The epitome of how not to adapt an anime series. Death Note was lucky; in spite of increasingly questionable logic dulling its merit as a detective story and a major plot twist that stripped the show of its strongest asset, the original anime still went on to become a cult classic that earned the genre fans throughout the world. The film? Not so much. Even if you can get over the laughably bad special effects, the work is impossible to tolerate because the dramatic depth of the source material gets lost due to the questionable casting, bad directorial choices, and poor imitation of the series’ classic scenes. If you’re yearning for some Kira and L, do yourself a favor and re-watch the anime.