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Death Note

2017
Suspense/Thriller
Fantasy
1h 41m
Light Turner, a bright student, stumbles across a mystical notebook that has the power to kill any person whose name he writes in it. Light decides to launch a secret crusade to rid the streets of criminals. Soon, the student-turned-vigilante finds himself pursued by a famous detective known only by the alias L. (imdb)
Directed by:
Adam Wingard Adam Wingard
Written by:
Charley Parlapanides Vlas Parlapanides Jeremy Slater
+2 more
Starring:
Willem Dafoe Willem Dafoe Shea Whigham Shea Whigham Kwesi Ameyaw Chris Britton Nat Wolff Nat Wolff Lakeith Stanfield Lakeith Stanfield Margaret Qualley Margaret Qualley Paul Nakauchi Matthew Kevin Anderson Christian Sloan Jason Liles Justin Stone
More
Franchise:
Death Note
Genres:
Suspense/Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country:
USA
Languages:
English, Spanish, Japanese
imdb More information at IMDb
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Death Note

2017
Suspense/Thriller
Fantasy
1h 41m
Your probable score
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer
Avg Percentile 15.88% from 812 total ratings
Ratings & Reviews Cast Collections Similar Stats Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

(812)
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billyshearsBillyShears
Rated 26 Aug 2017
45
15th
Once that L character showed up I wrote "Death Note" down in my pithy review for bad movies with stupid characters book and here we are.
Rated 26 Aug 2017
rosenritterrosenritter
Rated 29 Aug 2017
1
0th
Rules for westernizing Death Note: RULE #66: Light should use the Death Note because Ryuk persuaded him to, not out of his own volition. RULE #67: Absolutely no gambits. This is a romantic drama, not a mind game. RULE #68: Each death should occur as the result of a Final Destination-style Rube Goldberg sequence. RULE #69: Light needs to be primarily motivated by sex, so he should show the Death Note to the cheerleader he has a crush on. Cue a montage of murder intercut with sex.
Rated 29 Aug 2017
groovysoulsGroovy_Souls
Rated 26 Aug 2017
35
15th
Maybe I'll get flack for rating it this high even, but Death Note can be entertaining at times. That being said it makes a mockery of the original show, as well as its two focal characters, and the demon Ryuk. The acting is atrocious for the most part, though DaFoe is a perfect Ryuk. Even still, Wingard has always shown a flair for visual interest and in fact carries the film on Final Destination-esque shoulders. If someone is to blame, blame the writers, producers, and Nat Wolff's bitchy Light.
Rated 26 Aug 2017
phantom_nookPhantom Nook
Rated 27 Aug 2017
30
1st
As its own movie, it starts out okay but quickly becomes ridiculous and stupid. As an adaption of a great anime, it's atrocious. It has no understanding of any of the characters, and wipes its ass with the rules of Death Note multiple times. If you've never seen anything Death Note, there's no reason to watch this movie over the series, which is also on Netflix as of this movie's release.
Rated 27 Aug 2017
damildamil
Rated 31 Aug 2017
40
13th
It's going to disappoint and anger fans of the anime, and just confuse people who aren't. It's all quite messy, picking and choosing stuff from it, leaving out some good stuff, and adding some not so good stuff. The dialogue is bad, which results in mostly bad performances. Dafoe was fine, but they made his character superfluous. The one saving grace was Stanfield as L - he was actually pretty fantastic. Also, I've been saying this for a while, but director Adam Wingard is a hack.
Rated 31 Aug 2017
sweekodenSweekoden
Rated 21 Apr 2018
35
18th
Not a fan of the casting, the new characterization, or much of anything that happens here. But the soundtrack wasn't bad, and I'm sure the Japanese take on Death Note as a motion picture will be much harder to watch even if it stays closer to the source material. Funny-bad climactic moment with poor choice of music and almost fourth wall-breakingly hammy acting aside, the denouement was interesting enough. 28th film of 2018.
