light didn't planned anything ahead (expect the god awful deus ex machina at the end...), has a boring cliché teenage angst, kills people because that seems a thrilling thing to do with his girlfriend (more on her in a second), decides to stop at the first sign of trouble, and is incapable of being active but only reacts to things happening to him. He didn't even seems to think that the police might try to catch him.
The girlfriend (not in the source material, and it's easy to know why). Well, she doesn't have any kind of personality. she seems to live on instinct, with no moral code whatsoever. why it doesn't work ? Because she's supposed to be a part of Light, that made Light doubt and hesitate ! Now we have TWO empty main characters instead of one full-fledged brilliant one.
The narration, I know, I know, American critics find that lazy, cinemasins sins it, and most of the time narration is the worst... MOST OF THE TIME. In death note, narration is Light internal monologue, which is essential to understand this complex character who tries to be ahead of everything. It's the source of the tension in the anime and they took that away. Narration in Mr Robot is great ! It's possible you see !
Because of that, everything else falls apart, Ruyk isn't the big corrupting menace that Pollutes Light's moral code, he is just monster-scary.. and L, seems smarter then Light at every turn, (the dinner scene is the most revealing, did someone understand the complexity of both arguments ? )... instead of a brilliant cat-and-mouse we got a pair of teenagers way over their heads who tries to make-up a plan to escape from the police ! American adaptation don't have to dumb down every plot to an Halloween special of CSI !!!
And to my summary, why call the movie death note when you don't even understand the soul of the source material ?
Lingering "why ?" Thoughts : - the over-complicated weirdly irrelevant rules of the death note - L zero-in on Light the dumbest way possible (really ? the father on a press conference) - L knows exactly that the team has been compromised but didn't think to plan something to avoid that outcome - the useless love-story - the acting - the relationship between father and son
Why not make it as a series that could encompass the complexity of each character instead of a trainwreck of a movie ?
In the manga Light is an brilliant young man, with an opportunity to change the world and a desire to maintain a legacy and not get caught. We got a strong moral code and think that he is in the right ! Well, this new Light didn't planned anything ahead (expect the god awful deus ex machina at the end...), has a boring cliché teenage angst, kills people because that seems a thrilling thing to do with his girlfriend (more on her in a second), decides to stop at the first sign of trouble, and is incapable of being active but only reacts to things happening to him. He didn't even seems to think that the police might try to catch him.
The girlfriend (not in the source material, and it's easy to know why). Well, she doesn't have any kind of personality. she seems to live on instinct, with no moral code whatsoever. why it doesn't work ? Because she's supposed to be a part of Light, that made Light doubt and hesitate ! Now we have TWO empty main characters instead of one full-fledged brilliant one.
The narration, I know, I know, American critics find that lazy, cinemasins sins it, and most of the time narration is the worst... MOST OF THE TIME. In death note, narration is Light internal monologue, which is essential to understand this complex character who tries to be ahead of everything. It's the source of the tension in the anime and they took that away. Narration in Mr Robot is great ! It's possible you see !
Because of that, everything else falls apart, Ruyk isn't the big corrupting menace that Pollutes Light's moral code, he is just monster-scary.. and L, seems smarter then Light at every turn, (the dinner scene is the most revealing, did someone understand the complexity of both arguments ? )... instead of a brilliant cat-and-mouse we got a pair of teenagers way over their heads who tries to make-up a plan to escape from the police ! American adaptation don't have to dumb down every plot to an Halloween special of CSI !!!
And to my summary, why call the movie death note when you don't even understand the soul of the source material ?
Lingering "why ?" Thoughts : - the over-complicated weirdly irrelevant rules of the death note - L zero-in on Light the dumbest way possible (really ? the father on a press conference) - L knows exactly that the team has been compromised but didn't think to plan something to avoid that outcome - the useless love-story - the acting - the relationship between father and son
Why not make it as a series that could encompass the complexity of each character instead of a trainwreck of a movie ?