Live adaptations have been on the rise in recent times, both for Japanese studios and for American studios. Everyone goes there from his own declensions in feature films into real shots, sometimes with very ambitious projects.
On both sides, there are the following examples: One Piece, Sword Art Online, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, FullMetal Alchemist ... a program that leaves Japanese pop-culture lovers perplexed.
But there is a project that has been talked about in recent months: the live adaptation of the manga Death Note by Netflix. The work of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata is not in its first try in the field of live mount including actors. Two films plus a third feature film about the character of L were produced in the 2000s, followed by a Japanese drama in 2015, then a return to the first trilogy with a fourth feature related to it: Death Note - Light Up the NEW World. The US also wanted to try their luck by adapting this fantastic thriller to the screen. The film, soberly named Death Note, appears on August 25 simultaneously in the world, via Netflix, an original broadcast channel and that tends to develop. At the completion of the project, Adam Wingard, a man who was notably seen at work in 2016 with the third film Blair Witch, which did not really attract the sympathy of the fans. The fans were waiting for the Western Death Note with a certain fear, that of seeing a massacre of the order of a Dragon Ball Evolution, fearing a total lack of understanding of the original work. Throughout his promotion, the film has created many debates, starting with the rather laughable polemic around the actor chosen to embody L, the Afro-American Keith Stanfield. The most legitimate controversy was that of the director's intentions that he wanted to bring maturity to his film through sex and violence ... all the reverse of the spirit of the Death Note manga in fact. It was therefore necessary to wait until the end of August 2017 to render a judgment. Did the American live film Death Note measure up? Unfortunately, not at all ...
This version of Death Note offers us an original context while drawing on the main elements of the manga of Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba. And why not, it is even what was expected of this film: to offer us a Western vision and, thus, a new approach to the work that would lead to a new experience. Because for an almost exact repeat of the manga, we already have the anime and the live Japanese movies.
The whole could be a success, provided the film is well treated. The first unfortunate element that strikes quickly is the teen-movie dimension of this Death Note which, in its orientations, seems to want to conquer amateur spectators of this type of entertainment. Thus, from the first minutes, the film does not hesitate to show itself gore and violent, and anchors the plot in an unfortunately very awkward and cliché high school dimension, for example the unavoidable bullying, the persecutor that is found in good American works with a school dimension. In particular, the birth of the relationship between Light and Mia disturbs so much that she does not hold the road and is born in a way that does not allow to take the film seriously. The sequel will be in the image of this beginning of romance: both will act as good accomplices, a sinister collaboration in which the two individuals will never show their intentions, and will give the air of acting by simple rebellious will. In this perspective, we find all the characteristics of the teen-movie: the implicit sex, the gore at all, and an ease to depict Light and Mia as the dark and the fatal fat kid, both defying the authority that surrounds them. Why not after all, the concern is that the two headliners are never developed, so their psychologies actually fall flat.
And there are many similar defects in the orientation of the film. One of the most striking is the ascent in the spectacular, which works more or less well according to the sequences. If the final scene of the wheel brings its lot of dramatic intensity, it owes its presence only to a will to do much to impress the gallery. There is also a certain challenging pursuit, which is often unrealistic, which often makes the viewer smile at the seat. So this is a good match with the words of Adam Wingard a few months before the release of the film, and therefore to the fears of the fans of the manga: more than in the psychological thriller, we are in the narrative with great spectacle.
However, this vision of Death Note brought with it quite interesting tracks, to be noted by a Ryûk that contrasts sharply with that known in the manga. The latter is never really described in its nature, so there remains a certain mystery around it, especially with regard to its intentions, a mystical dimension that is unfortunately never really exploited.
On L's side, the story of the wacky detective of the manga is resumed in its main lines and shown differently. Lakeith Stanfield embodies this completely new character, less insensitive and precisely often victim of his own emotions. But here too, her story is quickly dispatched when she would have deserved a more thorough treatment, if only to get empathy for the character in the final phase of the film. In the end, the cause of his troubles is deduced more than is understood, and this is because we guess the intention of resuming certain tracks of the manga or anime. And on the benefit side, Willem Dafoe has not betrayed our confidence as a malicious and frightening Ryuk, hence the frustration at the end of the film and that the angel of death has been little exploited. On the other hand, Natt Wolf never really convinces in Light Turner, the actor's game bringing even some slices of laughter, involuntary on the part of the actor.
Where this Death Note seeks to approach the original, it is in his attempt to create some shenanigans by exploiting the capabilities of the Death Notebook. Some good ideas are also found here, for example new rules on the possession of the notebook or the possibility of returning to a written death, but do not result in much: a few twists here and there that have a slight effectiveness , but mostly serve as a scriptwriting facility to bring about the outcome of the film. It also seems hard not to miss out on big scenario inconsistencies: why the plot takes place in a poor Seattle police station, in the hands of one man? No idea. Of course, there are other examples that sometimes cringe.
In short, the Death Note sauce is taken to create pure entertainment, not well psychological unfortunately. Where the recipe does not always work, it is in the culmination of all this: the conclusion is a non-end that suggests a sequel, an intention that Adam Wingard entrusted on the very day of the release of the film , and an absence of finality in relation to the characters. And there, too, is something quite frustrating. For the total non-conformity of the film with respect to the manga is not a disturbing element, since the footage had the possibility to tap into the original work to be an effective entertainment. The problem then comes from the absence of strong writing, themes not really exploited, shallow characters, big scenarios and inconsistencies, and an impression that the film did not say everything about his plot.
The big interest of the film will then be its realization, fit for purpose. Adam Wingard manages to create an atmosphere that is often cold and heavy in his film, a sensation of battle lost to Light and Mia, and a lack of humanity on the part of many characters. It is easy to get caught up in this realization which puts the film's heavy atmosphere in the spotlight and, despite a more fun pursuit race than anything else, the final sequence of the Ferris wheel is well staged in terms of stage dramatic finale. On the other hand, the whole technical leg is proving to be quite fictitious by a caricatured original soundtrack, based on a number of pop-rock pieces that sometimes do not have much to do there, sometimes clumsily highlighting the evolution of the relationship between Light and Mia ... teen-movie you said?
Alors, l’adaptation live américaine de Death Note est bien une déception. Pourtant, les ingrédients pour créer une adaptation nouvelle du manga étaient là, certaines pistes scénaristiques ont même de quoi s’attirer l’intérêt du spectateur !
Malheureusement, le tout est noyé sous un trop grand nombre de défauts : dimension teen-movie dégoulinante de clichés, pistes scénaristiques trop peu exploitées, intrigue sans réelle finalité, surenchère du spectaculaire pas toujours justifiée, dimension psychologique qui reste en surface, direction musicale aux fraises… Il ne fallait pourtant pas grand-chose pour éviter nombre de ces défauts : une relecture plus minutieuse du scénario, ou une quinzaine de minutes supplémentaires afin d'exploiter davantage d’éléments narratifs ou développer les personnages.
Qu'à cela ne tienne, le film n'est pas la catastrophe que certains présentent, juste un film au fort potentiel, mais plutôt maladroit. Inutile, donc, de comparer ce Death Note au misérable Dragon Ball Evolution. Si suite il y a, on espère que Netflix aura conscience des faiblesses de cette première partie.
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