Death Note: The Last Name (2006) User Reviews

Death Note The Last Name: A fitting finale to a decent adaptation

[Platypuschow · 8/10 · 24 September 2017]

I knew that the Death Note story couldn't be told in a single movie and the Americans proved that several times over, the Japanese made it a two parter and though it's not on par with the anime it's still great viewing.

Following on the story from Light & L's first meeting the battle of the two great minds continues as they try to outdo one another until the fantastic finale.

Once again there are differences from the anime and the story isn't identical (Including the finale) but it's loyal enough to the original material to not be offensive.

Once again both Light and L actors knock their performances out of the park and make up for some shoddy cgi and questionable soundtrack.

I would recommend the Death Note movies to any Death Note fan, anyone who has only seen the US version and anyone who simply doesn't fancy anime.

Now venturing on to the live action spinoffs methinks.

The Good:

It's Death Note

Perfect casting

Extremely well written

The Bad:

They changed Rems entire gender!

Red Hot Chilli Peppers again!? Really!?

Ryuk/Rem sfx still crap

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The Death note story can be just about accomplished across 4hrs with tweaks

Great Alternative Story

[TianLevMajdic · 6/10 · 8 June 2017]

After first film's unexpected finale, this one continues adopting the manga storyline while adding some minor original twists, leading to a completely changed and, in my opinion, improved ending.

Although bad visual effects and mediocre acting might turn some people off. If you can look past that, and if you weren't satisfied with the original manga ending, this might be just what you are looking for.

Very surprising and touching ending, a MUST see

[deathangel666 · 8/10 · 3 November 2006]

The movie plot was a bit different than the manga( yes, and it wasn't like the one written by someone in IMDb, don't trust that one, that plot was wrong, you will know it was different when you saw the movie)yet surprising! there were some new characters and some characters in the manga did not appeared in this movie, e.g Mello and Near ( i don't know why the credit list have their names, but actually, mello and near weren't even mentioned in the movie, so someone please correct the mistakes in IMDb).

Though the story was changed and the movie was quite long(141mins), but it was still very entertaining and enjoyable, i was not bored or yawned(like what i did while watching the first movie) while watching the movie.

It was also very touching too, especially the ending scene when L was talking to Raito's dad on the sofa, i nearly cried there, okay, i am serious, that part was really touching, and you actually will love L more. That part was so sad and touching that made me hv a dismal feeling after watching it, well, honestly, i still feel a bit melancholic right now. So everyone (especially L lovers), don't take the movie too seriously, or you will felt really unhappy and depressed.

also, mind you raito fans, you might be happy at first, but the ending will disgust you.......so don't be happy or cheer for raito so early, the ending was quite surprising

overall, i give 8 to this movie. it's a shame to miss

entertaining

[LunarPoise · 13 August 2011]

Death Note II picks up right where the first installment left off, with Light and L locked together in partnership. Only a new notebook and shinigami appears, bringing Kira II into the equation, complicating matters for Light while providing him with a means to overcome L.

This film betters the first film by offering more twists and superior plotting. Erika Toda as Misa Amane nails the shallow pop idol role, while providing ample comic fodder to divert us from the mind games. Shunji Fujimura as Watari ups his game here. Light has to face the consequences of his actions and the questionable nature of some of his choices. Ken'ichi Matsuyama shines again as the idiosyncratic L. There are more laughs, more questions, more surprises, and a satisfying climax this time round. No one in their right mind will watch this before watching the first, and if you liked the first you'll want to watch this. Rest assured, it does not disappoint.

An Unfortunate Incident of Slight Disappointment

[chongchuanmun · 7/10 · 26 January 2007]

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.

Beats Even The First One

[Ore-Sama · 10/10 · 29 March 2008]

Many manga fans are complaining about the changes. Quite frankly they have very little ground to stand on for that. There's no way they could've condensed the story better. Then again, these tend to be the same kind of fans who scream bloody murder if so much as a single letter in a line of dialouge is changed. Some people can not be pleased and are best to be ignored.

The first film was well done for the most part, so what about this film? Well....

We have the same actors reprising their roles from the first film, and their performances have no faltered. The actor playing L is required to show more emotion this time, but does so without going over the top and killing his character. Light's acting is still solid as well, able to transition between 'Innocent" Light and "Kira" Light.

