Death Note 2: The Last Name

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 II picks up right where the first installment left off, with Light and L locked together in partnership. Only a new notebook and shinigami appears, bringing Kira II into the equation, complicating matters for Light while providing him with a means to overcome L.

This film betters the first film by offering more twists and superior plotting. Erika Toda as Misa Amane nails the shallow pop idol role, while providing ample comic fodder to divert us from the mind games. Shunji Fujimura as Watari ups his game here. Light has to face the consequences of his actions and the questionable nature of some of his choices. Ken'ichi Matsuyama shines again as the idiosyncratic L. There are more laughs, more questions, more surprises, and a satisfying climax this time round. No one in their right mind will watch this before watching the first, and if you liked the first you'll want to watch this. Rest assured, it does not disappoint.

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.

A little long, but the ending to this movie was definitely better than the ending in the anime.

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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