Death Note (film)

Death Note
A promotional poster for Death Note: The Last Name
デスノート (Desu Nōto)
Genre	Detective fiction, comedy-drama, fantasy, mystery, psychological thriller, supernatural
Live-action film
Directed by	Shūsuke Kaneko
Produced by	Toyoharu Fukuda Takahiro Kohashi Takahiro Satō
Music by	Kenji Kawai
Studio	NTV, Warner Bros.
Licensed by	VIZ Pictures, Warner Bros.
Released	Japan: June 17, 2006 Australia: September 27, 2007 United Kingdom: April 25, 2008 United States: May 20, 2008 Canada: September 15, 2008
Runtime	125 minutes
Live-action film
Death Note: The Last Name
Directed by	Shūsuke Kaneko
Produced by	Toyoharu Fukuda Seiji Okuda Takahiro Satō
Music by	Kenji Kawai
Studio	NTV, Warner Bros.
Licensed by	VIZ Pictures
Released	Hong Kong: October 28, 2006 Japan: November 3, 2006 Australia: September 27, 2007 United States: October 15, 2008 Canada: December 3, 2008 United Kingdom: March 7, 2009 (TV premiere)
Runtime	140 minutes

Death Note (デスノート, Desu Nōto) is a series of two live-action Japanese films released in 2006 and based on the Death Note manga and anime series by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The films primarily center on a university student who decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. The two films were directed by Shūsuke Kaneko, produced by Nippon Television, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.

A spin-off film directed by Hideo Nakata, titled L: Change the World, was released on February 9, 2008.

Plot

Death Note

The series is about Light Yagami, a young man and college student whose life undergoes a drastic change when he discovers a mysterious notebook, known as the "Death Note", lying on the ground. The Death Note's instructions claim that if a person's name is written within it while picturing that person's face, that person shall die. Light is initially skeptical of the notebook's authenticity, but after experimenting with it, he realizes that the Death Note is real. After meeting with the previous owner of the Death Note, a shinigami named Ryuk, Light seeks to become "god of the new world" by passing his judgment on those he deems to be evil or who get in his way.

After months of killing criminals, Light is dubbed Kira by the public and some believe him to be righteous about killing criminals. Interpol is no closer to catching him, and is going to pass the case on to the Ministry of Health as some disease, until L steps onto the scene. Known as the best detective in the world, L has solved many cases with his assistant Watari. Working with them, L manages to confront Light, live on TV, and deduces he is in the Kanto region of Japan and he can "kill without lifting a finger." The race begins between L and Light to discover each other's identity, and a game of cat and mouse ensues between the two geniuses. Later Misora kidnaps Shiori and asks Light to come to the art museum and confess that he really is Kira if he wants to save her. He goes to the museum, but denies that he is Kira, and says that he is upset at seeing his girlfriend being taken hostage. Misora tells Light that unless he starts to write her real name, which was "Naomi" written in katakana, she would kill Shiori. Light adamantly insists that he is not Kira. Soichiro, upon seeing this, sends the police. Misora immediately becomes upset and distracted, allowing Light's girlfriend to break free and run away from her. Misora fires her gun and shoots Shiori, who dies in Light's arms shortly afterward, and then afterwards commits suicide by shooting herself.

Later, Ryuk finds that Light had actually engineered Naomi's death using the Death Note, as he had already found out her name by checking with the church since she revealed to him she was Iwamatsu's fiancée and he reasoned that nobody would use a fake name in marriage and written a scenario whereby Misora would commit suicide after shooting Shiori. Obviously, Ryuk is confused, as by doing this, Light would end up killing Shiori, but Light reveals that he had written her name in the Death Note as well.

Using these events to foster hatred for Kira, Light asks to join the investigation team when his father checked on him. While Soichiro is slightly reluctant, L immediately grants his wish.

Death Note: The Last Name

Movie starts with Misa, TV presenter, gets second Death Note.

Later Misa, using her Shinigami eyes, kills Mogi and two policemen. Sayu was also almost killed until her father Soichiro crashed into the festival wearing a motorcycle helmet. Light kills Takada to regain ownership of his Death Note. Afterwards Light tricks Rem into killing L and Watari. After they both die, Rem dies for intentionally killing someone to help Misa. Misa then gives up her ownership of the notebook and loses her memory of it.

Later it is revealed that L did not die and avoided death by writing his name in the notebook stating, "L Lawliet will die 23 days from this date". After proving that Light is Kira, Light pleads with Ryuk to kill L and the task force. Ryuk then agrees but writes Light's name in the Death Note, telling Light that anyone who uses the death note is banned from heaven and hell and will instead spend eternity as nothingness. Light dies in his father's arms begging him to believe he acted as Kira to carry out justice, which Soichiro had taught him since his childhood, into practice. Later Sochiro goes home and lies to his wife and daughter, saying that Light was killed by Kira. It ends 23 days later, with L dying peacefully.

Cast

Character	Actor (Original)	English Dubbing
Light Yagami	Tatsuya Fujiwara	Brad Swaile
L	Kenichi Matsuyama	Alessandro Juliani
Misa Amane	Erika Toda	Shannon Chan-Kent
Naomi Misora	Asaka Seto	Nicole Oliver
Ryuk (Voice)	Shidou Nakamura	Brian Drummond
Rem	Shinnosuke Ikehata (Voice in Death Note: The Last Name)	Michael Dobson
Raye Iwamatsu	Shigeki Hosokawa	Michael Adamthwaite
Watari	Shunji Fujimura	Ron Halder
Soichiro Yagami	Takeshi Kaga	Christopher Britton
Shiori Akino	Yuu Kashii	Ashleigh Ball
Sayu Yagami	Hikari Mitsushima	Kristie Marsden
Kanzo Mogi	Shin Shimizu	John Murphy
Lind L. Taylor	Matt Lagan	Ted Cole
Sachiko Yagami	Michiko Godai	Saffron Henderson
Shuichi Aizawa	Tatsuhito Okuda	Trevor Devall
Touta Matsuda	Sota Aoyama	Vincent Tong
Hirokazu Ukita	Ikuji Nakamura	Jeremy From
Kevin LeRoy	Ruben Chacon	????
Ryotaro Sakajo	Masanori Fujita	Michael Donovan
FBI Agent	Norman England	????
Ayako Yoshino	Ai Maeda	????
Matsubara	Takeo Nakahara	Ron Halder
Sasaki	Yoji Tanaka	Bill Switzer
Saeki	Masahiko Tsugawa	????
Sanami	????	Janyse Jaud
Takeshi Maruo	????	Vincent Wong
Kiichiro Osoreda	????	Brian Dobson
Katsuya Seta	????
Takuo Shibuimaru	????	Louis Chirillo
Yusuke Hibisawa	????
Koreyoshi Kitamura	????	David Kaye
Additional voices	N/A	Ted Cole

Production

Development

In his production notes, director Shūsuke Kaneko explained his desire to convince audiences that, while the killing of bad humans may seem to be fair, it underestimates the corrupting influence of wielding such power (the manga series follows a very similar viewpoint). Kaneko also commented that the psychological fear of dying could be "more nightmarish than Kaiju (monsters) destroying cities and killing people".

Kaneko also stated that he wanted the film to "focus on psychological pain", explain how the deaths occur, and explain how younger people would begin to like Kira. He also removed many of the interior monologues prominent in the manga and anime to allow audiences to develop their own ideas about the characters' thoughts and beliefs, while allowing "dramatic tension".

Kaneko said that the most difficult portion of the manga to film was the scene when the investigation begins and the authorities conclude that a person is responsible for the killing of criminals. He chose to add a scene in which L explains his logic via his laptop in order to make the film "more believable" and "excite people" for the coming struggle between L and Light.

Kaneko indicated mixed feelings while directing the movie. He said that he felt "a little reservation" at how the movie would perform, since the film "uses 'death' to entertain the audience" and feels "morally unsettling". Kaneko theorized that the film may have performed well because of the Internet culture of Japan, saying that the use of the Death Note had similarities to how users attacked one another on message boards and blogs. In addition, Kaneko noted that death is "carefully" concealed, to the point where "people don't even think about it".

Filming

Kaneko chartered an underground line to film a particular scene in the first film; this was the first time in Japanese film history that an underground line was used. Kaneko used about 500 extras throughout the first film.

