Death Note: Light Up the New World

The anime & the original movie was way better! Could've been better!

The original Death Note was brilliant; this film is a dull glow in comparison. While the overall theme comes across, many viewers will find the individual elements of the plot quite a bit more difficult to follow and less cohesive to the film overall. There seems to be a lot of needless filler. Neither the plot nor characters are as sharp and intelligent as the original KIRA or L. There is nowhere near the unique personalities of the two, nor much viewer compassion for any of the characters. In truth, it struck me that the main stars of this film were the Shinigami, which were far more interesting than the live characters.

There is a tendency of viewers to compare follow-up films with the original and that is perhaps unfair... but it is also inevitable. Imagine a Sherlock Holmes film in which the intelligence, attention to detail and twist-of-plot is missing; is it really Sherlock Holmes any longer? That considered, is a Death Note movie without extraordinary chess-like moves by the main characters really Death Note? In the end I was disappointed in the film and felt it could have been two hours better spent.

To UnixPuppet: No, the reason people don't like this movie isn't because "it's not Kira and L". We don't like it because it's a poorly done movie.

Regarding your "review"-- the purpose of reviews is to review the movie being discussed, not give your opinion on how wonderful the franchise is. In your entire 10-star review, you didn't speak of this movie at all... but of the original Death Note.

Which brings us to that 10-star review. Do people truly think that users of IMDB can't spot a bogus rating from a mile off? I will grant that people have different tastes and will like / dislike different films. Diversity is fine. But giving THIS film 10 stars when it is nowhere near that level of film quality (and without reviewing the film itself) screams "I'm involved with the film!"

In short, to further discuss "Light Up the New World" itself-- it is a poorly-conceived, poorly written, dull shadow... especially when compared with the original Death note. Whether L and Kira are involved in the film or not is irrelevant; what's relevant is whether the characters who ARE involved and the story line presented are worthy of bearing the name of the Death Note franchise.

In the case of this film, it simply isn't. So a note to those associated with film making: don't rate your own films. If they can't stand on their own, let them fall. Patting yourself on the back is no source of praise.

Sorry, this movie (as several have rightly pointed out) does not present the skill and wit of the Death Note concept.

Death Note is the one of the best original work that Japanese have developed and created a truly mysterious story, with creative characters. Honestly, I really loved the story (plot) and the developed characters. The story is quite inspiring, full with excitement. Based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power.

NOTE: The only reason, why people dislike it, is that the two characters "Light" and "L' is not too involved at all in this series.

The movie is set 10 years after Kira and L's conflict ended, Six notes are released to the world. The movie follows three main characters even if it feels like two. A special task force member who pursues all 6 death notes, Ryuzaki the successor of L who helps special task force and Worshiper of kira who want all 6 death notes.

The acting is decent and story overall is not that bad either,they surely had some good ideas, but fail to deliver it.

Third act is full of plot twists and revelations that just complicates the story, it seems they wanted to apply same formula for the characters here like in the original. Even forcing similar relationship L and Kira had.The problem is that characters does not have enough building till that point for what they wanted to achieve.

Those who are unfamiliar with whole death note franchise may find the story hard to follow especially with all the rules and backstory it have.

There were few mistakes that bothered me like some scenes where names are written in the Death Note and people are immediately dying instead in 40 seconds. Which means its breaking the rules of Death note.

The thing that I like the most was new Shinigamis, Cgi was improved and their design are great as well, I find them more interesting than main characters. Also it can be seen how are they trying to recreate the complexity of the original story but the main problem is that the characters are lacking depths.

it can be exciting at moments, I say give it a try only if you are a fan of the series and movies, if you loved first two movies you may also enjoy this one.