(2006)
Dir - Shusuke Kaneko
Overall: GOOD
The first live action adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's manga series Death Note, (Desu Nōto), establishes the rules and sets up the coming interplay between its main characters with a pretty cleverly scripted first duel between them. Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama play the mostly villainous anti-hero Light and his mysterious arch nemesis L respectively, with Shidō Nakamura providing the voice of the punk rock hair-cutted, apple loving shinigami Ryuk whose utterly awful CGI rendition is the only glaring visual flaw in the movie. As the source material also did, the story itself deals with the temptation and seemingly inescapable corruption with wielding the power to "kill from afar" which Light justifies in a classic, gray area super villain sense to rid the world of all criminals and thus providing a utopia made possible through his own god-like judgement. Meanwhile, much of Japan's youth seems him as a commendable savoir while L and the by the books justice seeking police force do everything in their power to keep such morally questionable, ultimate solution philosophizes at bay. Wisely, director Kaneko and screenwriter Tetsuya Oishi structure everything to a memorable finale which pulls off some entertaining twists to virtually guarantee that the audience will return for the next installment which thankfully arrived less than four months later.
(2006)
Dir - Shusuke Kaneko
Overall: GOOD
Serving as a proper continuation of the same year's previous movie Death Note with all of the personnel both behind and in front of the screen returning, Death Note 2: The Last Name, (Desu Nōto Za Rasuto Neimu),starts off right from the aforementioned film's satisfying conclusion. Though a spin-off sequel involving L was still on the way, this essentially wraps up the saga of the manga source material's crop of characters and provides more out-smarting narrative twists than should legally be allowed. Tatsuya Fujiwara's Light Yagami finds a new cohort in Erika Toda's Misa Amane, (who was briefly introduced in the proceeding film), and another God of Death shows up as well which all ups the stakes in typical sequel fashion where the formula stays the same with just more ingredients making up the whole. Also more Red Hot Chili Peppers songs show up as "Snow, Hey Oh" joins "Dani California" which was inexplicable chosen to be the series' theme song for heaven knows what reason. Tonally, this is a campier effort with some genuine humor thrown in and several intentionally silly beats that are hit, but it still has an emotionally impactful conclusion that emphasizes the uncompromising, morally dubious methods that Fujiwara's anti-hero adheres to.
(2008)
Dir - Hideo Nakata
Overall: GOOD
Squeezing a little more juice out of the Death Note franchise while the iron was still relatively hot, L: change the WorLd, is the first in the series to be an original story that was not a direct adaptation of the Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's manga source material, though the two creators did provide the screenplay along with Hirotoshi Kobayashi. Director Hideo Nakata had already made a name for himself as a contemporary J-horror statesmen with Dark Water and the initial Ring films, but the story line that he works with here is completely removed from supernatural elements and is instead a viral outbreak thriller. That said, the central, morally questionable tension of the first two Death Note movies is still in place. Instead of an anti-hero trying to rid the world of criminals, here it is a rogue scientist and a manic, corporation that want to unleash a deadly disease upon the populous for an environmentally balanced end game. Marking his final appearance on screen as the title character, Kenichi Matsuyama explores a slightly bigger range of humanizing emotions though his numerous, idiosyncratic mannerisms stay on point and even get pointed out by the younger actors that he acts as guardian to. For fans of the super genius, Mr. Burns-postured, candy-munching mastermind, this will serve as a satisfying if not altogether remarkable send-off, but it is also adequately structured all around to appease everyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment