Netflix’s Death Note

Alex Stone
Aug 26, 2017 · 4 min read

TL;DR: D. It’s bad. And even more frustrating, it could have been a much better movie with a few changes. But it’s only ~80 minutes.

It’s good to hear Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin again.

I should mention that I haven’t seen any of the source material and was only vaguely aware of it before hitting the play button. I wanted to watch and judge this movie as a wholly stand alone work, rather than get bogged down in where the adaptation failed or why the casting wasn’t diverse enough.

I’m not sure where to begin with this one. I made it 24 minutes in to the movie before I had a full page of review notes. I guess I’ll start with this.

What’s so bad about it?

It’s like an entire arcs happen off screen

I don’t know if a studio expert said the core audience wouldn’t stick through a 2 hour movie or what, but it feels like huge moments are missing from the movie. Mia shows up out of nowhere. It’s clear that maybe Light has a crush on her, but a few scenes or a little dialog to establish this would have gone a long way.

Light: I can’t tell you.
Mia: Ok.
Light: You really wanna know?
Mia: Sure.
Light: Okay, I’ll tell you.

This is actual dialog from their first time on screen together. From there, it’s never explained why Mia is so onboard with murdering strangers. It’s never explained why these two bond. When Mia declares her love for Light, it comes out of nowhere and has no basis within the movie. They decide to give their new hobby a name (“Kira”) for no understandable reason. Mia turn to become a villain just happens with no explanation.

I have a huge list of notes that could read like a CinemaSins transcript. It’s like an entire arcs happen off screen.

Why I didn’t give it an F

Final Verdict


How I’d Make It Better

Flesh Mia out some more

Have more scenes in school

Drop “Kira” entirely

Drop L’s entire backstory

Alex Stone Writes

The writing blog of Alex Stone

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Alex Stone

Written by

I’m Alex. I like comics, I guess?

Alex Stone Writes

The writing blog of Alex Stone

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