deathflix

Light's idealistic view is kind of refreshing. Hero Light has never been done before and even though he knows he's in the wrong I thought it was an interesting idea. He's so stupid and easy and should of figured out what's going on before the ending, but I guess Hero Light can't be perfect. Ryuk kind of dumps the whole thing on him and he's scared and doesn't know what's right to do.

Mia is interesting. I don't remember which adaption it was but they'd definitely mentioned in one of them that interactions with the Death Note can drive someone to madness and this is the first time that's really been explored outside of Light. It was easy to spot that she was responsible for the FBI killings but I'm surprised they made her the central villain in the story, until Light outplays her at the end. She's probably the reason they pushed the Kira/Godhood thing so much despite Light wanting to just help the world.

L is 50/50. He's a really good L, but he's an imperfect one. Maybe he hasn't been doing this as long as Manga L. He's still reliant on Watari and, like the original L, is still somewhat of a lost child. The fact that Watari's death kind of breaks him is interesting, since he never loses his cool in any other version. L's so determined in his role that he must be Justice that he kind of just melts and tries to do whatever it takes to win.

Ryuk is great, I'm not entirely fond of the fact he pushes it onto Light rather than letting him discover it himself. Though admittedly, that and several other scenes work together well to mask the fact that Mia is the real villain, a lot of the movie makes it look like Ryuk is evil until the Mia reveal.

Negatives:
- 'Watari' in the book working is stupid
- Music too loud over dialogue at points
- a lot of really jarring song choices, particularly the one over Light and Mia falling from the ferris wheel
- Open ending despite the fact its pretty obvious Light is Kira to the police