Rated 21 Apr 2018
velvet_croweVelvet Crowe
Rated 09 Oct 2018
10
4th
Completely misunderstands what made the original Death Note work, turning Light into a generic high school douchebag and taking out the dynamic mind games that made the original so great. I'm not going to shit on it for its deviation from the source material, but this film is terrible on its own. The plot is filled with a lot inane high school melodrama and the film does a terrible job of convincing you L or Light are geniuses. generally speaking, the film is immensely stupid and inconsistent.
Rated 09 Oct 2018
dakota99Dakota99
Rated 02 Sep 2017
2
8th
I never watched the show, and with no expectations going into this it was meh. Dafoe excelled as the demon/monster of this movie, and by far was the coolest part of this movie. However, I felt bored 20-25 min into this and not until Stanfield's character was introduced, did I care about any of it. The main leads themselves were fine, and I found their chemistry passable but I kinda expected more high steaks situations that mattered more than just cliche horror deaths. Nothing felt important.
Rated 02 Sep 2017
moraesfelipemoraesfelipe
Rated 02 Sep 2017
65
61st
Wingard chooses maybe the lighter side of possibilities, but not the easiest. Instead, he takes his chances by making a fully nostalgic and self-conscious teen movie with tentacles reaching gore, romance and cartoonish comedy -- not to mention the absolutely brilliant soundtrack choices. Concept is perfectly suited to the fast-paced, teen angst-driven first half, but not so smooth when Wingard has to pull of a part CSI, part chess game between L and Light. Another victim of fandom entitlement.
Rated 02 Sep 2017
moonsmilkmoonsmilk
Rated 31 Aug 2017
6
25th
It's kinda sad that within the span of a few years, Adam Wingard went from "cool director with interesting ideas" to "guy Hollywood picks to make awful ideas seem less awful". Doesn't work as well as it did for Blair Witch.
Rated 31 Aug 2017
ecitizeneCitizen
Rated 17 Oct 2017
40
32nd
A suspenseful story that fails on a few levels, however it has a few nice plot turns. The creepy death monster served little to no actual purpose. Margaret Qualley was gorgeous. Nat Wolff was adequate. Lakeith Stanfield gave a memorable performance as the odd detective. Other supporting cast was good. The premise was not supported by even a flimsy narrative. Music was great, as was the film quality in general. Not terrific but also not a complete waste of time.
Rated 17 Oct 2017
matthew_parkinsonMatthew Parkinson
Rated 26 Aug 2017
30
17th
Death Note is a bad movie that fails because it doesn't give us, well, much of anything. Its pacing is so quick and its story is so simplified to the point that there's very little to it. Its characters are bland, it doesn't give any aspect of the production time to breathe or develop, and it avoids thematic depth like it's something of which to be scared. Outside of a kind of enjoyable Willem Dafoe performance and some unintentional laughter, there's nothing to be gained from watching
Rated 26 Aug 2017
naypalmNaypalm
Rated 27 Aug 2017
42
11th
It doesn't have the time for the character development and plot line to develop fully. The original has enough time to actually accomplish this, this on the other hand is rushed, hella rushed. That said it's done in the way one would expect an American remate to be done yet by Netflix so it's done better than one would expect. There are some glaring mistakes however, things like L - the character is simply incorrect; he is to be introverted and unemotional - they play him more as an action hero.
Rated 27 Aug 2017
joojooJooJoo
Rated 03 Sep 2017
4
55th
A for effort, guys.
Rated 03 Sep 2017
daigoroDaigoro
Rated 21 Nov 2017
2
7th
Even setting aside the whitewashing and blatant disregard for the source material, it's still shit. Light and L are supposed to be geniuses but constantly make one emotional, irrational decision after another. The story is so simplified a child could see every twist coming from miles away. Instead of the deep themes of the anime we have inane teen melodrama. As far as worthless live action adaptions go it may not be quite as abhorrent as Dragon Ball Evolution, but it's definitely not far behind.
