If you have read my previous review on the first installment of Death Note, you should know how much I like the movie. The Last Name, however, pales in comparison to the first, although it is still a good movie in itself.
The weak points:
Story - Sad to say, the first 90 minutes of the film was just plain boring.You do not get to see a lot of intellectual outsmarting anywhere. The story was prolonged in such a way that you lose all interest towards the end, even though it has one hell of an ending. In addition to that, the new ending made these 90 minutes seem useless, so much so that when analyzed, the movie could actually do better without them.
Acting - Tatsuya Fujiwara still can't do a wicked grin even if his name is to be written into the Death Note.He just doesn't have what it takes to be Kira.Although his ending was brilliantly portrayed, he is just couldn't give you that wicked, cruel, evil, and yet superbly intelligent feel. He just looks cute (to some). And the biggest disappointment came in the form of Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L. After his brilliant acting in the first film, he actually broke from character in this second installment. He spoke too fast, and his actions were a little over the edge. Either he got too confident that he over-acted, or they just made him speak faster to compensate for the length of the movie. His eyes movements and the blank stares are still excellent though. And luckily he didn't mess up the ending.
Directing - Although the director was the same, it somehow felt different, almost lame. There were quite a few odd moments in the movie that just didn't seem right. The scenes with the mask, the comments about women, and the ending. Simply put, the directing just didn't have as much gusto as the first.
Songs - Something is definitely wrong here. Both the opening and closing songs did not match the movie at all. Someone should be hanged for this.
Impact - The entire movie did not have the desired "intellectual orgasm" impact due to two factors. The beginning 90 minutes or so which made the movie so boring that it couldn't be saved in the end, even with that brilliant ending. The second factor is probably the main reason why the movie turned out to be a disappointment. Death Note. Rather, Death Notes. Towards the end, there were just too many Death Notes lying around and it made it impossibly difficult to keep track, killing off the "intellectual orgasm". To those who does not follow the manga or anime, they wouldn't know that Ryuuk actually has 2 Death Notes, one for himself, one for Kira. Misa is holding on to Jealous' Death Note, and Rem has another. Finally, there's L's fake Death Note. That's 5 Death Notes in 15 minutes. It's an overkill. Oh, the Sakura TV scene in the beginning was also poorly made. Ramming the car into a stage instead of the front door is just a clear sign of lowering the cost of the movie. Bad move.
Additional comment - throughout the entire movie, I couldn't shake off that nagging feeling that L is not being smart enough for his own good. The whole movie feels like Kira is just stringing L along, and you practically cannot see the intellectual prowess of L. Yes, the ending did save L's reputation, but it didn't save the movie. Pity.
The strong points:
Sound - the background music was excellent to complement the intensity of the visuals. However, these scenes were far and few in between and that made this winning factor lost in all the boredom and confusions.
Ending - I didn't see it coming. Someone told me that there would be a 3rd installment, so I was expecting the same ending as the manga and was about to walk away disappointed. Well, I still did, but at least the movie made it worth the time and money I spent on it. After the ending in the manga, the authors actually created, no, compounded, it with another ending. Fans of the manga would know that this ending actually came from the second chapter of the story, where Kira was pit against Mello and Nia. Perhaps this is also the mistake that killed the movie, as it introduced the multiple Death Notes that caused the confusion. Yet, the brilliant thing is, the authors added another new twist that wasn't in the manga. L's sacrifice. This is brilliant in script-writing. Due to the fact that the original and final ending are still the same, and it did not and will not anger the fans. Instead, the authors created an alternate ending to complement the original and final endings, something that wasn't in the manga, but could have happened anyway. It really shows how brilliant they are in writing their story, being able to manipulate the story in such a way. My hats are off.
Extra comment - one thing that I didn't understand was, the "friendship" between Light and L, which was very prominent and important to the manga, did not make it into the movie. Instead, we have an ending where L found his father figure in Light's father. For those who didn't know, L is an orphan. This makes a lot of viewers sympathize for L, especially after he sacrificed his own life to defeat Light/Kira. This makes for a very touching ending, and the anti-climax is the best that I have seen in recent years. Perhaps this is another way for the authors to write an alternate story based on the original.
