Death Note - L: change the WorLd

Introduction

It's one of those funny looking blue discs with a handwritten label. Better keep the review short then…

That's the problem with popular franchises; they always go one step too far. I think all who have seen it, will carry the pain of Superman IV with them for life, and there are a list of threequels as long as my arm that have caused distress to many fans, whether it's Terminator, Beverly Hills Cop, Spider-man, The X Men or Robocop. Somewhere there is a producer milking a cash cow until only fetid pus comes out of its bruised and battered udders. Death Note is one of those cash cows, a multimedia phenomenon that has taken the world by storm, first in the form of manga, then a lengthy anime series, and in 2006 a pair of back-to-back film adaptations of the manga which managed the unthinkable of actually being faithful to the original story, while also presenting something new and dare I say it, better than the source material. They were quite rightly hit movies in their native Japan, and significant breakout successes around the world. And then in 2008, the producers grasped the teats of mediocrity and proceeded to fill the pail. But is there any cream at all left to be had in the Death Note franchise? With Hideo Nakata of the Ring films directing, there may just be a chance.


If you're reading a review for the third film in a series, then I'm assuming that you've at least seen the first two. If you haven't, then don't be surprised by the massive SPOILERS that are about to follow. You have been warned…

L, the genius detective of the first two films has just 23 days left to live courtesy of the Death Note. Mourning the loss of friends and contemplating his demise is certainly not a productive way to spend his last three weeks on Earth, so he throws himself into solving as many outstanding cases as he can. Actually a detective of L's calibre can easily handle more than one case at a time, and while he was pursuing Kira, he was also working on a case involving a bioweapon, one that was tested on a small village in Thailand to devastating effect. One of his group, F was on the ground in Thailand, and he witnessed the test and the consequent cover-up. He just about managed to escape with a young boy, the sole survivor of the test. Before he succumbed to the disease, F gave the boy L's contact details, and told him that he would get help there. Meanwhile, a biolab in Japan is investigating the virus, and coming up with some shocking conclusions, as well as working on an antidote. That antidote is needed by the group that created the virus, that intend to use it as an eco-weapon that will depopulate the Earth of humanity and restore nature to its pristine beauty. When the plan comes to the attention of the head researcher, he gives his daughter a package, and sends her to L for safety. He's barely in time, as the terrorists attack the lab in search of the antidote, slaughtering all in their path. So there's L, with just a couple of weeks left to live, and all of a sudden he has to baby-sit two children, and save the world from a lethal virus at the same time.

The Discs

What you will get: A two-disc set in the same form as the first two Death Note films, in a novelty case with a 24-page booklet built in. You'll get a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer (native film-PAL if the first two films are any indication), with probably DD 5.1 and 2.0 Japanese soundtracks with English subtitles. There will be a whole heap of featurettes, including a making of, an interview with the star, promo footage, plenty of trailers and an image gallery.

What I got: A single layer DVD-R, with a 1.85:1 letterbox NTSC image, burnt in subs, DD 2.0 sound, and a 'we know you're a thief not a reviewer' logo in the corner of the image.

Conclusion

They killed it, they killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, or since we're using the bovine metaphor, they led the cash cow to the slaughter. L: change the WorLd is a disappointing cash-in that uses a minor plot point in the conclusion of the original story to allow for a final outing of one of the tale's most memorable characters. It's certainly not a patch on the original films, but it's also a disappointing farewell to L, a bit of James Bond style tomfoolery with none of the nuance, character or thought of the original storyline. Originally, it was just called L: change the WorLd, but the Death Note appellation has been applied for the benefit of Western audiences. The film has nothing to do with the Death Notes, the original characters that do appear do so as cameos or flashbacks, and Shinigami have nothing to do with the bio-terrorism storyline. It would have been better if they had left the Death Note off the title here as well.


What made Death Note work was the battle of wits between Light and L, the psychological games, and the sense of intelligence and depth to the story. It asked moral questions of the viewer, and provided food for thought. Not so with this film, which gives us a bio-terrorism thriller by the numbers, thin, shallow and hackneyed. Humans are a plague on the world, and for the sake of Mother Nature they must be wiped out, according to the terrorist villains of the film. There's your social comment for you, although it was made with stronger clarity and forcefulness in Moonraker. If I'm comparing these two films, you know we have problems. It feels very much like a cash in, especially in terms of the performances. Kenichi Matsuyama in particular feels at times as if he's parodying the L he created in the first two films, while the rest of the cast seriously over-cook their performances. At no point should you laugh at an emotional death scene, but the prolonged death of a researcher was the funniest moment in the film for me.


There are moments to appreciate in this film though. I particularly enjoyed the start of the film, which showed some of the events of Death Note from another angle, while adding a little more detail about some of the characters in the first two films. There is also a sweet moment where Ryuk tempts L with the power of the Shinigami, which really should have been in the previous film. In terms of the main storyline, there is entertainment to be had in seeing L having to interact, perhaps for the only time in his life, with children. Seeing the master detective having to baby-sit raises more than a few smiles, and surprisingly for a man with a tooth as sweet as his, he has a hard time sharing his favourite foods with his temporary charges. The coda to the film is something of a treat for Death Note fans as well, but all of that is small compensation for a poor story that wastes a memorable character.


A minor issue with my review disc was that only the non-English dialogue was subtitled, but I wish it had all been. There are moments when the characters speak English, and there are a couple of impenetrable accents there. I don't know how that will be handled in the final release. If you're a Death Note nut, an obsessive completist who needs it all, then I won't be stopping you from buying this disc, and indeed watching it doesn't taint the first two films at all. It is a disappointing note to send the main character off on though.