Death Note: Light Up the New World

I enjoyed the previous "Death Note" movies, well at least the Japanese ones for sure. But I had no idea about the existence of "Death Note: Light Up the New World" from 2016 before late in 2019 when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. Given my interest in the franchise from the previous movies, then of course I sat down to watch t his 2016 movie.

Turns out that the movie seemed to be lacking the same spirit and motivation that was driving the previous movies. And while they opted to go for something new here, then it just was lacking that special ingredient to make it unique, to make it feel like a proper "Death Note" movie.

Don't get me wrong, there were aspects of the movie that were nice, but the overall movie just didn't really work for me, and I found it to be a tedious and mundane ordeal to sit through. And my interest in the storyline faltered a couple of times throughout the course of the movie. But I endured and stuck with it to the end. And I can say that "Death Note: Light Up the New World" is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time around.

The characters in the movie were rather boring, to the point of being absolutely pointless and disinteresting actually. And the movie was lacking screen time for the Watchers. You know, those lovely CGI animated keepers of the Death Notes.

This felt like a weak attempt to cash in on the success of the franchise, and the storyline is a scrambled mess actually, which seems like it was written overnight because someone had to come up with something in a rush as they had acquired the funds for the movie prematurely.

While the movie has a good production quality and good special effects, it was lacking on a proper storyline, on adequate characters that you actually cared about, on the Watchers, and genuinely just lacked entertainment value in general.

"Death Note: Light Up the New World" scores a mere four out of ten stars from me.

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 the anime is one of the all time greatest television series, a true masterpiece and a contender for the most intelligent franchise by far.

I was always fearful to venture into the live action material and that doubled when I watched the embarrassment of Death Note (2017) I finally took a chance and watched Death Note (2006) and was thrilled at how well made it was and loyal to the original material. Sure it had tweaked a couple of parts of the storyline, but it still felt like Death Note.

The sequel was equally great and the third part was perfectly good as well, when I discovered a 4th movie had been made I questioned whether it had reached the stage they were milking it.

Following directly on from the 3rd movie, we're now 10yrs on from the original events of Kira with both Light & L deceased. The death gods have rained death notes down on the world and all hell is breaking loose. It's come down to L's successor and the surviving members of the old team to bring justice to those responsible.

This 4th movie clearly has a larger budget, the shinigami cgi is considerably better and the whole film just looks polished. It follows on perfectly and is a welcome addition to the franchise.

It has it's flaws don't get me wrong, but regardless is a great Death Note film even if it doesn't have the subtlety of the originals.

I'm not sure whether this is the end, I feel like it could continue based upon the ending but this is a decent enough send off should it not.

The Good:

Decent opening sequence

CGI has improved

Shinigami's are great

The Bad:

Some bad, dull and unlikable characters

Story is perhaps too grand for a 2hr film

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.

A belated sequel to the original DEATH NOTE trilogy, made some time later after those films. The original cast only feature in the smallest roles and at least one of them is a picture on a screen alone. Sad to say, this one's a far cry from the original films; generally it feels very much like a weak sauce imitator that plods over the same old ground without doing anything new with the premise. As before, the police are hunting owners of the Death Note diaries, and there are new villains and new heroes thrown into the mix. Sadly, the new L character is one of the most arrogant and irritating ever, and none of the supposedly shocking twists make an impact. Average at best.