Bene Cumb
This film is also known as Death Note III and is a spin-off to the Death Note film series, following an original storyline. Director Hideo Nakata has told that he wanted to reveal L's "human side," having not been explored in the other Death Note series. I think he succeeded in that, but the evil characters and the friendly agent are much less elaborated and not convincing. The storyline is also quite trivial and Japanese "overplaying" in dramatic events becomes annoying at times. But as mentioned, Matsuyama is brilliant as before - here, a pleasant not a good example with his habits and manners - and the children playing Near and Maki are also worth watching. Thus, there are still more bright moments than dull/weird ones.Similar to other Death Note films, this is not for everyone - and definitely not a European-US family film despite of small children in major supporting roles.
loyolite
This is movie is extremely average with nothing much in it. It's trying to use the success of Death Note to try to sell itself. I had already read and heard reviews for this movie being horrible. So I had very very very low expectations in this one. But the problem is when you see L , you really start expecting something smart, something intelligent. And you get highly disappointed :-( If they had made this movie without the Death Note characters , it would have be a bad movie. But using the same characters is even worse, as you tend to expect them to do their regular bit. Believe me, when you see L on the screen, you will start thinking that he is upto something, or he will come out with something smart and surprising. But no .. nothing like that at all. That is the reason why I gave it a 4. Unlike the earlier Death Notes : * there is hardly a plot * no brilliant moment at all in the movie* it goes a little sentimental at times * lines of L are very often useless * there is no Ryuk * there is no Light Yagami * emotional side of L is seen as he gets along with 2 childrenIn fact, I am going to stop talking about this movie at all. I'd like to mention at this point , that Death Note 1 and 2 were simply awesome !!!
Julia Faye
I am a big fan of Death Note and was very satisfied with the 'stunning conclusion' as promised on the DVD case. I think L is a very intriguing character and it was interesting to see a different side to the previous L we had encountered in Death Note 1 and 2. I think Kenichi Matsuyama is a remarkable actor and played his role exceptionally. I heard that he put a lot of his own thoughts and ideas into the character, who he seems to be very attached to from what I've seen in interviews. I can't imagine any other actor who could have played the role as well as Kenichi Matsuyama. He brings a kind of mystery and charm to the character, and you instantly feel drawn to him. The plot itself is attention-grabbing and it was nice to have a change to the usual Death Note story line. I think any more movies following that story line would have become slightly repetitive. The leap through different stages of time helped the viewer to understand elements they may not have fully understood from Death Note 1 and 2. The ending was well written and slightly heart-breaking, I still always feel like crying every time I hear L say his last line. Overall, I think it was a superb movie and definitely worth watching if you are a fan of Death Note.
furvus-1
If you know the Death Note manga/anime/film series, be forewarned that this film has very little to do with the concept of Death Notes and Shinigami. The only connection is the character "L", who is played very well, again, by Ken'ichi Matsuyama, He played "L" in Death Note (2006) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758742/ and Death Note 2:The Last Name http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810827/"L", or L Lawliet to his friends... oh yeah, he hasn't any... is one of the coolest characters in manga/anime history, and Ken'ichi Matsuyama plays him as well as anyone could, IMHO. This is a good film nevertheless, but the plot has nothing to do with the Death Notes of the previous films. That's all, folks! :)
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