Anime and manga otaku will be psyched that both live-action Death Note movies will be playing in the NYAFF, with the director in attendance. I wouldn’t be surprised if these screenings are already sold out. This will be the North American debut of both films, despite many fans having seen them thanks to internet piracy. Viz Films will undoubtedly eventually distribute the DVDs in North America at a reasonable price. The Death Note anime series is still running and episodes are available for purchase in the iTunes store.
DEATH NOTE
Chances are you already know the premise of Death Note if you’re reading this, so I’ll be brief: Light Yagami finds a magic notebook that has the power to kill anyone who’s name he writes in it’s pages. Light immediately sets out to free the world of crime by killing every criminal he sees on the news; unfortunately, the police consider Light’s actions mass murder and call in the world’s greatest detective, known only as “L” to solve the case.
The real question is this: Will your friends who aren’t familiar with Death Note be able to enjoy this film? My answer is a cautious maybe; the CG for the Death God (shinigami) character Ryuk is a bit lackluster - he looks like he’s in a videogame. The plot is a little draggy and convoluted since it’s split into two movies. I’m not certain someone coming from a non-fan perspective would have the patience for it.
If anything, Death Note feels like a date movie. Light is played by hot young actor Tatsuya Fujiwara, and his girlfriend Shirori’s part is expanded for the film. There’s a tragic-death-romance ending that seems tacked on to win over… well, your date. It seems like a movie made by guys with some kissing thrown in so that girls will still enjoy it.
Although Misa Misa is a major character in the manga, she is mostly absent from the first film - her role is mostly regulated to her face painted on the side of a bus. L barely arrives halfway through Death Note; L fans will have to wait for the second film for hot, hot L action (see below).
Although a bit bland, there were some moments of Death Note that I enjoyed immensely. First, when Ray Penbar writes the names of the U.S. FBI Agents in the Death Note, the first name he writes is “Miles Fitzerald” which is clearly “Fitzgerald” with no G. I’m not nitpicking here - this was a dramatic name-writing scene with the name spelled out in close-up and the plot hinging on the written word.
Second, I found it extremely gratifying that Macs were used in the film only by good characters. L has a platinum PowerBook G4, (an upgrade from the Mac G4 cube in the manga) whereas Light uses only PCs. The FBI agent had a Thinkpad, but that Thinkpad was only used for evil! (I’m writing this on a Platinum G4 Powerbook, by the way.)
Third, there is a crucial zoom-in at the end of the film onto a bag of chips. It’s a bag of consumé flavored chips. Truly, a classic moment in cinema history!
Finally, I didn’t like the way that Ryuk’s feathery shoulder-pads were rendered in CG. Thanks to Monsters Inc. I know there are better fur/feather rendering engines out there, but I suspect that Death Note had about 1/12th of the budget of your average Pixar film. It may not be a fair complaint.
Overall, Death Note is way more accessible to the general public that Death Note: The Last Name, but I’ll explore that in a moment.
DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME
Death Note: The Last Name is not a good movie. It is not objectively good; nor is it accessible to non-fans of the Death Note franchise. Now that that’s out of the way; OMG I loved this movie!!!!1
The ideal viewing situation for The Last Name is a junior high slumber party. I wanted to eat ice cream and popcorn and break out into pillow-fights while watching this film. The plot is convoluted, sure, but this is actually a movie about watching two hot fictitious geniuses play out a game of symbolic chess against each other. Did I mention they were hot?
More fan-fiction fodder than film, The Last Name rehashes the second part of the Death Note manga, from roughly volume 5 on. Instead of the (spoilers) Death Note ending up in the hands of the Yotsuba corporation, an ambitious female new anchor becomes the next Kira. She quickly kills off her competing news anchor to advance in ranks as one would on a Klingon Bird of Prey. And if you know what I mean by that, you’re probably nerdy enough to watch this film.
The Last Name appeals to me in the same way that old Doctor Who episodes appeal to me; it is solidly cult with some camp thrown in. Watching the first Death Note movie is not enough to understand the plot of The Last Name; one needs to have read some of the manga or seen the anime to understand it. It is the same problem with pre-1989 episodes of Dr. Who - one must understand the franchise to get any enjoyment out of it. The camp element comes into play as L eats more and more sugary snacks in each scene. A normal person would scoff at such scenes, but to an insider this is pure fanservice.
Fortunately I watched the movie alone; otherwise my high-pitched giggling would be intolerable to others. If you’re watching this with an audience of fangirls you ought to know what you’re in for: Squeeing.
Mello and Near are not in The Last Name, and the movie is better off for it.
The best past of The Last Name is the ending. Rather than sticking strictly to the manga, The Last Name has a really good ending. It takes a little from the end of the books, but clears up the clouded plot and comes to a very satisfying conclusion (unfortunately drawn out a totally unnecessary epilogue scene). If you want to know more about the ending, read the wikipedia entry, because I’m not going to spoil it for you here.
