Death Note: L Change the World (2008)

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

Director:

Hideo Nakata

Writers:

Tsugumi Ôba (story and characters), Takeshi Obata (story and characters)

Stars:

Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Alistair Abell, Michael Adamthwaite

Cast

Credited cast:
Ken'ichi Matsuyama	...	L
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alistair Abell	...	Doctor / Medical Dispatch (voice)
Michael Adamthwaite	...	Rei Iwamatsu (voice)
Sota Aoyama	...	Detective Matsuda
David Bueno	...	Scientist
Garry Chalk	...	Commanding Officer (voice)
Shannon Chan-Kent	...	Misa Amane (voice)
Louis Chirillo	...	Pedestrian (voice)
Ted Cole	...	Kimihiko Nikaido / Medical Dispatch (voice)
Richard Ian Cox	...	F / Medical Dispatch / Pedestrian (voice)
Trevor Devall	...	Medical Dispatch / Train Passenger (voice)
Michael Dobson	...	Koichi Matsudo / Corporal / Doctor / Pedestrian / Security Guard (voice)
Michael Donovan	...	Daisuke Matoba (voice)
Brian Drummond	...	Hideaki Suruga / Ryuk (voice)
Shunji Fujimura	...	Watari

Storyline

A spin-off of the popular Death Note films, 'L: Change The World' focuses on the legendary detective L as he uses his final 23 days to solve crimes all over the world. When a young girl and boy come to him for aid, L is soon faced with what may be his most difficult case yet: stopping a group of corrupted scientists from spreading a lethal virus throughout the earth.

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Plot Keywords:

character name in title | 

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Taglines:

The final death note showdown!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 2h) The robot that L gives Near at the end of the movie is the same robot that is shown in the anime series that belongs to Near.

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Goofs

(at around 36 mins) When the necklace is passed and the shot changes angle, the necklace changes from stuffed in the hand to neatly dangling.

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Quotes

L: What will you do?
Maki Nikaido: [Looks at L and raised knife again. Holds it for a few moments before breaking down into tears] I'm okay... I'm okay, now.
L: [Comes down and holds Maki in his arms] You're a good girl. I believed in you.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits there is a scene showing L sitting on a chair eating chocolate. He then turns around and walks off. It then says L Lawliet rests in peace.

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Connections

Follows Death Note (2006)

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Soundtracks

I'll be waiting
Song by Lenny Kravitz

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [Japan] Warner Bros. [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese French Italian Thai English

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death Note: L Change the World

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$35,319,632

Company Credits

Production Co:

Horipro, Nikkatsu Pictures, Nippon Television Network (NTV)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1