Misa is played to perfection. The voice and mannerisms are almost an exact duplicate of the source material. There are some slight differences to her character but they are minor and not detracting.

Were elements changed? Yeah, they had to be. Some people may not be able to understand this, but no one wants to watch a 10 hour movie. Many areas had to be condensed but they showed enough as to not eliminate an intergal elements, except for Near and Mello.

Actually, this is an improvement. Those characters resulted in a dreadfully boring and an atrocious ending. What we got instead was a compelling, intense ending with some heartfelt moments intertwined and a story that was kept where it should've stayed. So yes, I'm saying it, this movie was better then the original manga in terms of the ending.

9.5/10

More dead time than dead people

[themovieclub · 6/10 · 26 December 2006]

Originally a manga series of a cursed notebook who kills anybody whose name is written on it, the screen adaptation earned instant success and charmed youths all over Asia.

a) Will I be able to appreciate The Last Name without watching Part 1?

You may have difficulty as there was no flashback with little introduction to the characters. Besides Light Yagami (also known as Kira the holder of the Death Note) and L (the genius out to capture Kira), the other characters require some form of introduction to get a better understanding. My recommendation is to watch both, rather than just a Part 2 standalone.

b) Is Part 2 better than Part 1?

While I was left hanging anticipating during Part 1, I must admit Part 2 was disappointing. With more talk and less action. Part 2 focused on the different the strategies taken by Light and L, but left out much action, humour and tension.

c) So should I watch Part 2?

Reviews have been on two extremes: You either love it for the play of cat and mouse play of strategies or get bored with the numerous dialogues and explanations. Manga fans will find it disappointing as the movie did not stay true to the original.

With less surprises and slow pacing, The Last Name still has enough entertainment value to thrill. The star of the movie time is L, and I am a converted fan of chocolate and sweets.

http://themovieclub.blogspot.com

Wonderful ending to the story, better movie than the first one.

[kriitikko · 9/10 · 21 January 2008]

The second part of the "Death Note" movie series, "the Last Name" starts from where the first one ended. Yagami Light, who uses God of Death's notebook, the Death Note, to kill criminals has joined the team of his father, Inspector Yagami, and the world's greatest detective, L, to capture Kira. Light, who is Kira, is motivated by his need to discover L's true name, so he can get rid of the detective. Meanwhile L is certain that Light is Kira, but without evidence he can't do anything but wait and see. As if things aren't bad enough, a Second Kira appears out of nowhere, to help Kira. Second Kira is Amane Misa, a rising idol, who worships Kira and has her own Death Note. Things move to their conclusion.

"Death Note: the Last Name" is a great improvement when compared to the first movie. Where first film was still somewhat slow and uncertain, the second part keeps the viewer interested its whole length: nearly two and half hours! The second part is also more faithful to the original manga than the first one. Greatest difference would be removing the character of Higuchi and replacing him with Takada, who in manga didn't appear until much later. The second movie is also the concluding one, which might be confusing since both movies together only tell the first half of the manga events. Still the finale has been cleverly turned faithful to manga, and I personally like it even better than manga ending.

I already commented the performances of Tatsuya Fujiwara(Light), Ken'ichi Matsuyama(L) and Takeshi Kaga(Inspector Yagami) in my review of first "Death Note" movie, so I'll just comment the new parties here. Erika Toda surprised me with her role as Misa. Although, like many other manga fans, I too would have wanted to see blonde Misa, the hair colour was the only complain I could come up with. Her Misa is naive but not as annoyingly air headed as in the manga, but actually makes her a believable. Nana Katase makes an okay role as an ambitious Takada, although I feel she could have done better.

The complains are the same as previous: the minor characters of police investigators are left in the background and the Death Gods look ridiculous, but this time the dynamic moving of the story saves a lot.

What can I say? A definitive improvement to the first film and a great ending to the story.

I like the anime more but it's nice to see another take on the story.

