Review: L - Change the World
Summary
Alternative Title: Lの本当の秘密
Genre: Action, adventure
Release Date: Feb. 9, 2008
Starring:
- Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L
- Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido
Review
I honestly didn’t expect much from this movie. Being a spin-off of the Death Note series, I didn’t think it was going to that good. In the end, this movie was a complete waste of time.
The main problem about L: Change the World was the story. Firstly, it’s obvious that this movie is supposed to be a suspense/mystery movie, but it comes no where near it. The original anime was one of most suspenseful animes that I’ve watched and L: Change the World fails to provide any suspense. The story was very predictable, with no twists to keep it interesting. The story was also supposed to have a grand scale. There’s a virus that’s about to infect the whole world. But the movie makes it seem like L is the only person in the world that cares. At one point, an FBI agent comes to help, but he seemed more like an ordinary Japanese salary man than FBI material.
Another dislike I had was the beginning. The beginning seemed like it was going to start off strong, but it turned out to be really terrible. It had some of most cheesy acting, with all those infected people trying to act like zombies. But it looked more like they just had a sever acme condition and were moaning.
The movie also had the most unnecessary use of English I’ve ever seen in a J-movie. For some reason, the boy in the first scene (who looks perfectly Japanese) can only understand English. This makes for some pretty laughable scenes, especially in the beginning scene where the Japanese investigator is driving away from the bad guys and tells the boy to get help, but since the actor can barely speak English, the scene is totally out of place…no suspense at all (see the video preview below).
Pro
- L was in it
- Absolutely no suspense of mystery
- Story was very predictable
- Cheesy acting
- Unnecessary use of English
Officially the worst J-movie I’ve ever seen (at the time of this posting). I don’t recommend this movie to anyone, even if you’re a Death Note fan.
Rating: 2/10
Video Preview
Here’s the clip that shows what I mean when I say “unnecessary use of English”.
Related Reviews
Death Note
Death Note: The Last Name
2 comments:
thank you for your review. However, I think it is a good movie for another perspective. It gives different view than Death Note the Movie. I think this movies does not emphasise on mysterious sense that Death Note offers. It focuses on L itself, about L's personaslity that is not well shown in Death Note the movie. I think this movies is highly recommended for L fans and yeah, the ending of this movie made me cry
I disagree. I believe that, although this movie is long and takes a bit to get started, this movie was made to show L's personality more strongly, rather than just seeing it briefly in the other movies and the anime, so that is what it focused on.
I also think that you did not analyze the movie deep enough. (Please do not take offense.) L is not the only "pro" of the movie. There were also touching, heartfelt moments, as well as serious, and then comedic. This movie had various different moods throughout, and none of it was rushed (which often make movies terrible).
You should also keep in mind that this movie was probably made to attract the L fan-girls and make a lot more money. :)
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