Whooooo. This starts right off from the first Death Note. I suspect that Part I and Part II were all filmed as one movie and then split up for times’ sake. Both are between 130-140 minutes and since the director is NOT Peter Jackson, he doesn’t get one 4 1/2 hr movie.
There will be small spoilers, but nothing that I consider huge. Because Death Note has some seriously huge spoiler material, that is for sure. It makes it rather hard to discuss with someone who hasn’t seen it. Kind of like The Sixth Sense. The twist at the end impacts everything that came before. There isn’t that same twist, but some things just as big do occur.
The rivaly between Light and L starts to intensify. L begins to attend the same college as Light and Misa Amane begins dating Light. Misa is another Kira, after being saved from a stalker by a shinigami named Rem. Misa realizes she isn’t as smart as the original Kira but wants to help out. When she finds out that Kira is Light, she gives her cooperation on the terms that Light will be her boyfriend.
Shit gets real when Kira II begins killing people on live tv who oppose Kira. Mostly innocent police officers who happen to be on the scene. This ramps up the feelings on the Kira Task Force and L begins authorizing highly illegal activity, such as the kidnapping of Misa Amane on suspicion of being Kira II.
It is still all a game to Light and he plays with peoples’ lives like pieces on a chessboard. Just like in the manga.
There are some really cool twists and turns, involving multiple Death Notes, multiple Shinigami, memories, Eyes of the Shinigami and continued move and counter-move by both Light and L. While some of the specifics are not exactly like the manga, they are exactly like the manga in spirit.
Now, I’d read the manga twice before watching this or Part I, so I’m not sure how that affected my viewpoint. It would be interesting to get someone’s perspective who hasn’t read the manga, but only watched the Netflix Death Note. Cough,BookCupidity,Cough.
The whole storyline with Near and Melo gets cut out, but honestly, that would require at least another 2 movies, so it isn’t a surprise it isn’t included. This movie wraps up the storyline and shows the ending of the Death Note manga like it was intended. My only other quibble is that Light doesn’t have bleached blonde hair tips. I know that is an odd thing, but that is ONE detail that the Netflix version got right that I was happy about.
To end this ramble, I enjoyed these Death Note movies immensely. I don’t know how well someone who isn’t already familiar with the franchise would enjoy them, but they do a MUCH better job of portraying Death Note than that Netflix bastardization did.
The main cast of Death Note: The Last Name. I’m not even going to say how many of them die.
I’m including my thoughts on the Death Note manga below from when I reviewed them in ’14. Just be aware, they’re as spoilery as anything, as is my tendency.
We are looking for movie copies now, LOL.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They “might” be on youtube…
LikeLiked by 1 person
and I can’t find it. If you have the bandwidth, you might have to torrent it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m going to check around for a physical copy too…
LikeLiked by 1 person
On ebay you can get a 3 in 1 package for about $15. I don’t know the quality though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Death Note: The Last Name Vizmedia 2006 […]
LikeLike
Ah good to know this is a better version
LikeLiked by 1 person
I watched these two years ago not long after watching the TV series. Aside from being cheaply made, I actually thought they did a really good job. They really kept the themes together and the moral slide of “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have you read the manga? And how did the tv series compare to it? I could only find the tv show on torrents or sketchy sellers on Ebay. I wasn’t interested enough to try either option and I suspect I’ll never get around to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, haven’t read the manga unfortunately.
I watched the TV show back when it screened on TV. Our national broadcasters (SBS and ABC publicly funded) often showed manga TV shows and movies late in the evening. No advertising, but if you knew the slot you’d always see something cool.
Speaking of, the live action remake of Blade of the Immortal is coming soon. That was awesome TV.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahhh, you’re talking about the anime, gotcha. There was an actual live action tv show too. I thought about trying to track it down, but I’m pretty much done out on Death Note for a couple of months.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure there is a pun to be made here. Something about being sick of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Near and Melo definitely needs a movie someday. I’d be curious to see how that turns out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I “think” the live action tv show deals with Near and Melo, but I can’t even think about trying to watch that any time soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll have to binge through the whole Death Note universe some day. My memory puts it at such a high pedestal. I need to confirm this now hahah
LikeLiked by 1 person
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4623604/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sweet. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person