Rated 21 Nov 2017
ununniliumUnunnilium
Rated 27 May 2023
15
6th
The big problem is that Death Note wasn't a horror series, it was a cat-and-mouse thriller, and trying to be horror explains why this adaptation is so disjointed. ...wait, no it doesn't! Why all the inappropriate 80s songs? Why the "raised in a secret mad science lab for making super-detectives" backstory for L? And why in God's name did they think it necessary to show us a black man being choke-slammed by a cop and expect us to sympathize with the cop?? Just a mess of weird, bad decisions.
Rated 27 May 2023
luna6ixLuna6ix
Rated 01 Oct 2017
57
12th
Netflix probably paid a lot of money for the rights to this, they probably fronted a lot of money on it too, so it's quite disappointing that it was so poorly handled. Firstly, this script plain sucks, dialog is fine, but the story here moves retardedly, they could have spent the entire duration on Light using the death note and creating the fictional Kira, but instead we were treated to a break neck montage and then BAM, L comes in and ruins the movie. Seriously, the character is that bad.
Rated 01 Oct 2017
hamstercanhamstercan
Rated 05 Sep 2017
0
0th
shame
Rated 05 Sep 2017
zachreviewsZachReviews
Rated 26 Aug 2017
0
0th
Netflix found a way to systematically fuck up an already fairly mediocre anime
Rated 26 Aug 2017
ytadelYtadel
Rated 26 Aug 2017
1
5th
Avatar: The Last Airbender, step aside, make some room in "Serialized Animated Shows with Shitty Live-Action Adaptations that Compress Hours of Story Into a Way-Too-Short Runtime" Club! Yes, this movie is sadly pure shit. 95% of everything brain-scratching and delicious has been stripped from the cat and mouse game between Light and L in its compression from dozens of episodes to dozens of minutes. I'm no uber-purist when it comes to adaptations, but this is less adaptation than act of butchery.
Rated 26 Aug 2017
spunkieSpunkie
Rated 26 Aug 2017
25
11th
I'm not a death note fan, but I appreciate certain qualities and cliffhanger done right nature of it. This movie has none.
Rated 26 Aug 2017
comepeliculacomepelicula
Rated 22 Sep 2017
60
52nd
There is no point in comparing the original material to this movie, this is an interpretation in the sense that takes some elements from the original and names but rearranges the whole story including the personalities of the characters. It's not a bad teenager movie, has some thrilling moments and the supernatural elements don't interfere with the character's development, it's entertaining.
Rated 22 Sep 2017
dunetailsdunetails
Rated 28 Aug 2017
20
11th
Why did they bother. Exactly the same weaknesses as the recent Ghost in the Shell
Rated 28 Aug 2017
aaautinAAAutin
Rated 09 Sep 2017
46
38th
Adam Wingard -- crushed by stacks of the source material. (Did it work?)
Rated 09 Sep 2017
hadleyreisHadleyreis
Rated 03 Nov 2018
15
1st
Please write my name
Rated 03 Nov 2018
syntheseizurSyntheseizur
Rated 30 Aug 2017
51
8th
Ignores the moral quandaries, patient character development, and logic puzzles of the source and replaces them with goofy humor, overly complicated and gory death sequences, and glorious scenery chewing from Dafoe and Stanfield. Any fan of the anime will be perturbed by its mere existence, but if you know what to expect (namely, a film with completely different aims than the source material and some admittedly problematic whitewashing), it's a camp-dense exercise in hyperstylized entertainment.
Rated 30 Aug 2017
lennyneroLennyNero
Rated 02 Sep 2017
80
80th
The anime was good but way too pretentious despite the many drawbacks. This however is just a fast-paced GFY to all the fans who think the source material is untouchable because of inane reasons. Too bad it' too rushed, because otherwise it would be as good as Wingard's other big films.
