L: Change the World (2008)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Hideo Nakata

Writers:

Tsugumi Ôba (story) &
Takeshi Obata (story) ...

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The final death note showdown!

Plot:

A spin-out sequel to the popular Japanese thriller. This time it focuses on the character "L."

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Cast

Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	L
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sota Aoyama	...	Detective Matsuda
Shunji Fujimura	...	Watari
Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Light Yagami
Mayuko Fukuda	...	Maki Nikaido
Narushi Fukuda	...	BOY
Sei Hiraizumi	...	Dr. Koichi Matsudo
Shigeki Hosokawa	...	FBI Agent Ray
Renji Ishibashi	...	Shin Kagami
Yuta Kanai	...	Tamotsu Yoshizawa
Youki Kudoh	...	Dr. Mikiko Kujo
Tim Man	...	Scientist
Bokuzo Masana	...	Asao Konishi
Shido Nakamura	...	Ryuuk (voice)
Kazuki Namioka	...	F
Kiyotaka Nanbara	...	Hideaki Suruga
Megumi Sato	...	Hatsune Misawa
Asaka Seto	...	Naomi Misora
Ron Smoorenburg	...	Sergeant
Masanobu Takashima	...	Daisuke Matoba
Yoji Tanaka	...	Taxi Driver
Erika Toda	...	Misa Amane
Shingo Tsurumi	...	Kimihiko Nikaido

Also Known As:

Spin-Off L (Japan) (working title)
The Last 21 Days of L (Japan) (working title)
Untitled Death Note Sequel (Japan) (working title)

Runtime:

Japan:129 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:U | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Horipro

Goofs:

Continuity: When the necklace is passed and the shot changes angle, the necklace changes from stuffed in the hand to neatly dangling.

Movie Connections:

Follows Desu nôto: The last name (2006)

Soundtrack:

I'll be waiting

poorly conceived and badly written, but L is still cool

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.