I like the movie, but I'll go back to the manga, and the anime any day. This is just an alternative watch on a lazy day when I don't mind looking at Fujiwara's weak acting.
The weak points:
Story - Sad to say, the first 90 minutes of the film was just plain boring.You do not get to see a lot of intellectual outsmarting anywhere. The story was prolonged in such a way that you lose all interest towards the end, even though it has one hell of an ending. In addition to that, the new ending made these 90 minutes seem useless, so much so that when analyzed, the movie could actually do better without them.
Acting - Tatsuya Fujiwara still can't do a wicked grin even if his name is to be written into the Death Note.He just doesn't have what it takes to be Kira.Although his ending was brilliantly portrayed, he is just couldn't give you that wicked, cruel, evil, and yet superbly intelligent feel. He just looks cute (to some). And the biggest disappointment came in the form of Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L. After his brilliant acting in the first film, he actually broke from character in this second installment. He spoke too fast, and his actions were a little over the edge. Either he got too confident that he over-acted, or they just made him speak faster to compensate for the length of the movie. His eyes movements and the blank stares are still excellent though. And luckily he didn't mess up the ending.
Directing - Although the director was the same, it somehow felt different, almost lame. There were quite a few odd moments in the movie that just didn't seem right. The scenes with the mask, the comments about women, and the ending. Simply put, the directing just didn't have as much gusto as the first.
Songs - Something is definitely wrong here. Both the opening and closing songs did not match the movie at all. Someone should be hanged for this.
Impact - The entire movie did not have the desired "intellectual orgasm" impact due to two factors. The beginning 90 minutes or so which made the movie so boring that it couldn't be saved in the end, even with that brilliant ending. The second factor is probably the main reason why the movie turned out to be a disappointment. Death Note. Rather, Death Notes. Towards the end, there were just too many Death Notes lying around and it made it impossibly difficult to keep track, killing off the "intellectual orgasm". To those who does not follow the manga or anime, they wouldn't know that Ryuuk actually has 2 Death Notes, one for himself, one for Kira. Misa is holding on to Jealous' Death Note, and Rem has another. Finally, there's L's fake Death Note. That's 5 Death Notes in 15 minutes. It's an overkill. Oh, the Sakura TV scene in the beginning was also poorly made. Ramming the car into a stage instead of the front door is just a clear sign of lowering the cost of the movie. Bad move.
Additional comment - throughout the entire movie, I couldn't shake off that nagging feeling that L is not being smart enough for his own good. The whole movie feels like Kira is just stringing L along, and you practically cannot see the intellectual prowess of L. Yes, the ending did save L's reputation, but it didn't save the movie. Pity.
The strong points:
Sound - the background music was excellent to complement the intensity of the visuals. However, these scenes were far and few in between and that made this winning factor lost in all the boredom and confusions.
Ending - I didn't see it coming. Someone told me that there would be a 3rd installment, so I was expecting the same ending as the manga and was about to walk away disappointed. Well, I still did, but at least the movie made it worth the time and money I spent on it. After the ending in the manga, the authors actually created, no, compounded, it with another ending. Fans of the manga would know that this ending actually came from the second chapter of the story, where Kira was pit against Mello and Nia. Perhaps this is also the mistake that killed the movie, as it introduced the multiple Death Notes that caused the confusion. Yet, the brilliant thing is, the authors added another new twist that wasn't in the manga. L's sacrifice. This is brilliant in script-writing. Due to the fact that the original and final ending are still the same, and it did not and will not anger the fans. Instead, the authors created an alternate ending to complement the original and final endings, something that wasn't in the manga, but could have happened anyway. It really shows how brilliant they are in writing their story, being able to manipulate the story in such a way. My hats are off.
Extra comment - one thing that I didn't understand was, the "friendship" between Light and L, which was very prominent and important to the manga, did not make it into the movie. Instead, we have an ending where L found his father figure in Light's father. For those who didn't know, L is an orphan. This makes a lot of viewers sympathize for L, especially after he sacrificed his own life to defeat Light/Kira. This makes for a very touching ending, and the anti-climax is the best that I have seen in recent years. Perhaps this is another way for the authors to write an alternate story based on the original.
I like the movie, but I'll go back to the manga, and the anime any day. This is just an alternative watch on a lazy day when I don't mind looking at Fujiwara's weak acting.