Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 24 augusT 2017
Review: Netflix’s ‘Death

Note’ gets lost in translation

By MARK KENNEDY loner (Light Turner), played and debates over collat-
AP Entertainment Writer by Nat Wolff, trying to keep eral damage.
When “Death Note” be- some sort of acting realism But this thriller-inclined
gins, we learn that Seattle in a film that gets gradually version of “Death Note”
teenager Light Turner has unmoored from reality (as doesn’t dwell enough on
a crush on a cheerleader films with apple-eating de- such questions and instead
at his high school. So when mons tend to do.) becomes increasingly
these two would-be love- Turner teams up with the strained by its own insan-
birds finally talk for the first cheerleader (Margaret ity and clogged by clunky
This image released by Netflix shows Lakeith Stanfield, left, and time and really open up Qualley, who is pretty ter- dialogue. Taking its time
Nat Wolff in a scene from “Death Note.” to each other, Turner has rific as she unwinds her in- to establish characters, it
Associated Press to be honest: “It’s going to ner crazy) to mete out final then rushes headlong into
sound a little crazy,” he tells punishments, first to high a montage of bodies pil-
her, “but I have a death school bullies, then go- ing up, a cat-and-mouse
god.” ing wider to terrorists, drug chase, stunts worthy of 007
Well, not to be too judgy, dealers, serial molesters and ends as a twisted love
but, yeah, that actually and gang members. “We affair with shades of “Mac-
does sound a little crazy. can change the world,” beth.”
Even so, our hero man- they claim, giddy after 400 It’s tried to cram in too
ages to get his companion deaths. much and be too many
intrigued and not make a Not everyone is happy with things.
swift exit to calculus. If you the sudden slayings of the Aside from great visual ef-
don’t have your own death world’s worst people, es- fects, basic stuff gets weird,
god, you might also want pecially Turner’s cop dad like a swarm of FBI agents
to check out “Death Note” and a mysterious and who are tracking a crucial
— until you tap out about quirky freelance detective suspect not bothering to lis-
three-quarters in and run (Lakeith Stanfield, whose ten in or trace his cellphone.
off to calculus. unsubtle performance These same top-notch feds
The film , a live-action ad- has unfortunately been in- also get confused by who
aptation of the popular spired a little too much by exactly is wearing a top
Japanese manga-turned- comics). They go hunting hat. The film’s use of cheesy
anime, is about a supernat- for whoever is putting them songs by Air Supply and
ural notebook that gives the out of business. Berlin doesn’t help, either.
owner the power to kill any- The reason “Death Note” Netflix has faced criticism
one they like. All they have is so popular is that it raises for the Westernization — or
to do is write the name of tough philosophical ques- “whitewashing” — of the
someone while picturing his tions — Who deserves original material, only a few
or her face. (There are doz- death? How do you de- months after Paramount
ens more rules, of course, termine guilt? What crime Pictures suffered a flop with
but who bothers to really calls out for instant karma? its “Ghost in the Shell” with
read instruction booklets Put aside the demon, and Scarlett Johansson, who
anyway?) those questions are timely stepped into another cher-
The book, which appears in an era of drone strikes ished Japanese title. q
literally out of the sky,
comes with its own demon
and that turns out to be a
9-foot-tall dude with glow-
ing red eyes, spiky hair
and a penchant for eating
apples. He has the chilling,
unhinged voice of Willem
Dafoe, which makes him
extra creepy. (Forget ap-
ples, Dafoe’s gnawing on
the scenery).
The original manga — con-
ceived and written by Tsu-
gumi Ohba and illustrated
by Takeshi Obata — has
already been turned into
a 12-volume book series, a
TV series and even a stage
musical, among other
properties.
This time, it’s directed by
Adam Wingard and the
story has been moved to
Seattle. The hero (Light Ya-
gami) is now a super-bright,