DVD: Death Note 1 & 2
Submitted by Kwan on Wed, 2008-03-19 10:58.
Keywords:
DVD Reviewed by Kwan
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Takeshi Kaga, Kenichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda
Death Note - "The human whose name is written in this note shall die."
Only the Japanese could create a concept as unique as this, and still make it entertaining, suspenseful, intelligent, and funny. As the title tentatively suggests, the Death Note is a magical notebook that has the power to kill people just by writing their names in it! "Wow" says the viewer, "killing sprees all round!" - To a degree, yes, but this is what separates a cult Japanese film from mish mash Hollywood idiocy.
Our main protagonist for this film is a young student named Light Yagami. The son of a police chief, he is currently studying law himself but is constantly seeing the limitations of the very thing designed to protect the people. Disheartened by the amount of criminals who have escaped punishment, fate comes along and presents to Light a Death Note - And by fate I mean a God of Death.
On a side note, this is also one of the things I love about Japanese movies. They have the uncanny ability to bring in out of the world, borderline "cartoon" characters, and still make it fit in with the story. A God of Death is one such character - a 3D rendered, bad ass leather wearing ghoul, who happens to drop his Death Note for Light to pick up.
As what would seem almost natural for Light to do with such a powerful tool, he begins writing down the names of the criminals of the world who have had their cases closed or dismissed. This is where the film gets interesting, as we begin to see the morals behind using such a tool, how the public react, and the introduction to the mysterious "L", who is the main antagonist in the film with the sole purpose of tracking down the user of the Death Note.
I can't say much for the acting in this movie - for some reason I've always found Japanese acting to be a little exaggerated and funny, even when it's not supposed to be. Other than that, there were no major flaws in the film.
Death Note, unlike some western counterparts, doesn't just rely on a cool concept to hold the viewer's attention. It adds to the mix arguments of morality, fantasy, and manages to put the characters through quirky situations but with very intelligent outcomes.
Madman and Eastern Eye present a very neat Death Note movie collection, which includes the sequel to the movie, The Last Name, in one package. Neato Gang.
By the way, if the cult storyline wasn't quite cult enough for you, Mr. Takeshi Kaga plays the part of Light's father. That's right, Chairman Kaga from the famed Iron Chef series is one of the main characters in Death Note! Cult overload if you ask me.
Available through Madman DVD.
