Death Note (2017)
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A high school student finds a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone whose name is written in it, leading to a deadly game of cat and mouse with an international detective.
The story
In Seattle, Washington, high school senior Light Turner discovers the Death Note, an ancient notebook capable of supernaturally killing anyone whose name is written inside. After being encouraged by a Japanese death god named Ryuk, Light begins using the notebook to eliminate criminals, adopting the persona of 'Kira.' As his actions gain global notoriety, an enigmatic international detective known as L begins a high-stakes investigation to uncover Kira's identity. The two engage in a complex psychological and tactical battle as Light attempts to maintain his secret while L works with local authorities to track him down, all while Light's father, a police detective, remains unaware of his son's involvement.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After Light begins using the Death Note, he teams up with his classmate Mia Sutton to eliminate criminals. They operate under the name 'Kira' to mislead law enforcement. Meanwhile, the detective L deduces Kira's location and methods. Light eventually tricks Watari into revealing L's identity, but fails to secure the name, leading to Watari's death. Mia eventually turns on Light, claiming she has written his name in the book. During a confrontation at the Seattle Great Wheel, Ryuk destroys the structure, and Light's plan to put himself in a medically induced coma is revealed as a ruse to outlast L's pursuit. The film ends with L finding the notes in Mia's house and contemplating writing a name to avenge Watari, while Ryuk watches Light in a hospital, remarking on how interesting humans are.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 100
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Adam Wingard
- Writers
- Charles Parlapanides · screenplay; Vlas Parlapanides · screenplay; Jeremy Slater · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Nat Wolff · Light Turner; LaKeith Stanfield · L; Margaret Qualley · Mia Sutton; Shea Whigham · Detective James Turner; Paul Nakauchi · Watari; Jason Liles · Ryuk; Willem Dafoe · Ryuk
- Genres
- supernatural crime thriller; horror thriller
- Themes
- morality; justice; good and evil
- Tone and mood
- dark; mysterious
- Premise and plot tags
- supernatural; crime; vigilante; cat and mouse
- Source material / true-story basis
- manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
- Franchise connections
- Death Note
- Reception
- The film received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics and fans.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 36% · scale: percentage · review count: 77; Metacritic · score: 43 · scale: 100 · review count: 14
- Production trivia
- The film used real footage of a 2010 train collision in Belgium, which was criticized as disrespectful.; A sequel is in development with a script by Greg Russo.; The production was filmed in British Columbia, where Vancouver doubled as Seattle.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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