[timb75 · 6/10 · 13 June 2008]

This film has it's flaws. What I liked most about this film is that it gave you a different ending then the anime. The beginning of this film follows the anime pretty well minus some action, and some characters and their sexes were changed. What bugged me though was how careless Light was. He seemed so much more insane yet dumber then in the anime. Honestly the story could of been much better then it was but still it was an interesting take on the story. The acting wasn't very good. The only believable characters in comparison to the anime were Mr. Yagami and L. L was a real joy to watch in live action. If all else see this movie just to see him and how eccentric he really is. So if you like seeing all angles of a story then this is a good movie to see. The different ending makes it worth watching.

Thrilling to the Last

[GarryJohal · 10/10 · 28 December 2006]

Death Note 2 is a brilliantly done movie. It's the thriller that other movies wish they could grow up to be. I can't think of any major flaw with it. The acting was good, unlike some other Japanese movies which have good plots or ideas which are watered down by poor acting or special effects. It did feel quite stretched out though, it's more than 2 hours long. But that only made the plot that much more twisting and kept the audience guessing. There were some scenes that were a tad clichéd, but it lacked the predictable plot twist that we're so accustomed to in so many Hollywood flicks. The pace was brilliant and kept the movie fresh.Even though it was longer than 2 hours I barely felt it. It's a very entertaining and carefully thought out movie. The director did not screw it up by trying to outdo the anime or manga, and it didn't go up its own butt with social commentary. It was immensely thrilling, engaging and fiendishly clever. A very good movie from Japan, especially after years of poorly made horror films trying to ride on The Ring's success.

Not recommended for the manga fans. Should have been a trilogy.

[d_abhi4 · 7/10 · 13 July 2007]

This movie could have been great, it could have been really good IF THEY WOULD HAVE MADE IT A TRILOGY. They chopped up the manga very badly added own story to make the movie fit into two titles; a very bad move. If you are a manga fan you will not like it. It is "based" on the death note manga not the manga itself.

However, If you disregard all of that, the movie is not all that bad.

The casting was pretty good. Just that light can act like light, he just doesn't look completely like him which isn't bad.

The special effects were probably was fans will like the best about the movie. The "death gods" or "shinigamies" looked great and acted even better.

But i still can't get over the fact how the manga was brutally chopped up.

Watch it for yourself to judge.

PS: LIGHT SHALL LIVE FOREVER!

Very entertaining

[gianmarcoronconi · 9/10 · 13 September 2021]

This film is even more beautiful than the previous one because it introduces new themes and has a very fast pace that keeps you glued to the screen and never tires you. The only flaw is the ending that after such a well-thought-out film is slightly pulled away and seems made to finish the film as soon as possible.

A Nutshell Review: Death Note: The Last Name

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 24 December 2006]

A warning to all who attempt to watch this without watching the first movie - you'll be lost, totally. It doesn't come with a summary or a montage, and dives right into where the first film left off. You'll probably have plenty of questions, and there is almost zero character introduction. Even the brisk recap of the Death Note capabilities quickly flips by, offering you no time to complete reading what's on screen. So you've been warned.

LIght Yagami (Tatsuya Fujiwara) now becomes part of the team hunting down Kira, and a reluctant L (Ken'ichi Matsuyama) still refuses to drop his assumptions of Light being Kira himself. However, a new Kira emerges, thereby casting doubts on L's theory, and its seems that this new Kira is more powerful than the last. Another battle of wits ensues, but this time, who's playing who, and at what price?

The cast here is basically the same, just that bit characters Misa Amane (Erika Toda) and Tota Matsuda (Sota Aoyama) get expanded roles here, to balance the strong testosterone flavour seen in the 1st movie (ok, not quite, since both Light and L are exactly hunks), and given that they're beautiful, I sure am not complaining. Their roles as the television celebrity and the news reporter respectively aren't flower vases by design, and are totally involved in the plot, though still pawns in the entire scheme of things.

What made the first movie interesting, even though for the most parts it's devoted to setting up the premise, was that there were many bits of surprises and revelations along the way. Here, all the bits and pieces are sacrificed for one major plot, with Sacrifice being the recurrent theme here, and although we learn more of the capabilities and limitations of the Death Note, it lacks the freshness of its predecessor as everything was hinged on that grand central scheme. And being just one scheme, it had the weight on the entire movie hinging on it to make, or break.

