Death Note: The Last Name

Death Note: The Last Name, is the second and final part of the Death Note films. I was very lucky to actually see this in a theater! Nothing like seeing it on the big screen. I was very curious about what this movie would be like because of all the material it had to cover. The Death Note manga is multiple volumes, and to wrap it all up in one movie could not have been an easy task for the writers. I enjoy the film (though I felt the plot got extremely twisted at times) and found it very well done, but it ended up being quite different from the manga. Though I am not a Death Note "purist" it was interesting to note all the differences between the two.
I went with a classmate of mine to see Death Note, and was glad to have the company. Unfortunately I arrived a few minutes late and missed out on seeing some kids who came in costume! We were both hoping that the movie would be subtitled, as neither of us are big fans of dubbing. I think that the translation done for dubbing is often not as close to the original as the subtitle, and usually the voices just seem WAY too awkward and cheesy when matched with the actor. Unfortunately the showed the dubbed version but it was easy to get past the english voices/japanese actors after awhile. Death Note is very psychologically and morally complex, and I think the movie did a good job of portraying it. For most of the time that I was watching, I was very anxious! Since they changed so much from the manga, even I did not know what was going to happen, haha. There was one important event that was very different from the manga - Light actually succeeds in killing L! In the manga he tricks Rem into killing both Watari and L. Another guy then becomes L's replacement. It makes sense that they would change this in the movie, as it is a bit much to have an entirely new L halfway through the film. The rest of the events proceeded as they did in the manga (though with the different L). Though the movie ended in a lighter tone than the manga, the death of Light was dark as it was in the manga, and the actor who played Light did an excellent job of portraying him during his death scene. I read in an interview that the two actors who played Light and L got so into their characters that they barely even spoke with each other when the camera wasn't rolling! I'd like to see the L spin-off next, because his character is fascinating. I'm a lover of sweet but seeing him constantly eating candy dipped in sugar and syrup made me a bit queasy...
I think the film definitely had a message about justice and the law that was similar to that of the manga, despite the changes. I would definitely recommend seeing this film to anyone who is a fan of the manga or anime, or even enjoys a good j-movie!