Death Note

Japan

Manga-derived yarn which much to my surprise held my attention for two hours. A young law student finds a notebook dropped by the god of death...any person's name written in it dies.

What worked was the theme: creeping megalomania a la Chronicle, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, etc. filtered through a Japanese sensibility. Nice looking film, well cast and shot. I even accepted the CGI death god who fluttered around this kid providing some visual interest. Several completely unexpected plot developments helped too.

A solid guilty pleasure.

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