Music

Main article: Death Note original soundtracks

Theme songs

Death Note

• "Manatsu no Yoru no Yume" by Shikao Suga
• "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Closing)

Death Note: The Last Name

• "Dani California" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Snow, Hey Oh" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Closing)

L: Change the World

• "I'll Be Waiting" by Lenny Kravitz

Release and reception

Death Note

The first film, simply titled as Death Note, premiered in Japan on June 17, 2006 and topped the Japanese box office for two weeks, pushing The Da Vinci Code into second place.

Death Note (死亡筆記) was released in Hong Kong on August 10, 2006, in Taiwan on September 8, 2006, in Singapore on October 19, 2006, and in Malaysia on November 9, 2006 with English and Chinese subtitles. The world premiere was in the UA Langham Place cinema in Hong Kong on October 28, 2006, the first Japanese movie to premiere in Hong Kong. The film ended up earning US$41 million in Japan, $1.9 million in Hong Kong. The film was released in the UK on April 25, 2008.

Death Note: The Last Name

The second movie, Death Note: The Last Name, premiered on November 3, 2006, and instantly topped the Japanese box office, remaining at number one for four straight weeks, and grossed 5.5 billion yen in Japan by the end of the year, making it one of the year's highest grossing Japanese films.

The sequel was released in Hong Kong on November 3, 2006, in Taiwan on November 24, 2006, in Singapore on December 28, 2006, and in Malaysia on January 25, 2007, with English and Chinese subtitles.

Christy Lee S.W. of The Star, in her review of the second film, stated that Kaneko "did a good job" in pacing the film, adding that the increased pacing towards the end made some of the content difficult to understand. She also said that screenwriter Tetsuya Oishi made sure the characters were "well fleshed out" and easily empathized with.

North American release

The first movie briefly played in certain North American theaters on May 20–21, 2008 The theatrical version featured actors from the English dub of the anime voicing over their respective characters (with a few notable recasts, and the exception of John Murphy (Lind L. Tailor's English dub actor) due to Lind L. Tailor already being played by American actor Matt Lagan - in the dub, Tailor's voice is instead dubbed by Ted Cole). The film was broadcasted in Canadian theaters for one night only on September 15, 2008. The DVD was released on September 16, 2008, one day after the Canadian showing.

Death Note: The Last Name was given similar treatment. The film was dubbed into English and released in American theaters for two nights only, October 15 and 16. The film was released in Canada on December 3, the DVD was released on February 10, 2009.

L: Change the World was released in the United States on April 29–30 of 2009.

UK release

Death Note, Death Note: The Last Name, and L: Change the World were all licensed for UK release by 4Digital Asia, a sublabel of 4Digital Media, formerly Ilc Entertainment. The first title was the inaugural release in this new sublabel, launched in 2008 to fill the gap in the UK for "Asia Extreme" titles created by the demise of Tartan. All have received limited theatrical screenings at arthouse venues around the UK, such as the ICA Cinema in central London. All three have received DVD releases in limited editions, featuring two discs in hardback-book-like packaging, mimicking the item of the title. Regular single-disc editions are replacing the limited ones for long-term release. A dedicated website focused on the franchise was also created for public use. Both films were also broadcast on Film4.

Remake

In 2007, the Malaysian paper The Star stated that more than ten film companies in the United States had expressed interest in the Death Note franchise. The American production company Vertigo Entertainment was originally set to develop the remake, with Charley and Vlas Parlapanides as screenwriters and Roy Lee, Doug Davison, Dan Lin, and Brian Witten as producers. On April 30, 2009, Variety reported that Warner Bros., the distributors for the original Japanese live-action films, had acquired the American rights for the remake, with the original screenwriters and producers still attached. On January 13, 2011, it was announced that Shane Black has been hired to direct the film, with the script being written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. There have also been rumours that Zac Efron has been cast to play Light Yagami, though this has not been confirmed.

See also

• List of films based on manga

External links

• Death Note at Warner Brothers Japan (Japanese)
• Death Note DVD official website (Japanese)
• Death Note at the Internet Movie Database
• Death Note: The Last Name at the Internet Movie Database