Rated 02 Sep 2017
donquixoticdonquixotic
Rated 26 Aug 2017
45
27th
What the hell Adam Wingard
Rated 26 Aug 2017
wwallce4prezWWallce4prez
Rated 06 Sep 2017
35
5th
Even without any prior knowledge of the original story, it is clear that Death Note rushes through its material at breakneck speed. This comes at the cost of often silly plot devices and missing character motivations. Wingard has some slick directing, at times (slow down on the Dutch Angles dude), but the film ultimately falls to poor acting and and poor screenplay. I have no idea what movie Keith Stanfield thought he was in.
Rated 06 Sep 2017
shinysingershinySinger
Rated 24 Jan 2020
15
3rd
the reddit incels were right, this movie sucks
Rated 24 Jan 2020
maakalmaakal
Rated 02 Sep 2017
30
4th
You have to wonder what was going through the filmmaker's minds. Why even make this movie? It adds nothing. It eliminates everything clever about the original and strains it through this idiotic "high-school" filter. Ryuk, who's so awesome in the original, is braindead here, reduced to a generic "villain" type. It saddens me that people might only watch this, and conclude that "Death Note is dumb". An insult.
Rated 02 Sep 2017
getmoneygetmoney
Rated 03 Sep 2017
90
88th
Amazing condensing, great sense of style and transportation of the setting. Fantastic Atticus Ross and Willem Dafoe
Rated 03 Sep 2017
ippeiIppei
Rated 17 Oct 2017
20
0th
Easily the worst film I've seen this year. One of those films that is both baffling, as to why they actually made it and if you are to "re-make" it, why you wouldn't make it better. The whitewashing aside, they've also tried to westernise the film and it doesn't work. The film also rushes through, almost like they know you've seen the original, so they didn't bother. The best thing might actually be Willem Dafoe's voice but that's definitely not enough to warrant a watch.
Rated 17 Oct 2017
fghtffyrdmnsfghtffyrdmns
Rated 20 Dec 2017
50
16th
Surprisingly decent!
Rated 20 Dec 2017
fngnfngn
Rated 14 Sep 2017
20
12th
Hollywood should stay the hell away from japanese film remakes! It's so frustrating even for someone who didnt watch the original! Light is pictured as such a weak charakter and all this evil couple relationship with Mia is so awfull! Not to mention L who turns out to be some revenge seeking freak, chased away by the cops (really Hollywood? Black guy being beaten up by the white cop/dad?) the music is like some late 90s chick flick movies. to all of whom liked the japanese movie:dont watch it!
Rated 14 Sep 2017
soixistSoixist
Rated 30 Mar 2021
26
4th
no no no no no
Rated 30 Mar 2021
adamj1982adamj1982
Rated 14 Mar 2018
35
7th
Kind of got worse as it went on, but was suprised to see how hard it is panned here.
Rated 14 Mar 2018
moopermooper
Rated 26 Aug 2017
15
7th
Ok, what the fuck
Rated 26 Aug 2017
seethruskinSeethruskin
Rated 18 Aug 2021
3
25th
All I know about the source material is the white sweaty anime kids in my highschool in the mid 2000s loved it. This is okay.
Rated 18 Aug 2021
kmcneilKMcNeil
Rated 25 Aug 2017
3
24th
A huge letdown from Wingard following the pulpy fun of You're Next and not least The Guest (one of the most underrated movies of the last few years). Death Note presents it's premise and characters strongly, but then loses steam rapidly about 1/3 of the way through the movie, as the Death God and his Final Destination thrill kills all but disappear and Lakeith Stanfield's truly terrible character "L." introduces a mind-numbingly insipid cat and mouse game.
Rated 25 Aug 2017
fmoraesfmoraes
Rated 28 Feb 2018
50
15th
2018/02/27
Rated 28 Feb 2018
isaboojumisaboojum
Rated 29 Aug 2017
1
10th
An explosive pile of shit.
Rated 29 Aug 2017
yoohooyoohoo
Rated 01 Sep 2017
40
4th
It wasn't until after I had finished watching this that I realized the director also made The Guest and You're Next, two fabulous movies. Then the disappointment settled in. The acting was atrocious, but the story itself was *fine*. Having never read the manga, I was unfamiliar with this but I did think it had potential.
