7.8/10
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Death Note (2006)

Not Rated | | Crime, Drama, Fantasy | 17 June 2006 (Japan)
Death Note Poster
A battle between the world's two greatest minds begins when Light Yagami finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to rid the world of criminals.

Director:

Shûsuke Kaneko

Writers:

Tsugumi Ôba (original manga), Takeshi Obata (original manga) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Asaka Seto | See full cast & crew »
Reviews

On Disc

at Amazon

4 wins & 2 nominations. See more awards »

Photos

See all 41 photos »
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Next »
Death Note: The Last Name (2006)
Adventure | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Picking up where the first one leaves off, Light joins the task force searching for Kira in an effort to avert suspicion from himself---and get rid of L.

Director: Shûsuke Kaneko
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Takeshi Kaga, Shidô Nakamura
Next »
L: Change the World (2008)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A spin-out sequel to the popular Japanese thriller. This time it focuses on the character "L."

Director: Hideo Nakata
Stars: Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Sota Aoyama, Shunji Fujimura
Next »
Death Note - Desu nôto: Light Up the New World (2016)
Crime | Drama | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.8/10 X  

An update to the "Death Note" series in which a mysterious notebook contains deadly powers.

Director: Shinsuke Sato
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Miyuki Sawashiro
Next »
Death Note (TV Mini-Series 2015)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

Light Yagami, an ordinary university student, receives a death note which changes his life. The death note awakens his warped sense of justice and genius.

Stars: Masataka Kubota, Kento Yamazaki, Mio Yûki
Next »
Death Note: New Generation (2016)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6/10 X  

The miniseries focuses on the three new lead characters of the film Death Note: Light Up the NEW World: Tsukuru Mishima, Ryuzaki, and Yuki Shien. Each episode provides backstory for one of ... See full summary »

Stars: Masaki Suda, Sota Aoyama, Mina Fujii
Next »
Death Note (2006–2007)
Animation | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9/10 X  

An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it.

Stars: Mamoru Miyano, Brad Swaile, Vincent Tong
Next »
Death Note Relight - Visions of a God (TV Movie 2007)
Animation | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

See the world of Death Note through Ryuk's point of view.

Director: Tetsurô Araki
Stars: Keiji Fujiwara, Aya Hirano, Hideo Ishikawa
Next »
Hikari to tomo ni...: Jiheishôji wo kakae te (TV Series 2004)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Sachiko and Masato Azuma, in their 4th year of marriage, had been so excited about the birth of their long-waited first child. They named their baby boy "Hikaru" (meaning light in Japanese)... See full summary »

Stars: Takanari Saito, Ryôko Shinohara, Mikako Ichikawa
Next »
Hinokio (2005)
Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Satoru (Kanata Hongo), a wheelchair-bound elementary student, locks himself away from the outside world after his mother dies. His father designs a remote-controlled robot to go to school ... See full summary »

Director: Takahiko Akiyama
Stars: Masatoshi Nakamura, Kanata Hongô, Mikako Tabe
Next »
Death Note Relight 2 - L's Successors (TV Movie 2008)
Animation | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

The movie begins with a short narration by the late L who breaks the fourth wall by reviewing what had happened in the previous Relight movie. The very next scene depicts the familiar scene... See full summary »

Director: Tetsurô Araki
Stars: Mamoru Miyano, Kappei Yamaguchi, Noriko Hidaka
Next »
Pi zi ying xiong shou bu qu: Quan mian kai zhan (2012)
Action | Comedy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

A policeman, who is fearless to death, can do anything for just one truth, while a gangster, who fears death the most, has drew life threats from his risky action all for love. One ... See full summary »

Director: Yueh-Hsun Tsai
Stars: Mark Chao, Bo Huang, Angelababy
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Cast

Credited cast:
Tatsuya Fujiwara ... Light Yagami
Ken'ichi Matsuyama ... L
Asaka Seto ... Naomi Misora
Shigeki Hosokawa Shigeki Hosokawa ... FBI Agent Raye Iwamatsu
Erika Toda ... Misa Amane
Shunji Fujimura ... Watari
Takeshi Kaga ... Sôichiro Yagami
Yû Kashii ... Shiori Akino
Shidô Nakamura ... Ryuk (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ryôhei Abe Ryôhei Abe
Sota Aoyama ... Detective Tôta Matsuda
Norman England Norman England ... FBI Agent
Masanori Fujita Masanori Fujita ... Stalker
Michiko Godai ... Sachiko Yagami
Janyse Jaud ... Detective Sanami (voice)
See full cast »
Edit

Storyline

Light Yagami finds the "Death Note," a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to create a Utopia by killing the world's criminals, and soon the world's greatest detective, "L," is hired to find the perpetrator. An all out battle between the greatest minds on earth begins, the winner controlling the world. Written by Ryuzaki

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

serial killer | based on comic | based on comic book | tokyo japan | live action remake of anime | See All (56) »

Taglines:

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

Certificate:

Not Rated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] | Warner Bros. [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

17 June 2006 (Japan) See more »

Also Known As:

Death Note: The First Name See more »

Filming Locations:

Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, Japan See more »
Edit

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nippon Television Network (NTV), Shueisha, Warner Bros. See more »
Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | DTS (DTS-HD master audio) (Blu-ray release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1
See full technical specs »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 5 mins) One of the criminals who dies in his prison cell near the beginning of the film is reading the novel Bye Bye Jupiter (1984) (which was the source of the film of the same name). See more »

Goofs

(at around 1h 30 mins) After L has installed cameras in Light's room and watches him from multiple angles, at one point some of the screens show Light is about to sit down, whereas on other screens Light is already sitting comfortably. See more »

Quotes

L: Gathering from Kira's behaviour, he is very immature and hates to lose... just like me.
See more »

Connections

Followed by Death Note: The Last Name (2006) See more »

Soundtracks

Lucifer's Angel
By The Rasmus
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the differences between the theatrical version and the Director's Cut?
See more »

User Reviews

 
Death Note: As good as the anime? No, but a million miles better than the Hollywood version
22 September 2017 | by Platypuschow – See all my reviews

I admit it I'm a Death Note fanboy, the anime was a masterpiece and truly one of the most intelligent well written pieces of television ever made.

The American adaptation was a travesty, an embarrassment of colossal proportions which missed the entire point of the series and I was concerned about the Japanese version purely because I can't imagine telling that epic a story in 90 minutes.

Immediately I was taken by the solid casting, this was Light and L was sheer unadulterated perfection and a stark contrast to the American version who was the weakest link of the entire film.

The movie is a compact version of the first half of the anime with some slight differences/tweaks near the end which actually change the story quite a bit. Honestly I didn't mind as they were done so well as was the rest of the film.

So where does it go wrong? Well it doesn't really, but be aware this is part 1. Even I didn't realise that and will be shortly venturing into the finale. I always hate movies which aren't self contained and without part 2 this is merely part of a story.

The final moment of this however was outstandingly done 10/10.

If you like the anime I recommend this, yes it's essentially the same story but a valid adaptation that deserves your time.

Well written, fantastically acted, a near masterpiece.

The Good:

It's Death Note

Very well made, written and filmed

Extremely well cast

The Bad:

Red Hot Chilli Peppers was the weirdest choice for a credits song

Ryuk sfx are really quite weak

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If a person has a gun to their head, point a gun at them as well that'll show em!

The US had no excuse for not making a decent Death Note movie
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? | Report this
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