L: Change the World

First off, a note to the Death Note fans who have only enjoyed the anime/manga series: This movie is a sequel to the two live-action Death Note movies. The two movies follow an alternate ending to the Death Note anime/manga storyline, and this movie follows up to that. Therefore, if you don't know the movie ending, then you'll be left scratching your head where this movie fits in the timeline.

Another note to the people who are expecting another epic battle of wits between L and a new Kira and/or a new Shinigami (Death God): This movie does not have it. At all.

Light, Misa, and Ryuk only make a brief appearance, pretty much to recap and wrap up a small loose end from the previous movies, and that's it. This movie is about a whole new case, unrelated to Death Notes and Shinigamis. There is a reason why the words "Death Note" are not in the title of this movie. This is likely going to be a major sticking point to most fans of the Death Note franchise.

Not helping is the fact that the new case and the storyline (and the way it's told) isn't really much to write home about. The villain is supposed to be a super-genius of L's ilk, but we never get the kind of duel of the minds we've come to expect from Death Note. And for all the threat that the villain poses, the movie simply doesn't feel that suspenseful. In fact, one "horrific" death scene just ends up being unintentionally comical. As a crime thriller goes, this is a mundanely written and directed work. If such aspects are what you will be watching this movie for, you are going to be seriously disappointed.

So what should you be watching this movie for? L being L (and the actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama's top-notch portrayal of him), and L making human connections with children.

Does that description make you roll your eyes? If so, then this movie is definitely not for you.

But if you are the kind of person who enjoys L's eccentricities -- and maybe even finds him flat-out adorable for those qualities -- then you are absolutely going to love this movie. The director Hideo Nakata has said that he wanted to show L's previously unseen "human side" with this film, and in this respect, he delivers in spades.

I watched this movie at Los Angeles Anime Expo 2008 in an auditorium with 1000+ people, and I got a huge kick out of this movie. Fans were giddily screaming when L did one of his signature eccentric moves, oooh-ing and awww-ing when L showed his tender side, and hollering "YEAH!!!" when L made a triumphant heroic entrance. Grand joyous time was had by all.

To me, this movie was the perfect homage to L and his fans. And as such, I'm giving this movie an unabashedly inflated score of 8/10. If I were to rate it as a straightforward crime thriller movie, I might go as low as 4/10.

This movie is strictly for the fans of L's eccentricities only. Everybody else can safely skip this movie.

Wow. The ending breaks my heart. L gives a robot man to the genius boy, says "find happiness " and tells him life advice. ("a great genius can't change the world alone") Then walks off into the sunset (to die). It could not be more sad.

I love L but honestly this movie dissapointed a little bit. I wanted to see more strategy and unexpected plot turns, like in Death note 2. This was just a little too much like a crappy Sci fi (virus breaks lose and must save the world bla bla bla. Or zombie apocalypse whatever. ) anyway I rate it 7 because you get to see a sensitive L. But it's a very sad movie.

This is movie is extremely average with nothing much in it. It's trying to use the success of Death Note to try to sell itself.

I had already read and heard reviews for this movie being horrible. So I had very very very low expectations in this one. But the problem is when you see L , you really start expecting something smart, something intelligent. And you get highly disappointed :-( If they had made this movie without the Death Note characters , it would have be a bad movie. But using the same characters is even worse, as you tend to expect them to do their regular bit. Believe me, when you see L on the screen, you will start thinking that he is upto something, or he will come out with something smart and surprising. But no .. nothing like that at all.

That is the reason why I gave it a 4. Unlike the earlier Death Notes :

* there is hardly a plot

* no brilliant moment at all in the movie

* it goes a little sentimental at times

* lines of L are very often useless

* there is no Ryuk

* there is no Light Yagami

* emotional side of L is seen as he gets along with 2 children

In fact, I am going to stop talking about this movie at all. I'd like to mention at this point , that Death Note 1 and 2 were simply awesome !!!

First of all, I don't know why some people dis this movie- saying "This has nothing to do with Death Note". For the record, that's because it isn't supposed to have anything to do with Death Note.

I went to HMV last weekend and when I saw this movie, I had to buy it- I am a huge fan of L and seeing the title and cover I thought this would be a good watch. I was right.

From the beginning, I enjoyed this movie. I liked that the last days of L's life were spent solving a case,visiting Wammys and smiling?:D I also liked Near's appearance, and no offence but they weren't going to find a Thai boy with white hair. Near was very sweet and his liking for toys and genius ability showed during the course of the movie.

Maki was an interesting character, by the end I had started to like her, In the beginning I despised her to be honest.

I cried at the ending, it was very touching. Showing this was the end. L's final words were very moving and he actually smiled!

L fans will enjoy this movie a lot, I think.

All in all, this was a very good watch and I'm glad that I bought it.

8/10.

I rate this a 7 because it is fine for kids and teens and good in many ways. It lacks the substantial weightiness that it's predecessors have. But, I enjoyed it and especially loved the Japanese fun/humorous moments too. I guess it was not the film I had hoped it would be after the first two Death Note films I saw, but I wasn't disappointed either. This fellow, L, is a very likable character and interesting every bit through. You can't help but root for him and the ending just steals my heart. What can I say except, if you want to get into a film, whether light of heavy, this is fine to watch... and good for young people too. It has an easy to follow story, but filling too.