Rated 01 Sep 2017
yoshinarutoYoshinaruto
Rated 28 Aug 2017
55
32nd
As a fan of the original, this isn't as bad as some people say, nor as good as we all had hoped. A big issue is that the film isn't similar enough or different enough from the anime. It aims to be somewhere in the middle and as a result it can't help but be compared. The writing, pacing (for the first 30 minutes) and major changes were my main issues, although the song playing on the ferris wheel scene is also a mood killer. It IS entertaining and well shot though, with fairly decent acting.
Rated 28 Aug 2017
noisebloomnoisebloom
Rated 30 Jan 2019
53
10th
Death Note is not a terrible movie. While it completely fails to live up to the intelligent masterpiece of the anime, the film has great cinematography, solid direction, and some very interesting twists. However, Death Note's Achilles heel is its characters. Their motivations are confusing and not relatable, and many of the parts in the movie are not acted particularly well - especially the main character's. This unfortunately relegates the film to the heap of underwhelming adaptations.
Rated 30 Jan 2019
mo_iiMo-
Rated 25 Feb 2018
12
0th
This movie hurt my soul. I wish I had never been exposed to such filth.
Rated 25 Feb 2018
darrenDarren
Rated 18 Aug 2021
48
19th
Definitely thought this was going to be the worst thing ever but mostly just like ehhh who cares. Knowing nothing about the source material probably helped. Don't like this as a trajectory for Wingard but whatever. Defoe being in this was funnny as he just got to use his Goblin voice again.
Rated 18 Aug 2021
jordanraidenjordanraiden
Rated 19 Dec 2017
1
0th
1/0
Rated 19 Dec 2017
war_machineWar Machine
Rated 26 Aug 2017
59
20th
too many genius things they shouldn't have left out or changed. but understandable cuz they wanted to make a pretty good shitty tween movie. def dont watch this before the show lol but having watched the show helps cuz you'll have better context for the characters and you may be intrigued by their attempt to remake it, like i was. if you think they ruined the OG, maybe imagine it's just a shitty sequel lol. it feels like Jumanji 2: Final Destination
Rated 26 Aug 2017
britneeeebritneeee
Rated 03 Oct 2018
65
29th
It seems like I might be one of the few people who would consider giving this a good rating; even criticker is convinced I hated it! However, I loved the series when I started it and ended up wanting it to be over so badly so I could just move on. It was dragged out way longer than it ever should have, whereas a movie adaptation has to end eventually, preferably around the hour and 40 minute mark. Because of this, I felt like it covered everything and only everything that needed to be covered.
Rated 03 Oct 2018
synthonosynthono
Rated 06 Oct 2017
60
8th
Honestly, it looks cool and had a good soundtrack, and some of the action sequences were decent, and if it wasn't trying to make the same mistakes every bad American movie makes - bullying subplot, love interest, that kinda stuff, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Rated 06 Oct 2017
eric_janeric-jan
Rated 03 Sep 2017
60
13th
TO BE HONEST: I did not have high hopes for this movie.. BUT it was better than I could have imagined haha. Although Light was pretty dumb and Mia got introduced very early and Ryuk had a more 'active' role in this version, I liked the ending in which Light finally really used the Death Note like he does in the anime series. HOWEVER, this Death Note movie has been changed into a standard teenage horror flick. F@#% You for doing that. It's a work of art, not this @#%.
Rated 03 Sep 2017
geniusshotsGeniusShots
Rated 29 Dec 2023
1
3rd
10 because ryuk looks cool
Rated 29 Dec 2023
ebelcEbelC
Rated 07 Sep 2017
20
8th
Horror beyond words, it certainly looks like a parody at times. No logic, random character behaviour, the songs they put sometimes... No need to compare with anything previously made of Death Note to realize it's horrible. This is not just a fan that didn't like this version (I was totally open minded to this), but the result it's just a mess and it will look also that way to people that knew nothing related to Death Note before.
