Director Report Card: Adam Wingard (2017)

10. Death Note

Anime and manga, here in America, has gone from being a niche product to being more-or-less mainstream. “My Hero Academia” outsells most American comics and you can buy “Attack on Titan” t-shirts at Walmart. Yet attempts by U.S. filmmakers to translate Japanese animation into Hollywood blockbusters have been largely unsuccessful. “Dragonball: Evolution” was instantly despised. “Speed Racer” is beloved now but was a critical and commercial flop when new. “Battle Angel” immediately developed a cult following but didn't make a lot of money. The same year “Ghost in the Shell” came out to complete indifference from everyone, Adam Wingard would adapt “Death Note” for Netflix.

Before we go any further, I should probably tell you that I have no familiarity with “Death Note.” I've never read any of the manga. I've never seen any of the anime or previous Japanese movies. The closest experience I've had with the “Death Note” brand, prior to this review, was a time a dude at my college wasted all the ink in the printer by printing out pages of the manga. The only reason I even know what the comic/show is about is through cultural osmosis and reading up on it a little when Shane Black was attached to direct this movie version. So I sat down to watch Wingard's “Death Note” being basically all-but-entirely-ignorant about the source material.  

Here is my "Death Note" novice summation of the movie's plot: Light is a smart but frequently bullied teenager. He and his cop father are still traumatized by the murder of his mother. One day, a mysterious black book falls out of the sky next to Light. Upon holding it, he sees visions of Ryuk, a demonic spectre of death. Ryuk informs Light that, if he writes a person's name in the book, they will die just as he described. He quickly uses this book to murder notorious criminals around the world, crediting the deaths to an entity named "Kira." (Sometimes at the urging of his slightly sociopathic girlfriend, Mia.) This draws the attention of a brilliant detective known as only "L." As Light and L attempt to uncover each other's identities, the boy soon learns Ryuk is not to be trusted.

The most interesting thing about Wingard's "Death Note" is how it thematically connects to his previous work. Like "Pop Skull," it's the story of a disaffected young man falling to murderous urges for somewhat understandable reasons. Like "The Guest," it's a film about wish fulfillment with a horrible price. The power of the Death Note allows Light to change the world. I think we've all had idle fantasies like that, of how things would be different if some horrible person just dropped dead. Yet Light learns that the consequences of such power might be more than he can handle. Much like how David's true murderous nature was revealed in "The Guest," it soon becomes clear that the wish fulfillment Ryuk promises comes at a terrible price. Playing with the idea of getting what you think you want might actually suck is an idea that obviously intrigues Wingard.

Unfortunately, "Death Note" has a lot of problems around that nugget of an interesting idea. Condensing a twelve-volume manga/37-episode TV show into a single movie was always going to be problematic. Wingard's film sometimes gets tangled up in attempting to summarize the series' lore. Such as when it comes to the convoluted rules of the Death Note's power or the mysterious origins of L. Mostly, the movie rushes through the development of "Kira." Over the course of a few montages, we see Light and Mia's alter ego rise to almost cult-like power. While a mysterious force bumping off criminals around the world probably would earn a religious-like following, the movie leading us to that point over the course of a few scenes is not satisfying. 

This is not the only part of the story that feels rushed-through or underdeveloped. The romance between Light and Mia never feels very convincing. The two bond immediately over Light's murderous hobby, which is hard to believe. This makes it clear that Mia is unhinged, leaving the audience waiting for the inevitable moment she turns on Light. Despite that, the script still tries to build a genuine romance around these two. They declare their love for one another and kiss in the rain. Once again, the film rushes through stuff by isolating most of their romantic moments to montages. The result is we never actually care about this relationship we are told is important. This leaves much of the second half's tension, about the two betraying each other, utterly inert. 

It doesn't help that the performances do not allow the viewer an emotional way into the story. Nat Wolff has mostly starred in Y.A. adaptations like "Fault in Our Stars" or "Paper Town." (And did a stint as a Nickelodeon sitcom star/pop idol.) Light is his darkest role yet and he seems utterly unprepared for it. He mostly plays the magical vigilante as a petulant teenager, self-assured in his morals but pissy about his emotions. Margaret Qualley – Andie McDowell's daughter – plays Mia as a psychotic Manic Pixie Dream Girl, her quirkiness manifesting ad dead-eyed sociopathy. Shea Whigham, as Light's dad, embodies both worn-out movie stereotypes about cops and dads. 

