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[Ryzaki009]

I don't know about charismatic, but Light definitely knew how to play and trick people. He was a trustworthy person. Hell didn't he head the police department?

He did. His charm and ability to manipulate people gets thrown in his face by L (mostly because of it not working on him) quite a bit too. It's part of the reason Matsuda flips out at the end because he just couldn't believe it and snapped.

I wouldn't really call him evil, he was a death god that got bored and decided to spice things up by dropping his notebook into the human world. He just wanted to see what would happen if someone picked it up and used it. He's a god, it doesn't matter to him if bad things happen to humans.

Yeah I find that evil. He purposely dropped a death note on earth because he was bored and wanted to see what someone would do with it (ruining their life in the process). That's a bit more evil than neutral to me.

 

[……forgetit]

I for one trust the director with remakes, after is last one was...Blair Witch? Oh...oh God....oh no.....

Spoiler

Ryuk looks and sounds great though.

 

[dani_dc]

This is definitely a diff character than Light, which I'm fine with (though why bother to keep the name at that point).

I'm mostly disappointed with Ryuk, in the manga he was a mischiever, one not bound by human morals.
Making him into some sort of devil figure takes away from his character.

 

[Kusagari]

This is the direction they should go for. Like 100%.



There was nothing pleasant or charming about him. The guy he pretended to be was as boring and bland as humanly possible. Like what was something that he did that was genuinely charismatic? Because it certainly wasn't the way he ate potato chips. Or having good grades.

Everyone that met Light in the manga trusted and loved him. He had tons of friends at school. Women were falling over themselves to be with him.

Maybe charismatic isn't exactly the right word. But he was most certainly well-liked by every single person he met.

 

[chrono01]

i mean. would you believe it would be true? he's already seeing a demon in front so he may as well play along. could be an elaborate dream of his.

I guess.

Still seems like such an extreme method of death, even if Light did think he was dreaming. I guess it'll be even more surprising for him then when it actually happens, since death by decapitation whilst bullying a girl on a driveway is...well...not common.

 

[RedBoot]

Everyone that met Light in the manga trusted and loved him. He had tons of friends at school. Women were falling over themselves to be with him.

Maybe charismatic isn't exactly the right word. But he was most certainly well-liked by every single person he met.

It plays into the "youth worship" that's common in anime/manga and also Japanese society, to an extent.

Meanwhile, in the US, teenagers are generally portrayed as being more angsty and unsure, which matches this Light a little better.

 

[Nickle]

Yeah I find that evil. He purposely dropped a death note on earth because he was bored and wanted to see what someone would do with it (ruining their life in the process). That's a bit more evil than neutral to me.

He's a god, he cares about humans just as much as we care about mosquitos and flies.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I don't know about charismatic, but Light definitely knew how to play and trick people. He was a trustworthy person. Hell didn't he head the police department?

He was a good liar. But he wasn't charismatic.

Everyone that met Light in the manga trusted and loved him. He had tons of friends at school. Women were falling over themselves to be with him.

Maybe charismatic isn't exactly the right word. But he was most certainly well-liked by every single person he met.

He was well liked but also an incredibly bland individual. I chalk that up the the tendency of manga and anime to set the bar for the MC being considered interesting by surrounding characters as low as humanly possible.

Spoiler

Where even the act of cooking a meal or having the capacity for empathy or kindness is treated as something revelatory..

 

[Gnome Scat]

oh my god he killed kenny

 

[jett]

That's different. Didn't you have to set the time and date of the death too?

 

[Shadowninja100]

That's different. Didn't you have to set the time and date of the death too?

If you don't set the time and date it happens 1 minute after writing the name.

 

[Occam]

Light looks dumb.

 

[Fat4all]

That's different. Didn't you have to set the time and date of the death too?

if you don't specify the TOD it happens in 40 seconds iirc

you have 40 seconds to write down extra details or a TOD to change how the death happens

 

[Crossing Eden]

Slight nitpick about Ryuk is that his hands are extra thick when they're supposed to be pretty elongated and bony because he's lanky AF

 

[cj_iwakura]

Certainly has Adam Wingard's M.O. all over it. (And I mean that as a good thing, I love all his films.)

Can't wait.

 

[Clessidor]

He's an American White boy named Light Turner. It's obvious he's different.

No, this Light seems to be complete different person then an American White version of Light Yagami. The thing about the original character is that he is in his society privileged smart guy, who seems to be perfect in the way he is expected to be. He isn't insecure, even before the Death Note appears in his life he knows, that he will play a big role in society, because he is above average in his skills.
And it wouldn't be hard to adapt this personality into an American White boy with the name Light Turner. But it doesn't appears so. Quite insecure from what we have seen so far. And I think that's worth to point out.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Is this being written with Wingard's partner in crime, Simon Barrett?

 

[lightskintwin]

No, this Light seems to be complete different person then an American White version of Light Yagami. The thing about the original character is that he is in his society privileged smart guy, who seems to be perfect in the way he is expected to be. He isn't insecure, even before the Death Note appears in his life he knows, that he will play a big role in society, because he is above average in his skills.
And it wouldn't be hard to adapt this personality into an American White boy with the name Light Turner. But it doesn't appears so. Quite insecure from what we have seen so far. And I think that's worth to point out.

Did I say American White version of Light Yagami?

I already posted Light Turner ≠ Light Yagami.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Spoiler

Taking half of Lights life benefits him though. Dude was a scholar and in super good shape, he was probably on track to live well past 80. Ryuk only cared about himself and being entertained.

