Death Note: El último nombre

The second part of the "Death Note" movie series, "the Last Name" starts from where the first one ended. Yagami Light, who uses God of Death's notebook, the Death Note, to kill criminals has joined the team of his father, Inspector Yagami, and the world's greatest detective, L, to capture Kira. Light, who is Kira, is motivated by his need to discover L's true name, so he can get rid of the detective. Meanwhile L is certain that Light is Kira, but without evidence he can't do anything but wait and see. As if things aren't bad enough, a Second Kira appears out of nowhere, to help Kira. Second Kira is Amane Misa, a rising idol, who worships Kira and has her own Death Note. Things move to their conclusion.

"Death Note: the Last Name" is a great improvement when compared to the first movie. Where first film was still somewhat slow and uncertain, the second part keeps the viewer interested its whole length: nearly two and half hours! The second part is also more faithful to the original manga than the first one. Greatest difference would be removing the character of Higuchi and replacing him with Takada, who in manga didn't appear until much later. The second movie is also the concluding one, which might be confusing since both movies together only tell the first half of the manga events. Still the finale has been cleverly turned faithful to manga, and I personally like it even better than manga ending.

I already commented the performances of Tatsuya Fujiwara(Light), Ken'ichi Matsuyama(L) and Takeshi Kaga(Inspector Yagami) in my review of first "Death Note" movie, so I'll just comment the new parties here. Erika Toda surprised me with her role as Misa. Although, like many other manga fans, I too would have wanted to see blonde Misa, the hair colour was the only complain I could come up with. Her Misa is naive but not as annoyingly air headed as in the manga, but actually makes her a believable. Nana Katase makes an okay role as an ambitious Takada, although I feel she could have done better.

The complains are the same as previous: the minor characters of police investigators are left in the background and the Death Gods look ridiculous, but this time the dynamic moving of the story saves a lot.

What can I say? A definitive improvement to the first film and a great ending to the story.

Even though I'm new to "Death Note", I still have a zeal for it. It was, I apprehended, a comic strip before. The exciting plot attracts me a lot, I especially like the twists in it, and the truth won't come out until finish watching the whole movie. Moreover, it also stimulates deep thoughts, and here are some of my reflections:

First, what is justice? Does it means: "to kill all the criminals"? If so, is killing a kind of commitment? Then how can you create a "Justice World" by murdering? The method that the main character, Light, had took, in my opinion, although an effective way but a burlesque behavior.

Second, is "love" a kind of stumbling block? The main character, Light, seemed so callous that he could avail himself of the people around him to reach his goal. As for the Devil, who has love, dies without doubt. It also shows that "love is blind". Misa, the girl who loves Light, is willing to exchange half of her lifetime, just to help Light to kill people easily. Nevertheless, does Light really loves her? I think Misa doesn't really care about it. In the other hand, Light's father believes in his son so much that never thought of that Light is the murderer. However, the truth is clear.

Last, there are two geniuses in the movie: the greatest detective, L, and the main character, Light. They seem so alike, nonetheless, walking on different path. I think it's really lamentable for a chance to meet a guy whose talent and personality was so resemble to us, but can't be friends. I believe that Light and L really cherish each other.

After all, I really like the movie "Death Note", it'll be great for you to go watching it.

I knew that the Death Note story couldn't be told in a single movie and the Americans proved that several times over, the Japanese made it a two parter and though it's not on par with the anime it's still great viewing.

Following on the story from Light & L's first meeting the battle of the two great minds continues as they try to outdo one another until the fantastic finale.

Once again there are differences from the anime and the story isn't identical (Including the finale) but it's loyal enough to the original material to not be offensive.

Once again both Light and L actors knock their performances out of the park and make up for some shoddy cgi and questionable soundtrack.

I would recommend the Death Note movies to any Death Note fan, anyone who has only seen the US version and anyone who simply doesn't fancy anime.

Now venturing on to the live action spinoffs methinks.

The Good:

It's Death Note

Perfect casting

Extremely well written

The Bad:

They changed Rems entire gender!

Red Hot Chilli Peppers again!? Really!?

Ryuk/Rem sfx still crap

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The Death note story can be just about accomplished across 4hrs with tweaks

After first film's unexpected finale, this one continues adopting the manga storyline while adding some minor original twists, leading to a completely changed and, in my opinion, improved ending.

Although bad visual effects and mediocre acting might turn some people off. If you can look past that, and if you weren't satisfied with the original manga ending, this might be just what you are looking for.

Death Note: The Last Name is the sequel to Death Note, an anime adaptation. However, does Death Note: The Last Name follow in Death Note's footsteps or should this movie be in the Death Note? The story is very good and continues on from where the first movie left off, the characters are brilliantly written and the acting was great as well. The scenes were brilliantly executed and the CGI was also very good, especially for the Shinigamis (Death Gods who own the Death Note). I thought that Tatsuya Fujiwara did great as Light but Kenichi Matsuyama stole the movie as L, who acted and behaved exactly how the character in the anime did so it was nice to see the movie stay faithful to the series in some ways. The writing was very good and the dialogue was great too. All in all, it's like the anime series with some welcoming changes.

I enjoyed this sequel, I thought that it wasn't going to be as good as the first movie but I would say that it was on the same level, if not, better. The story basically continued on and it managed to keep the balance of the characters and their stories and how they all interact with each other. The acting was very good and I think the CGI was great. The designs for Ryuk and Remi were brilliant and they haven't changed them from the series (well, except for the fact that they're in 3D). I think that, even though they have made big changes from the Death Note story, they've pulled it off and they've done a good job making the story into two movies. This movie is great, it has everything you liked about the first movie in this and more. If you like Death Note, you'll be happy with this.

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