“Death Note” originally started life as a manga (Japanese comic) but its popularity has led to an anime series, live-action films, videogames and even a live-action American adaptation. I had not seen or read anything “Death Note” related so I was unsure where to begin so I decided to opt for the live-action Japanese movie and I have to admit that I’m quite impressed.

Japanese student Light Yagami (Tatsuya Fujiwara “Battle Royale”) stumbles across the ‘Death Note’, a notebook with the power to kill anybody whose name is written in it. Light decides to use this power to rid the world of criminals in a bid to create a utopian society but soon the authorities are pursuing him.

Tatsuya Fujiwara does a really good job as Light. I think the way the character uses his god-like powers is very interesting and all the different rules that he discovers allow him to make creative and intelligent moves to stay ahead of the authorities. Light becomes an anonymous icon dubbed ‘Kira’ by the media. Leading the investigation into Kira is the mysterious ‘L’ (Ken’ichi Matsuyama “Gantz”) and he is quite interesting as well. The way the two play a deadly game of cat and mouse is very clever. Throughout the movie Light is followed by the strange demonic creature Ryuk. However, the C.G.I. on Ryuk is quite frankly terrible.

When I first heard the premise of “Death Note”, it sounded like it would get old fast but the way in which the movie keeps things fresh and interesting and is great. I think that I will have to check out the anime series because I have heard that it is even better than the films. If like thrillers and you do not object to there being any supernatural elements at play, I think you will really enjoy “Death Note” because it is a clever movie.