Also, there were many moments which made it too contrived, and largely dependent on plenty of coincidences and lucky breaks, even up to predicting how others would behave. Compared to the first, it just didn't cut it, and came across as lazy storytelling on the filmmakers' part. Even though the ending of the first movie was made of predicting what others would do, and involves being ahead many steps of the way, the same technique as presented in the sequel, is far too complex with many determinants hanging in limbo, for it to work as it should.

The pacing didn't help, and its dragged out finale was almost laughable, adhering to the tragic villain soliloquy for far too long. However by then, you'll be glad that it's just all over. I suspect if the two movies are watched back to back, it'll be more enjoyable than watching both as standalones. Still, it makes for some good harmless entertainment on lazy afternoons.

Nice try but lacking

[prof_spud_hed · 4/10 · 26 January 2007]

although this was a decent attempt at recreating the story from the original manga content despite its detractions from the original source it doesn't really work as a film, even in 2 two hour movies it still isn't long enough, the anime series is currently at 15 half hour episodes and needs every second of it to build the characters, although they were fairly well cast, especially the part of L, but the cut in time left the characters feeling wrong, for example light seems to be troubled by emotions and such whereas in the anime he came across as cold, calculating and emotionless, if he needed to kill his own family he would do so without a second thought if he saw it neccecary for his cause, it also seemed as if they had attempted to make him likable or at least have the viewer sympathise with him in some way instead of the true demon he really is and by doing all this he doesn't come across as intelligent as his original manga counterpart. taken on its own it is not a bad set of films but compared to the source material it pails in insignificance, if you can invest the time in watching the series or reading the manga and you'll find it one of the most well thought out and gripping things you've seen in years

A Surprisingly Good Version

[mitsukariyasui · 18 May 2007]

It seems that every live action derivative of a manga/anime that I've seen has been barely watchable at best.

These movies on the other hand were entertaining to the end. They stayed with the main plot as much as possible and delivered the memorable dramatic scenes with new live action flavor, but changed the plot without opening holes and delivered a new, believable conclusion.

I didn't like Fujiwara much in the lead role- he's not dynamic or conniving enough to bring the role to life. Quite often his face seems to "give it away" when his role calls for a solid and impenetrable exterior.

Matsuyama, however, takes on the ridiculously difficult role of "L" and absolutely rocks. Vocal tones, strange postures and movements, appearance, mannerisms, all breathe life into what was one of the best characters ever to grace manga shelves. My only complaint was the over-decadent manner in which he ate his candy- it seemed a little contrived, as opposed to the more matter-of-fact noshing done by the manga/anime character during his investigations.

Thay certainly could have done a lot worse, and they took enough film time to do the series justice. Can't wait for the American version.

I gave 9 points for both episodes.

[coreguy · 7/10 · 3 March 2007]

Today I have spent 4 hours watching two episodes in a row.

The director has done a very good job on depicting the "hidden" war between L and Light, more important and valuable, their respective character and mission in this event:

Light: For "justice" narrowly defined by himself, play hard using the death note, even at the cost of his girlfriend and father. "Sacrifice anyone who is needed" , What he said has fully revealed that finally he became a real criminal.

L : Insisting on his intuition and willing to sacrifice himself for the justice.

About the Actors. The performances of Tatsuya Fujiwara and Ken'ichi Matsuyama are persuasive, tally with their characters.

Nice movies. I was not a DEATH-NOTE manga reader/fan before. but now kinda of...

Just as good as the first Death Note

[dudedazzreviews · 8/10 · 7 October 2010]

Death Note: The Last Name is the sequel to Death Note, an anime adaptation. However, does Death Note: The Last Name follow in Death Note's footsteps or should this movie be in the Death Note? The story is very good and continues on from where the first movie left off, the characters are brilliantly written and the acting was great as well. The scenes were brilliantly executed and the CGI was also very good, especially for the Shinigamis (Death Gods who own the Death Note). I thought that Tatsuya Fujiwara did great as Light but Kenichi Matsuyama stole the movie as L, who acted and behaved exactly how the character in the anime did so it was nice to see the movie stay faithful to the series in some ways. The writing was very good and the dialogue was great too. All in all, it's like the anime series with some welcoming changes.