Spoiler

The thing is though, Ryuk is the one who wrote Lights name in the book.
When he stopped being entertained, IE Lights breakdown, he wrote his name down.
Besides, all the names written in Lights book already benefited Ryuks life force since that was his notebook, and Light can't benefit from the lives written down. At that point,
Ryuk probably had thousands of years added to his lifespan thanks to Lights diligent work.

 

[WarRock]

Ryuk's hands are huuuuuuuge

 

[lightskintwin]

Is this being written with Wingard's partner in crime, Simon Barrett?

The recent revision of the script was written by Jeremy Slater.

Which I'm certain if you look at his previous screenwriting work probably won't fill you with too much confidence.

Filmography
The Lazarus Effect (2015)
Fantastic Four (2015)
The Exorcist (2016)
Pet (2016)
Death Note (2017)

 

[Not]

Still wish they cast an Asian-American, but damn if this doesn't look awesome.

 

[cj_iwakura]

The recent revision of the script was written by Jeremy Slater.

Which I'm certain if you look at his previous screenwriting work probably won't fill you with too much confidence.

Filmography
The Lazarus Effect (2015)
Fantastic Four (2015)
The Exorcist (2016)
Pet (2016)
Death Note (2017)

Not really, no. But I like what I've seen of it, and Wingard's style will hopefully make up for it.

 

[Zekes!]

Regardless of the quality of the show, Dafoe is inspired casting for Ryuk

 

[mikeGFG]

is this 29 year old dude supposed to be in high school?

 

[The Silver]

Well that's a very different kind of Light, lol'd at going straight to decapitation though.

 

[Watevaman]

I know nothing about Death Note but this was cool. Dafoe seemed like a great fit for a demon thing. Will probably give this a watch.

 

[Opto]

This Light seems like a dumbass, no wonder he gets caught in 90 minutes

 

[Occam]

This Light seems like a dumbass, no wonder he gets caught in 90 minutes

Yep.

 

[TheGameshark]

Dafoe as ryuk might save this

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

Looks cool, never read the source material so I won't have any hang-ups about differences. Dafoe looks awesome!

 

[Jotaka]

 

[Werd]

Nicely done scene. I enjoyed Death Note but am perfectly fine with a significantly changed adaptation as long as it's good, this was a little more encouraging than the OK trailer. Regardless since I have Netflix year round anyway I'll definitely watch it.

 

[GhostTrick]

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

Lol, is his left hand clipping through those boxes?

 

[Occam]

In the Manga/Anime, Light acted in a very smart, analytical and methodical manner, right from the start, which is what made it entertaining. Having someone die right in front of your house in a spectacular way is dumb and shows a remarkable lack of foresight. That's not Light.

 

[Astral]

I'm guessing Light at this point in the movie doesn't really believe the Death Note can actually do anything so he put something extreme like decapitation. He's probably wondering how the fuck some bully in his neighborhood is gonna suddenly get decapitated.

 

[Sojgat]

Dafoe is great (and terrifying), but the guy playing Light seems like he really sucks.

Hard to properly judge from one scene though.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Would have been cooler if Ryuk was never in focus throughout the movie.

Dude playing Light is pretty meh judging by this scene.

 

[Spoo]

Huh, at first I didn't like Wolff's reaction, but seeing him as a very sarcastic person, with a light comedic touch ... kinda works.

And Dafoe is perfect, so that helps. If they have good chemistry, it'll work.

 

[wesleyshark]

I really liked that clip. Perfect tone.

 

[Alienfan]

If you're going to white wash, at least pick someone good at acting or at the very least, very least someone insanely attractive. I have no idea why they picked this lead, it baffles me. Dafoe is perfect for his role

 

[Opto]

Yep.

If the Death Note was small enough, this Light would leave it in his pants pocket on laundry day

 

[cLOUDo]

Nat wollf is a good actor but he looks out of place

 

[Kindekuma]

Lol, is his left hand clipping through those boxes?

He doesn't interact with the physical world unless he wants to, and that's just to eat apples. Dude can clip through anything and anything can clip through him.

Anyway, I'm really interested on this take of the series. If I wanted something somewhat close to the original material I'd watch the first two japanese movies. I'm fine with a newer approach to the material. Dafoe is so perfectly cast, holy shit.

 

[Japanmanx3]

Dafoe makes Ryuk sound good, but why is he convincing Light to kill someone? Weird way to treat the character. Takes the initial impetus off Light which in turn moves drastically away from his original character motivations....

 

[cj_iwakura]

Dafoe makes Ryuk sound good, but why is he convincing Light to kill someone? Weird way to treat the character. Takes the initial impetus off Light which in turn moves drastically away from his original character motivations....

Isn't it good to do something different? There's always the JP films if you want a 1:1 adaptation.

 

[Master Yoshi]

I'm sold.

 

[Kindekuma]

Isn't it good to do something different? There's always the JP films if you want a 1:1 adaptation.

That's what I think too. A new perspective for a western audience could be pretty cool. With Netflix spearheading it there must be a standard of quality so we don't wind up with DB Evolution.

 

[Biske]

Sold. Looks awesome.

The fun part in never having read the source material, is I'll get to see this and really enjoy it, and then read the original stuff and enjoy that, maybe even more.


Always watch the movies first guys, watching it the other way around is only disappointing.