Rated 07 Sep 2017
tipartipar
Rated 22 Dec 2019
55
53rd
And you still prefer the Asian one?
Rated 22 Dec 2019
bktanbktan
Rated 01 May 2018
10
2nd
Insulting.
Rated 01 May 2018
nichololasNichololas
Rated 03 Sep 2017
65
26th
Better than expected! Lead actor has
Rated 03 Sep 2017
jordanchasejordanchase
Rated 28 Aug 2022
30
3rd
28.08.2022 Kartal
Rated 28 Aug 2022
parcalihamparcaliham
Rated 26 Aug 2017
10
1st
15 August 2017
Rated 26 Aug 2017
parexus2Parexus2
Rated 02 Oct 2017
4
1st
This movie is sometimes entertaining. The visuals are nice. However, that is basically all this movie has going for it. It tries going in a ton of different directions down the highway of completely stupid bullshit. They insert third grade cartoon humor into a serious r-rated manga which leaves you with the taste of vomit in your mouth. The romance is fucking stupid. Listen, I don't have enough characters to tell you how fucking trash this movie is. Just know it is trash.
Rated 02 Oct 2017
vandelay1Vandelay1
Rated 05 Sep 2017
49
50th
okay movie
Rated 05 Sep 2017
senolatnapsenolatnap
Rated 04 Nov 2018
60
39th
Not being a weeaboo nor the sort of person who thinks that remaking a story from outside the US automatically constitutes whitewashing, I didn't hate this like the internet wanted me to. It's deeply silly and inconsequential (like, people take this seriously as long as the characters are Japanese?) but Wingard keeps the nonsense humming along and livens things up with a good deal of visual pizzazz and a tongue-in-cheek approach. There are worse ways to waste your time, or mine anyway.
Rated 04 Nov 2018
lawlaw
Rated 17 Apr 2019
20
5th
Beefing up the lower extreme of my Criticker ratings by forcing myself to watch embarrassments.
Rated 17 Apr 2019
okayfrogokayfrog
Rated 06 Sep 2017
25
2nd
I went into this hoping it would be so bad it was good. Instead, it was just bad, really bad. It's Death Note made for those who hate Death Note.
Rated 06 Sep 2017
guillaumeGuillaume
Rated 15 Oct 2017
40
6th
Good score,good voice but estranging CGI for Ryuk,Light's father was ok, and that's where "the good" ends.Light's just a stupid kid,nothing about him proves he's in any way intelligent (other than ppl saying so) or a worthy opponent for L (who is a whole other kind of stupid in this flick).There is barely any tension between the two,or even a shred of intelligent discourse throughout the entire movie.It's entertaining to some extent,but most of it has nothing to do with what Death Note entails.
Rated 15 Oct 2017
em0nsterem0nster
Rated 02 Jan 2018
70
68th
Good if seen as completely unrelated to the Anime.
Rated 02 Jan 2018
ikkegoemikkeikkegoemikke
Rated 22 Jan 2018
48
24th
I'm sure the Japanese version is superior ... but I've never seen it ! More reviews here : http://movie-freak.be
Rated 22 Jan 2018
vassagoVassago
Rated 09 Sep 2017
37
6th
Seriously, why you change the scenario...
Rated 09 Sep 2017
byderByder
Rated 27 Aug 2017
53
26th
Thankfully not just a retelling of the manga/ anime as it brings new and fresh elements to the original series. However, one should not expect a witty movie but something rather bland. At no point does this movie try to tell or show the viewer something, the sole focus lies on entertainment.
Rated 27 Aug 2017
ivyyivyy
Rated 02 Feb 2019
5
2nd
Wtf ????
Rated 02 Feb 2019
koalafishKoalafish
Rated 03 Jan 2019
25
1st
Without any knowledge of the brillant manga/anime this may pass as mediocre. But since this is a remake, its almost baffling how they managed to fuck up almost* every single thing on such a grand scale. *Dafoe as Ryuk wasn't bad.
Rated 03 Jan 2019

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