I enjoyed this sequel, I thought that it wasn't going to be as good as the first movie but I would say that it was on the same level, if not, better. The story basically continued on and it managed to keep the balance of the characters and their stories and how they all interact with each other. The acting was very good and I think the CGI was great. The designs for Ryuk and Remi were brilliant and they haven't changed them from the series (well, except for the fact that they're in 3D). I think that, even though they have made big changes from the Death Note story, they've pulled it off and they've done a good job making the story into two movies. This movie is great, it has everything you liked about the first movie in this and more. If you like Death Note, you'll be happy with this.

Read more reviews at: www.dudedazzmoviereviews.wordpress.com

Death note 2.

[helmutty · 9/10 · 25 December 2006]

I can say this is better than the first movie, it is heart-pounding till the last part, the ending was what I did not expected but it was not a very good ending. The story is sightly different to the comic but it is mostly the end part. If you watch this, you should watch Death note 1 to get the picture but I find Death note 2 is a different story than part one. The story, Kira(Light) continued to match wits with L, only to find that he was been outwitted by L. Misa joined in the game but she was quite a fool, she wanted to be used by Light, with her death god, Rem. Some new characters were added in, like in the comic, 3rd Kira was supposed to be a man but in this movie, it is a woman. Then from there, L had to figure all this out. I was disappointed as there was no third death god, no Mello, no Near. The ending(you can't even predict)was okay but I wished it had been better. If you want a good mystery movie, you should catch this! Look like the director was in a rush to complete this movie, maybe that is why.......

Better than part one...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 28 December 2015]

The story in "Death Note: The Last Name" (aka "Desu nôto: The last name") was better than the first movie and it did a good job as a sequel. But not only because of the story, but also because it was just better directed.

Ryuk was also better animated and given more of a personality in this movie. And compared to the second God of Death then Ryuk was far superior in both design and personality.

It was good to see the L character as more of a focal point to the story, and the Misa Amane character added a lot of flavor to the movie and the story in general.

"Death Note: The Last Name" was carried by the performances of Ken'ichi Matsuyama (playing L) and Erika Toda (playing Misa), while Tatsuya Fujiwara (playing Light) still had the charisma of drywall.

"Death Note: The Last Name" is a story- and character-driven movie and it far surpasses the first "Death Note" movie in every aspect. However, you should still watch part one first to fully understand what is going on in part two.

As I haven't read the Manga or seen the animation, then I am not sure how much of the movies stay true to the source of origin. But as such, I can still say that the live action movies are good entertainment.

The same high quality as the first...

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 10 June 2016]

And so here we have the second part of the DEATH NOTE saga, which really has to be seen in conjunction with the first film as in essence both movies are part of the same overall picture (in the same way that the LORD OF THE RINGS films can be watched individually but must be watched as a trilogy for the full effect). Pleasingly, DEATH NOTE 2 retains the same level of classy originality, proficient attention to technical details and high calibre acting as the first film, so I found it equally as good.

Of course, it's not the same beast and simply repeating the formula would have been a disappointment considering the pedigree set up by the first movie. This time around, the plot is a lot more complex, with additional characters and all manner of twists and turns that'll have your head spinning. By the time the ending comes, I admit I was a little confused by everything that was going on, but it does all work out if you think about it logically. I'd rather watch a film with lots going on than one with nothing, and the amount of detail in this film's story almost epic in scope.

Cast members from the first film all return in this one, and give performances just as fine too. Fujiwara and Matsuyama are given the bulk of the work and they do very well in portraying the classic battle between good and evil scaled down to just two men. Special mention goes to Erika Toda, who makes what could have been an irritating, one-dimensional pop star type character into a multi-layered human being. This time around there are two floating death gods on offer and the CGI animation is just as impressive as in the first film. Things build to a genuinely impressive climax that neatly puts a lid on the proceedings, although one spin-off sequel, L CHANGE THE WORLD, followed.

Its not called "desu noto", its Death Note

[belenus84 · 7/10 · 26 March 2009]

Just so you know, the title is "Death Note", not "Desu Noto". "Desu Noto" doesn't even translate to "Death Note" in Japanese. I don't know where this misconception comes from but it gets annoying to constantly see. Are you trying to sound like you're Japanese by pronouncing "Death Note" in the broken-English Japanese accent? If so, thats racist!

