As a fan of the original film (not a comic), my evaluation of this film is just two words "disappointing". This film compresses the stories of the original film, which took nearly 4 and a half hours, to one and a half hours. A lot of details are deleted, and the transformation of characters is also very far-fetched. The duel between the male protagonist and L also lacks the predictability of the masters' ten-step approach and the thrilling victory of winning in the original work, but is reduced to the level of ordinary police and bandit dramas. Setting L as a black person is a complete failure except considering political correctness, and L, played by Lekes Steinfeld, has no calmness in the Japanese version except for the imitation of his body. And Nat Wolfe's male protagonist is more like a silly white sweet boy next door than a scheming death messenger.
The portrayal of Willem Dafoe's death, played by motion capture, in the film adds a layer of gloom and cunning, minus the lovely side of the original, which is also a failure. If you insist on finding something that stands out from the Japanese version, it is that the bloody level of this film is much heavier than the original, which is also what Hollywood horror films are good at. It also lowered the tone of the film even further. Overall, this physical and godless failed remake really smashed Netflix's brand.
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