Death Note (Desu Noto)

2006, Japan

Director: Shusuke Kaneko

Writer: Tetsuya Oishi, From Tsugumi Oba, Takeshi Obata

Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Asaka Seto, Shigeki Hosokawa, Erika Toda

Producers: Toyoharu Fukuda, Takahiro Kobashi, Takahiro Sato

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Distributor: NTV

Web: www.warnerbros.co.jp/deathnote

Running Time: 126 minutes

Adapted from the popular Manga and anime series, Death Note is sure to please fans of its original incarnations, mainly because fans of Japanese culture are thrilled whenever something escapes the island that doesn’t involve either Hello Kitty, Pikachu, or tentacle rape. The most exciting thing about Death Note, to me, was not its story, which involves some badly computer animated Gods of Death and a notebook that kills whoever’s name is inscribed within, but rather its director. Shusuke Kaneko single-handedly revitalized the kaiju, or Japenese giant monster genre, by injecting new life into the Godzilla and Gamera franchises. Granted, in the grand scheme of things, breathing new life into kaiju is about as relevant as being the world’s foremost Pog expert, but nevertheless, there’s something to be said for his commitment.

However, Death Note had neither the energy nor the sheer level of inventiveness that made Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All Out Attack something you’d proudly display on a DVD shelf instead of hiding under the mattress with the fetish porn and Wizards of the Coast catalogues. The story, which has high school student Light discovering the Death Note and using it to try and create a criminal free-utopia, is interesting, but the film never gets inspired enough to overcome the inherent silliness that overcomes nearly every Japanese genre picture. The main flaws in the film are that the Death Note is full of rules and regulations that make understanding what’s going on like trying to learn to play Dungeons and Dragons in an hour. I’m already reading the subtitles, and now I have to read pages from a book written in bad English with Hot Topic goth font? Sure, Levar Burton would be proud, but I watch movies because I can't read anything that doesn't have X-Men in it, and that just makes me feel embarassed. And secondly, those who die at the hands of the Death Note are killed by a heart attack, which is not the most dynamic way to go, visually speaking. I’m not suggesting their heads all blow up like Scanners, but watching 80 people in the course of two hours clutch their chest and collapse like gun-shot outlaws in old Westerns gets a little tiresome. Still, the story is engaging, and the Kill Bill cliffhanger will definitely bring viewers back for the sequel, which has Light facing off with brilliant teen detective L, as well as a second Death Note.

Rating: 6 on 10

alkratina@comicbookbin.com