Netflix released its own live-action Death Note adaptation (directed by Adam Wingard) on August 25, 2017, and presents a whole new interpretation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's popular supernatural crime thriller franchise. Nat Wolff stars as Light Turner, and Lakeith Stanfield co-stars as the super-detective known as L. Willem Dafoe guest-starred as the voice for the CGI Ryuk, the Shinigami (death god) who introduced the killer notebook into the human world.
This 2017 film shares the same basic premise of Ohba and Obata's original story, with Light using the killer notebook to kill off criminals worldwide while L and the police pursue him in the world's greatest manhunt. But the live-action Death Note also differs in the core material in some surprising ways, and it creates a unique plot in its 100-minute runtime. How has Death Note changed?
10 The new setting
The original Death Note is set in Japan for the most part, and Light Yagami lives in the Kanto region. He starts his criminal cleansing campaign in Japan before moving on to international criminals, and L makes the journey to the Land of the Rising Sun to deal with the madman known as Kira. L is perfecty capable of traveling the world to solve cases, and in the 2017 movie, he's doing this in the United States. The characters are all made American, and Light Yagami has become Light Turner, with his father Soichiro Yagami becoming James Turner (Shea Whigham). In particular, L is seen giving an anti-Kira speech in Seattle, with the Space Needle clearly visibile in an establishing shot.
9 A more aggressive L
The original Death Note's L was a man of words, and his compatriots, such as Watari, Aiber, and Wedy carried out his missions from afar. But in 2017's Death Note, L soon takes matters into his own hands, and the super-sleuth even barges into the Turner household to confront Light and his father directly. L also pursues Light personally at the end and corners him until a third party incapacitates him. This new L is also seen to have a more unstable side to him.
8 Wateri's New Role
As in the original anime series, Watari (real name: Quillish Wammy) in the 2017 film is L's handler and number one assistant, often acting as hs proxy. He's shown to be an excellent sniper in the original anime, and he later met his fate at the hands of Rem. Now, in the 2017 movie, his name really is Watari, and Light uses the powers of the Death Note to control him and uncover L's true name from an abandoned orphanage. This certainly couldn't have happened in the original anime, since Light never learned Watari's real name (and in the end, he didn't even need to).
7 The gore factor
This franchise was always about a young man with a god complex who uses a magic notebook to murder scores of people, and that is true in the live-action Death Note, too. But in particular, this movie unflinchingly shows how graphic that can be, including the first on-screen Death Note murder. A thug gets his head sliced off when a truck's sliding ladder strikes him, and that contrasts with the original anime's preference for simple heart attacks and off-screen suicides.
6 An Emotional Light
Light Turner is not quite the composed sociopath that Light Yagami was. This high schooler is quick to show his angry or frightened side, and his reaction to Ryuk's first impression lasts for quite a while. In the end of the original Death Note, Light Yagami loses his mind and laughs like a maniac as he reveals his identity as Kira, but intil then, he's cool as a cucumber. For better or worse, Light Turner wears his heart on his (sweater) sleeve.
5 Misa Amane vs Mia Sutton
As in the original anime, Light Turner has a female compatriot by his side, but the 2017 Death Note movie trades the bubbly, blonde Misa for the insidious and manipulative Mia Sutton (Margaret Qualley). While Misa fanatically adores Light and will do anything for him, Mia Sutton is as much an enemy as a friend. At first, she supports Light Turner's Kira campaign, but soon she covets the Death Note, and tries to coerce Light into handing it over. This makes for quite a climax in the film.
4 Cancel that death!
In the original Death Note anime, a victim is doomed to die once his or her name is written in the Death Note, no ifs or buts. Even destroying that page of the notebook won't prevent the death, but 2017's Death Note has other ideas. For the plot's sake, this notebook's rules make one "take it back" allowance. Destroying a page of that notebook will cancel the death written on it, and Mia's coercion plan hinges on that. What a merciful murder book.
3 So Long, Raye Penber
Early in the Death Note anime, FBI agent Raye Penber is part of the team investigating various Kira suspects, and Raye tails Light Yagami for some time. Light takes note, and he soon uses Raye to murder the other FBI agents (saving Raye for last). However, the tightly-plotted 2017 Death Note movie omits him and his role entirely, which may be part of why L so eagerly confronted Light Turner himself.
2 Ryuk the showman
Ryuk is a real eyeful no matter where he goes, with his lanky frame, wild hair, huge toothy grin, and Goth leather outfit. He has a crisply rendered CGI body in the live-action Death Note movie, and he makes a flashier entrance than in the original anime. Ryul meets Light in school, stirring the desks, chairs, books, and other items in the room into a whirlwind to herald his arrival. This scares Light senseless, until things settle down and Ryuk properly introduces himself. Isn't he scary enough without the theatrics, though? Light seems to think so.
1 A Different Ending
2017's Death Note takes a major turn when the scheming Mia Sutton coerces Light into handing over the murder notebook, meeting him at the Seattle Great Wheel for the exchange. But Light has a plan up his sleeve, and after L is knocked out, Light wrecks the Ferris wheel and sends Mia plunging to her death. Light, meanwhile, survives the fall (with his father watching in horror) and is recovered later. Light is last seen in his hospital room, quite alive and well. Light Yagami's Greek drama-worthy death will have to wait for another time, if ever.