L: Change the World

I'm sure everyone agrees that L was by far the more interesting character in the Death Note movies, thanks to a charmingly weird geek-cool performance from Kenichi Matsuyama, possibly channelling Johnny Depp. As such you can't blame the producers for giving him his own spin-off/sequel... only for making it so bad.

The problem, in a nutshell, is that the writers have missed the point on practically everything that made the Death Note films interesting. The intriguing mystical lore about the Death Notes and their keepers is all forgotten about, which is probably better than trying to contrive some re-entrance for them - except that it's replaced by a feeble pseudo-science deadly virus tale that even the cheesiest of direct-to-video American films would be ashamed of. The high level mind games that drove the plot of DN are almost entirely gone - L's opponents are a dim-witted bunch, and in their place is a countdown to destruction and an entirely unforgivable attempt at an action-packed finale. Ugh.

Worst of all, they decided that what L really needed was humanising - to whit, a back-story that reveals him to be part of an alphabetically codenamed secret organisation fighting crime under the stewardship of Watari, and a plot that leaves him taking care of two young children for most of the film. Matsuyama tries his best, and his presentation of L still manages to be simultaneously super-cool and super-cute, but there's only so much he can do with the ill-conceived storyline and juvenile scripting. There are some moments that do work, but they are in a minority. Worth seeing if you enjoyed the Death Note films, just to tie things up, but set your expectations for it several notches down.

L: Change the World is a spin-off from the Death Note movies, not the mangas. The mangas/anime are better than all the films. Death Note: Part 1 is a better film than L, but I enjoy the last the most. Death Note: Part 2 is all-over the place though.

Hideo Nakata was able to craft an intense and heart-pounding thriller, and Matsuyama Kenichi is just simply amazing as the almost heartless L, but we see more of him as a "human".

Basically, L: Change the World chronicles the last days of L, similar to what Passion of the Christ did to Jesus. Other than the amazing Kenichi, the young boy F is adorable and we see him become Near - who we never see - in the near future; hence the toy robot.

Overall, L: Change the World is a worthy spin-off to the shaky films and superior mangas/anime. Highly recommended!

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.

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.

Let's be clear the Death Note movies were works of art and mostly loyal to the original material, the performances were fantastic and they delivered on every front.

I was deeply concerned about this L themed spin off for a number of reasons, primarily because it's very existence felt like a cash grab.

Immediately it felt like it was part of the franchise, integrated into the last film and following on nicely.

Of course if the movies had followed the original material this movie for obvious reasons would never have been possible.

Trouble is now it was entirely L's story and could he carry a film by himself? Honestly, no. And that's a shame because bringing L into other cases could in itself be brilliant and worthy of an entire television show but somehow, someway it simply didn't work.

L himself was great, the actor once again knocks it out of the park but is dropped into a non-Death Note themed story that simply isn't worthy of him or the franchise.

Thanks to him and the general quality of the film it's still quite good but isn't as smart as we've come to expect from the series and just not that great.

Add a team of interesting characters with L and I stand by this being perfect for a television show but as a movie it just doesn't stack up.

The Good:

L is perfect once again

Is following on from the events of the main movies

The Bad:

Story is very bland

Not as well written as the Death Note movies

Isn't particularly intelligent