Death Note

A notebook falls from the sky into the path of too-cool-for-school law student Light (Fujiwara). Its opening page explains that if someone's name is written in it then they will die. Unconvinced and with a sneer, Light gives it a go. A hapless criminal dies of a heart attack, setting the scene for a long, long line of heart attack deaths, each acted less convincingly than the last. Light chooses criminals as his prey after hacking into the police database and finding that, shockingly, some people charged with offences are actually found innocent; if in doubt, the notebook comes out. He’s equally unfazed when the god of death flies straight out of a Playstation game to retrieve his book. Lazily rendered, unrealistic and expressionless, Death is almost as unconvincing as our lead. Unlike Ring and The Grudge, there are no scares or gore to offer horror fans either, as victims are dispatched with a scribble. Based on a popular manga, Death Note manages to sap any life or colour from the original, capturing all the cinematic tension of an efficient librarian taking note of a checked out book. [Alastair Roy]