The (incidental) music is suitably moody. There are some creative visuals and touches, this is not a cheap-looking film on the most part by all means and often quite striking. Does 'Death Note' have good things? Not many but they are there. 'Death Note' manages to be a failure on its own. Having said that, have always believed in judging an adaptation on its own terms, there have been numerous instances of a film or TV series to be not so good as adaptations but good to classic on their own.
Would go as far to say that it didn't seem to even understand it or what it was about. It is not just that it is an abortion of an adaptation, that is the complete opposite of every element of the source material and completely forgot in translation what made it so great. Sadly, 'Death Note' is yet another film that sees me agreeing with the general consensus and what they have said about it. Really did want to like it and be one of those people to go against the general consensus, which has happened quite a few times before (though have found myself agreeing with critics more and more these days, seemingly a sacrilegious thing to say these days with so much over-the-top hate for them). So there were glimmers of hope that the film adaptation would be halfway decent on its own, despite a lot of people hating it.
#Death note rules 1 10 full
As others have said, the source material is amazing, full of depth, cleverly intricate with complex themes and characters that feel real.