As for a review, the movie is a great adaption from the Anime. The only thing that made me a bit sad about this movie is that there's no Near or Mello. I understand it would have been hard to include their arc but still saddens me. Overall its worth a watch if you enjoyed the anime. It's just not as heated as the manga/anime.

Would you use the book?

[lewiskendell · 8/10 · 1 November 2011]

"Kira is justice."

If you liked the first Death Note movie, you'll like this one, too. Another god of death, a second death note, a new Kira (or, perhaps two new Kira's), and the two geniuses, Light and L, working together as both allies and enemies. I'd say that the first movie was a little more clever, but this one adds some interesting new characters. 

There really aren't many better manga or anime to live-action movie adaptations, in my opinion. The Last Name is a smart mix of investigation, subterfuge and the supernatural, wrapped around an interesting premise. I fully recommend this dark, well-acted (looooove Erika Toda) sequel (as well as the first movie). I was a little disappointed with how it ended, but that's purely because of the characters I was rooting for.

Good If You Don't Watch the Anime Finale First

[dcfemella · 6/10 · 9 March 2009]

I made the mistake of watching the anime finale before watching the movie. I knew that "Death Note: The Last Name" wasn't going to be exactly like the anime because there were things that happened after the first movie, in the anime, that were too much to cover in one film.

If I had watched the movie before the anime, then I would say that the movie was good. It kept you at the edge of your seat watching the cat-and-mouse chase between L and Light. They didn't have time to introduce two vital characters, Mello and Near, from the anime in the movie, but I think in the time that they had, it would have left people confused.

The only complaint that I have is that it could have been trilogy. It seemed like they tried to tie all the loose ends in the span of time that they had, which could have been done if there was another movie. Who knows why the didn't. Maybe they didn't have enough funding, etc., but it's a shame cause I would have probably named this one of my top five trilogies.

If you have watched the anime, skip the second movie. I feel like I ruined the anime finale by watching this one. It tainted it and now I have to rewatch the anime ending to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

untrue to its original manga

[Kingdommm · 2/10 · 23 December 2006]

I've been a fan death note after the watching the 1st series of Anime; and I started reading the manga because the anime wasn't coming out fast enough. the overall the concept of Death Note is intelligent, exciting and has a great story. I was shocked to find that 75% of this movie's story was not from the manga. right from the start: Light's girlfriend dying? TV reporter Takada? where did they come from? aside from new characters, the part where Kira openly says he's the 2nd kira? these points made the movie less intelligent and also more predictable. the acting and direction of the movie was also poor.

but the strangest part of watching this midnight on a Friday night was that every time Ruuk spoke - the whole cinema would laugh out loud. If you're a fan of the manga; don't bother watching this movie.

reflections

[as78944 · 13 June 2007]

Even though I'm new to "Death Note", I still have a zeal for it. It was, I apprehended, a comic strip before. The exciting plot attracts me a lot, I especially like the twists in it, and the truth won't come out until finish watching the whole movie. Moreover, it also stimulates deep thoughts, and here are some of my reflections:

First, what is justice? Does it means: "to kill all the criminals"? If so, is killing a kind of commitment? Then how can you create a "Justice World" by murdering? The method that the main character, Light, had took, in my opinion, although an effective way but a burlesque behavior.

Second, is "love" a kind of stumbling block? The main character, Light, seemed so callous that he could avail himself of the people around him to reach his goal. As for the Devil, who has love, dies without doubt. It also shows that "love is blind". Misa, the girl who loves Light, is willing to exchange half of her lifetime, just to help Light to kill people easily. Nevertheless, does Light really loves her? I think Misa doesn't really care about it. In the other hand, Light's father believes in his son so much that never thought of that Light is the murderer. However, the truth is clear.

Last, there are two geniuses in the movie: the greatest detective, L, and the main character, Light. They seem so alike, nonetheless, walking on different path. I think it's really lamentable for a chance to meet a guy whose talent and personality was so resemble to us, but can't be friends. I believe that Light and L really cherish each other.

After all, I really like the movie "Death Note", it'll be great for you to go watching it.