Death Note (Live Action Movie)

 

 

Cast:
Kenichi Matsuyama - as L
Tatsuya Fujiwara - as Light Yagami
Asaka Seto - as Naomi Misora

Shidou Nakamura - as Ryuuk (voice)
Shigeki Hosokawa - as Raye Penber
Shunji Fujiwara - as Watari
Sota Aoyama - as Touta Matsuda
Takeshi Kaga - as Souichirou Yagami
Tatsuhito Okuda - as Ukita
Yuu Kashii - as Shiori Akino
Hikari Mishima - as Sayu Yagami
Ikuji Nakamura - as Kanzo Mogi
Matt Lagan - as Lind L. Taylor
Michiko Godai - as Sachiko Yagami
Shin Shimizu - as Shuichi Aizawa

Erika Toda - as Misa Amane

 

Synopsis:

THIS SUMMARY IS FULL OF SPOILERS.

 

This movie is about a college student named Light Yagami. One day he hacked into the FBI system and looked at the profiles and saw that some criminals never got caught or the cases are dropped. Since he wanted to become a lawyer, finding out about this made him really angry and he wanted to go see for himself whether this is true or not and it turned out that it is true. At the bar, there is a criminal there and the criminal is telling his buddies how he killed and Light overheard. He then left while it is raining and found a notebook on the ground. He picked it up and went home.

The notebook is really special. The human name that is written in the book will die and Light thought that is funny and unbelievable but he wrote the name of another criminal in the notebook and he died of a heart attack. If the death is not specified, then the human will die of a heart attack. Later, he found out that the notebook is real and so he began killing by writing the names of criminals into the book and every time, the criminals would die.

At this time, his pen name Kira, is formed and there were websites and many adored him for getting rid of the evil. Ryuk is the owner of the notebook before he dropped it and Light found it. So Ryuk stays with Light but no one could see him except for Light. I guess you could say that Ryuk is a spirit or a demon of some sort.

Though Light's intention is good, he began to kill for other reasons, thus making him the bad guy. He does not kill to get rid of evil but for his own motives. He even killed his own girlfriend, Shiori. You see? He's really bad and selfish. He's really intelligent and knows how to manipulate. Ryuk, at this point, started to see that. During Light's killings, his dad, who works for the FBI, began to investigate the cases and L aided them. He is another main character in here that secretly investigates Kira or Light with the help of the FBI, forming a group so to say. L suspected Light and still does at the end of the movie.

So the movie surrounds how L is trying to prove that Light is actually Kira and how Light hides his true identity.

At the end of the movie, Light joins in the FBI group to hunt down Kira. His purpose for this is to get close to L and the others and to stop them from finding out the truth. Sneaky isn't he? Also at the end of the movie, another girl appears by the name of Misa. She also has another Death Note that is for her. I wonder what will happen.

 

Credits: spcnet

 

What I Think:

I like watching Japanese series and movies because they are fast-paced, I am not really good with finishing movies and series that I have started watching, and I watched this movie out of curiosity…I saw a Death Note book and it looks so intriguing.

Let's start with the acting…

Kenichi Matsuyama - as L pretty much was born to play the role...he nailed the parts where he did L's mannerisms,the way he holds the cups, the stick, the cellphone; most of his scenes have him eating sweets, his eyes focused on tv monitors, sucking his thumb like a big baby and hair tussled everywhere. Kenichi definitely looks better with black eye liner and fussy hair than his clean-cut look; I have to say he is a cutie but borders on freakily psychotic! And I did not know he was in Gokusen?! Like every hot Jap actor starred in gokusen!! I should finish that series. Yeah yeah fine I like him, there and I like his name.

 

Tatsuya Fujiwara - as Light Yagami has better acting skills. Though he is not at all a looker, he was quite okay in the acting department. I am really bothered by his super-straight, broad shoulders…and his nose! Nose is not a good sight, he reminds me of a jukebox el cheapo singer! Haha! I just hated his character that's because, he has the gaul to even kill his loved ones!

 

The supporting actresses, Asaka Seto - as Naomi Misora and Yuu Kashii - as Shiori Akino…one thing about these 2 ladies, they are so pretty! They have little screen time that I have nothing much to say about them, except that Asaka as Naomi Seto was fierce, strong, and convincing.  Poor Shiori. Tsk tsk.

 

Ryuk, man he looks like an ordinary Tekken/gamecube character stuffed in the movie, when he first flew over Light, the graphics were not so good but the movie was really nice.

 

The soundtrack… like every other Japanese movie lifted from awesome shoju mangas, the soundtrack was awesome. Two songs stand out the most; Manatsu no Yoru no Yume which plays out as Light takes Shiori on a date to the museum. I love that song! The other is the ending theme, Dani California from Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

 

 

Rating: 9 out of 10 Japanese Tempura

 

 

Other Stuff:

* Death Note - A Death Note is a book held by a Shinigami which has the power to kill people if certain conditions are met. All Death Notes follow a long set of specific rules.

 

* Before releasing his Death Note into the human world, Ryuk wrote some of the more basic rules on the first page in English, because he believed that English was the most popular language in the world. The rules written by Ryuk are the following:

 

1. The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

2. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

3. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.

4. If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.

5. After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

 

* Sound of Death Note is a soundtrack featuring music from the first Death Note film composed and arranged by Kenji Kawai It was released on 17 June 2006.

Track List:

 

1. A heart attack

2. A dispute

3. Confused

4. Realize the limitations

5. Disturbance

6. In the heart

7. Astonishment

8. A reality

9. Logic

10. A challenge

11. Make a noise in the world

12. A shadow

13. The test

14. Give the right answer

15. Reasoning powers

16. Carry out a plan

17. Memo paper

18. Be cute

19. Impatience

20. An image

21. Suspicion

22. Misunderstand

23. According to plan

24. A sacrifice

25. An observer

26. Go into battle

 

Kenichi as L:                Kenichi minus the makeup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits: wikipedia, spcnet, darren.wiinix.com