A battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.A battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.A battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 4 wins & 3 nominations total
Sota Aoyama
- Matsuda
- (as Aoyama Sôta)
Yôji Tanaka
- Sasaki
- (as Tanaka Yôji)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I saw the movie last night, and I thought it was very good. Repeating others, it would probably be better to read the manga a bit to see the changes, but the changes weren't that horrible. Some of the action is a bit wishy-washy(such as the heart attacks), but L was very good. The actor definitely captivated you as the character from the anime and movie. Raito was believable, but he didn't seem as genius as he did in the movie. The animation on Ryuk was also pretty sweet, only bad in one or two angles. I definitely can't wait to see "The Last Name". Already reading the ending, I think the director did a good job in changing some of the views and order of things.
Overall though, this movie is a must see!!!
Overall though, this movie is a must see!!!
Though the message of the film is to imply that absolute power corrupts, 'Deathnote', is a film that failed to impress me. Yes, I have seen the sequel too and I understand why it appeals to the young generation (the reasons are obvious). We see that the 'hero', Light, initially intended to use the deathnote in order to rid the world of criminals
but one thing leads to another and he becomes obsessed with power. A good premise indeed. However, there are some silly twists and several plot holes and the pace is extremely slow. Situations just become a little too unbelievable. It almost becomes another clichéd Japanese Teen-Horror film. The special effects make the Death god look fake and even some of their actions are unexplained (as are so many things in the film). I'd also like to warn that the film's ending is inconclusive (as it's continued in the second film), so if you still want to know what happens, there's the sequel.
Well, I am new to death note, I decided to watch it in cinema and it was great. There was a twist in the plot. It made me want to know what was going to happen soon. It did not waste my two hours, but although it was a bit slow but still it was a great movie. I did not read the comics but guessing from the poster, it look great. Although, the characters from the comics did not really fit the actors, the acting was okay. The story was simple, Light received the death note and killed bad guys....L was tracking him down. Dead simple but there were twists in the plot, the ending was a big twist. I would decide what would happen. I hope Death note 2 is better than this when watching Death note 2 trailer.
As a non-aficionado of manga, I am always wary of manga-inspired productions. Nana, for example, panders purely to its manga fan-base and fails to engage a wider audience.
Death Note, however, manages to break free of its comic book origins. Light finds the Death Note, a jotter that allows him to pass a death sentence on anyone whose name he writes in it. Ryuuk, the apple-addicted Angel of Death who owns the book, turns up to play sidekick to Light's procession of executions. The police are at a loss, till super-sleuth 'L' takes on the case and figures out the MO and narrows the suspects down to the lead detectives' family.
Tatsuya Fujiwara is perfectly cast, his angelic features in shocking contrast to the character's dark heart. Ken'ichi Matsuyama is all quirky brilliance as L. The pace is brisk, the twists plausible and surprising. The ending sets up the sequel but in a forgivable manner. Fun, entertaining cinema.
Death Note, however, manages to break free of its comic book origins. Light finds the Death Note, a jotter that allows him to pass a death sentence on anyone whose name he writes in it. Ryuuk, the apple-addicted Angel of Death who owns the book, turns up to play sidekick to Light's procession of executions. The police are at a loss, till super-sleuth 'L' takes on the case and figures out the MO and narrows the suspects down to the lead detectives' family.
Tatsuya Fujiwara is perfectly cast, his angelic features in shocking contrast to the character's dark heart. Ken'ichi Matsuyama is all quirky brilliance as L. The pace is brisk, the twists plausible and surprising. The ending sets up the sequel but in a forgivable manner. Fun, entertaining cinema.
Just returned from debut of Death Note, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. Manga to big screen adaptations don't always do so well, so I wasn't getting my hopes up over this. All the main characters are portrayed very well by the cast. Yes, even Tatsuya Fujiwara did a great job as the stories protagonist, Yagami Light. However, his rival, played by Ken'ichi Matsuyama was amazing. Completely captured the world's greatest detective's every mannerism with ease. But the true star of this 2 part story is definitely Light's shinigami, Ryuuk. Outstanding job by the CGI crew, and Ryuuk's voice was just as would be imagined in the manga. Can't really give too much away because I'd hate to spoil it for anybody who hasn't read the manga (that being said, definitely read the manga to see what was changed, in my opinion, the changes were overall good, not great, but it won't make you angry) . I guess the main question on everybody's mind would be is the movie better than the manga? No, but in a (about) 2 hour film you couldn't do much better with story. Well worth checking out.
Did you know
- Trivia(at around 1h 27 mins) Light can briefly be seen reading Jenseits von Gut und Böse (English: Beyond Good and Evil) by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The basic concept of the book is that good and evil are not absolute, but rather social constructions and thus have different meanings varying from society to society.
- Goofs(at around 1h 5 mins) On the subway, when Raye Iwamatsu first opens the file containing the FBI agent IDs, it first reads his name as Raye Penber (his original name in the anime). When the window is enlarged, it is switched back to Raye Iwamatsu.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Death Note: The Last Name (2006)
- SoundtracksDani California
Performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers
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Details
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- Death Note: The First Name
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $20,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $29,667,169
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