Veylon said:
This is pretty bad. I think it's worth analyzing
I guess that makes one of us, at least.
Veylon said:
I could care less about the pronunciation or whether the names are changed OR whether the actors are Japanese or not. The core components of the series are the corruption of an egotistical young man due to his power gained by wielding a magic notebook and the subsequent cat-and-mouse investigation. Stripping those elements are what make this bad.
This script is lazy, cowardly, and thoroughly compromised. Luke has a girlfriend to avoid accusations of homosexuality. He ultimately refuses the notebook because American audiences are (supposedly) not ready for an out-and-out villain protagonist. His mother's death is used as an arc to make the movie about revenge (thus justifying the killings), rather than some more idealistic goal. Ryuk is eliminated as Westerners require their reapers grim. Son and father argue because, hey, that's required in American movies.
Sounds like you know a lot more about the script than I do - which is easy because I know next to nothing about it and (if I'm honest) care even less. I do, however, care about English, so please watch this video. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw]
Now then, if you'll permit me to play Devil's Advocate, may I present an alternative mode of thought based on what you've said here?
In my opinion the script is pragmatic and well-meaning, if (maybe) poorly executed.
Luke has a girlfriend because he is portrayed as being - or trying/wanting to be - normal.
Ryuk is eliminated because including him in a non-unintentionally hilarious way would be sinfully expensive, what with him following the main character around, thus appearing in an awful lot of shots. Not to mention if he's there, there have got to be other reapers too. Only films like the Lord of the Rings and Avatar have a ten quintillion dollar CGI budget.
Father and son argue because it's the easiest and most expedient way of showing that they don't see eye to eye.
I'd say this movie is probably going to be around the 90 minute mark, as seems to be typical of films these days.
That also goes some way to explaining the motivation behind his motivation. Having Luke accept the book would be truer to form but much harder to justify without him seeming like some gleeful mass murderer just looking for means and maybe an excuse to kill people. Without delving into lengthy analysis of Light's character, whatever he became towards the end, he did start out with the very best intentions; his story is The Slippery Slope in action. You squeeze that development into 90 minutes (or 50-60, as the story does need a resolution) and the slope becomes more of a cliff.
If, however, Luke refuses the book, we can show that he's still idealistic, while the death of his mother would presumably give him some reason to be particularly hardline against criminals.
This attempt at an adaptation might be rather inelegant, but I think these changes are understandable.
Veylon said:
Also, why "Kira", which is a Japanese mangling of "Killer"? Why not just call him Killer? Why "Death Note" and not "Death Journal" or something more English? If the FBI is bugging his room, why aren't they recording his calls or reading his phone records?
In principle I agree completely. Here, however, I can't speak for the writers but I'd hazard a guess that it's because "Killer" and "Death Journal" sound kind of daft. They
could find alternatives, but why bother when the words can serve as anchors? The third point sounds more like a plot hole than an adaptation "compromise" and goodness knows
those aren't unique to any story or medium.
Veylon said:
I'd also be happy to live and let live if this thing didn't have have the title. It'd just be a cheap knock-off. This is a cheap knock-off that debases the franchise. This does for Death Note what Highlander II, The Last Airbender, and the Tranformers movies have done for their respective franchises.
This relates back to my original point: so what? For instance, I haven't seen The Last Airbender movie because so many people have condemned it, but seeing it would have zero impact on my enjoyment of the cartoon, so I'm not entirely sure what's been debased here.
Its reputation? It might be presumptuous but I daresay you haven't met many people who were quite resolute about watching the cartoon, until they saw the movie whereupon they permanently dropped the whole franchise in disgust.
Besides, what's wrong with the Transformers movies? I only saw the first, but I found it rather charmingly silly.
There's really no need to get upset about these things. Serenity prayer and all that...