Since "Death Note" is trying to condense a nineteen-hour story into 100 minutes, the romance and intrigue between Light and Mia is not the only thing it occupies itself with. Large swathes of the story is devoted to the cat-and-mouse game between Light and L. This too is never really convincing. L never seems to do much in the way of actual detective works. He seems to deduce, with very little evidence, that Light is Kira. On Light's end, he mostly uses the mind-control properties of the Death Note – did I mention it can do that? – to manipulate L's handler into revealing his true name. That shifts the focus from the conflict between these guys to the arbitrary time limits set by the story's contrivances. It's not until the two are chasing after each other do you feel like they actually have much in the way of a conflict. 

And let's talk about L. He's a totally ridiculous character. His intelligence is shown mostly through him just knowing stuff, instead of through the applications of any skills. He's more characterized by his bizarre behavior. He constantly scarfs sweets. He covers himself with his hoodie. He's entirely dependent on his handler, Mr. Watari, even to the point where he has to sing him to sleep every night. Without Watari, L collapses into a nervous mess. LaKeith Stanfeild, obviously a very talented actor, plays him in the most over-the-top and annoying fashion possible. L gives the impression of an overgrown man-child with a knack for crime fighting. Which stems, not from actual character growth, but a conspiratorial backstory. I'm just going to say it: I think L is a really dumb character and I hate him. Everything about him, from his silly code name on down, feels like a child's idea of what a genius should be.

"Death Note" was really the first time Adam Wingard graduated from his indie movie roots to big studio productions. To give you a shift in scale here, this movie was made with eight times the amount of money "Blair Witch" was made with. (Which, itself, costed much more than any of Wingard's previous films.) Adapting his style to such a larger canvas comes with some growing pains. The use of neon color that was present in "The Guest" returns here, especially during the night time set last act. The slow motion that also cropped up in "You're Next" reappears here as well. In that film, this technique was used sparingly to punctuate a few moments. Here, it's overused to hammy effect. A cop car smashing through a glass booth in slow-mo during an already overheated chase is silly, not stylish.

Perhaps it's not surprising that "Death Note's" best moments, when it most feels abreast of the director's prior work, is when it becomes a grisly horror movie. In the manga and anime, Light's main method of murder is a simple heart attack. In the movie, he engineers elaborately gory execution. A ladder swinging off a speeding vehicle graphically cuts someone's head off. A fall from a building or a collision with an armored truck turns people into splattering giblets. Perhaps it's juvenile but it looks cool. And it's the only time the film feels really engaging. Wingard's horror roots show through in the finale, set aboard a collapsing Ferris wheel, and the treatment of Ryuk. Wingard keeps the spiny bondage demon mostly to the shadows. When combined with Willem DaFoe's ominous croak, it makes for a creepy, intimidating villain. 

Another way you can tell this is an Adam Wingard movie is how it sounds. Superstar composer Atticus Ross was recruited to provide Wingard with another John Carpenter-inspired electronic score. And it's pretty cool, as far as these go. The pulsating synth provides most of the tension during the film's various foot chase. Yet the director's other musical trademark – contrasting emotion-heavy pop music with scenes of mayhem – really fails him here. The most dramatic moment of the Ferris wheel set piece is scored to Air Supply's "The Power of Love." Considering how the melodramatic emotions of the scene, and how unconvincing the love story was up to this point, a sappy song choice like that feels like a joke.

Unsurprisingly, "Death Note" would receive vitriolic reactions from fans of the anime. Before it even came out, the movie was wrapped up in the same whitewashing controversy that derailed "Ghost in the Shell." (A better movie than this one, for whatever that's worth.) Hardcore fans were appalled by the changes made to the source material, to the point that "the Netflix version" has since become shorthand among anime fans for a half-assed live action adaptation. I wish I could say the fans were just being prickly about this one but, speaking as someone who has zero attachment to "Death Note," I have to say this is a subpar movie. Netflix claims it was a success and a sequel is supposedly in development. It looks like Wingard is opting out of that, which is probably a good idea. [Grade: C]

Despite his two studio efforts thus far paling in comparison to his indie work, Adam Wingard continues to get high-profile gigs. Of course, his next movie – and biggest budget yet – is the long-delayed "Godzilla Vs. Kong." Obviously, I'm very excited for that one and was going to review it anyway, which is part of why I decided to go ahead and do this retrospective. Early buzz on the kaiju tussle has been positive, so I'm cautiously optimistic that Wingard will finally make a good big budget movie. He already has his next projects lined-up after that: a sequel/reboot of "Face/Off" and a feature adaptation of “ThunderCats.”

It is interesting that Wingard is the only "munblegore" director to really make the leap to big budget filmmaking. His work was always a lot more commercial than some of his compatriots. That back-and-forth between that sensibility and his grittier roots have led to an inconsistent filmography but I'm intrigued to see him continue to grow. Hopefully, his upcoming studio movies are better than "Death Note."