Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/874823
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2017 38 This Week Once again, the global phe- nomenon of a streaming service that is Netflix tries to take a bite of the home cinema pie by pre- senting yet another 'Original': an adaptation of the Japanese man- ga-turned-anime Death Note by promising – though lately falter- ing – American director Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch). Though plagued with similar white-washing ac- cusations as the other live action anime reimagining – the Scarlett Johansson-starring Ghost in the Shell – after Wingard's produc- tion cast Paper Towns/The Fault in Our Stars actor Nat Wolff in the lead, the premise of this dark gem remained intriguing enough to check out. However, severe structural shortcomings have nevertheless managed to cut another promis- ing project at its knees. Having recently lost his mother to a mob hit while his helpless police investigator father (Shea Whigham) is forced to grin and bear it, our improbably-named protagonist Light Turner (Wolff) is handed an even more improb- able boon. Quite literally falling from the sky and into his lap, a leatherbound book inscribed with the words 'Death Note' on the cover leads Light into an encoun- ter with Ryuk (Willem Defoe), a spiky-backed 'death god' with a creepy smile and a sarcastic de- meanour. Most crucially though, Ryuk offers Light – whom he has hand-picked as the new bearer of the Death Note – the chance to murder whoever he wants by sim- ply writing their full name in the Note and choosing their cause of death. Initially embarking on a quest for vigilante justice – joined by his overly-enthusiastic love interest Mia (Margaret Qualley) – Light's well-meaning project, given the moniker of 'Kira', spirals out of control once the police start put- ting two and two together. And when the determined 'Kira hunt- er' super-agent who goes by 'L' (Lakeith Stanfield) jumps into the fray, it looks as though Light and Mia may just have met their match. To be sure, here's a juicy prem- ise that's already been juiced with gusto throughout the course of the franchise's extensive manga run – created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – and the anime series which ran between October 3, 2006 to June 26, 2007... along with three live-action films. Which makes Wingard and co's task of adaptation no small feat, to be sure. However, the end result betrays that what we got in the end is a rushed-and-compressed affair which, much like Rupert Sanders' Ghost in the Shell, offers up an East-Meets-West collage that's really just the worst of both worlds. Though there's some amoral fun to be had once Light first uncov- ers the Death Note's potential – to mete out revenge on bullies of various stripes – and while De- foe offers a mischeviously game motion-capture and voice per- formance as the creepy Ryuk, the project collapses under what looks to have been a rushed schedule with no time dedicated for script refinement and a true visual signa- ture to shine through. In a lot of ways, Death Note is yet another victim of the 'just get it done' approach that 'Net- flix Originals' appear to operate under. Save for a few exceptions – Okja, Beasts of No Nation – the streaming service appears to be valuing quality over quantity when delivering up its live action film roster, and its rushed scripts and uninspiring visual palettes are evidence of the corner-cutting in- volved. Despite the script having been hammered into a shape by a total of three scribes – Charles Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides and Jeremy Slater – the characters of Mia and 'L' are given no motiva- tion at all, and so their extreme ac- tions and choices just ring hollow: shallow plot contrivances, nothing more. Though its ambitions to cre- ate a new cross-platform, cross- country trend are palatable, Wingard's Death Note sadly falls short of delivering on the promise of a new age of live-action anime adaptations. While certainly bet- ter than the dismal Dragon Ball and The Last Airbender (and only marginally less controversial than the recent Ghost in the Shell), Wingard's film, hampered by a lackluster script that severely un- der-writes key characters, lacks a confident-enough visual direction to bring such a high-concept idea to full fruition. IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Overdrive (PG) 10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:30, 18:40, 20:50 Annabelle: Creation (15) 13:40, 16:00, 18:20, 20:45 Logan Lucky (12A) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Hitman's Bodyguard (15) 10:35, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 The Dark Tower (12A) 20:45 The Emoji Movie (U) 10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:30, 18:40 American Made (15) 10:35, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor (U) 11:00, 12:45, 14:30, 16:15, 18:00 Fireman Sam: Alien Alert! The Movie (U) 11:15, 12:50 The Emoji Movie: Express Yourself (TBA) 11:15, 14:05, 16:10, 18:15 Everything, Everything (12A) 11:20, 14:10, 16:15, 18:30, 20:40, 22:55 Overdrive (PG) 11:25, 14:10, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55, 23:10 The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (U) 11:30, 14:10, 16:15, 18:20 Bob the Builder: Mega Machines (U) 11:45 American Made (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Logan Lucky (12A) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Love to Paradise (TBA) 14:05, 18:30 Annabelle: Creation (15) 14:10, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:35 The Dark Tower (12A) 14:10, 16:20, 18:30, 20:40 The Hitman's Bodyguard (15 14:30, 18:10, 20:45 Dunkirk (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 20:35 IT (15) 14:30, 18:00, 20:55, 22:55 Insyriated (TBA) 16:00, 20:30 David Gilmour (12A) 20:30, 23:00 Detroit (15) 20:30 Atomic Blonde (15) 20:55, 23:25 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 IT (15) 10:30, 14:00, 18:30, 21:15 American Made (15) 11:00, 13:30, 16:05, 18:35, 21:05 The Hitman's Bodyguard (15) 11:10, 13:45, 16:15, 18:45, 21:15 Overdrive (PG) 11:10, 13:45, 16:20, 18:35, 20:50 The Emoji Movie (U) 11:15, 14:00, 16:30, 18:40 The Dark Tower (12A) 21:00 Annabelle: Creation (15) 11:15, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:45 Logan Lucky (12A) 11:00, 13:35, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ DEATH OF NOTE ★ ★ ★ ★ NOTABLE DEATH ★ ★ ★ DEATH BE NOT PROUD ★ ★ DEATH FROM ABOVE ★ DEAD FILM By Teodor Reljic DEATH NOTE (16+) ★ ★ Killer concept murdered by rushed execution Prickly conscience: Nat Wolff (left) and Willem Defoe strike a Faustian bargain in Netflix's manga-and-anime adaptation Death Note Overzealous: Margaret Qualley