Monday, February 25, 2019

Death Note: Light Up the New World

Ten years have passed since the end of Kira’s reign of terror.  Inspired by Light Yagami’s use of the Death Note, the King of Death orders his Shinigami to search for a successor by depositing six Death Note’s across the Earth.  As a new wave of chaos and madness spreads, three players come to the forefront of the game: Mishima, a member of a next generation Kira Taskforce; Ryuzaki, the successor to the famous detective L; and Shien, a cyberterrorist zealot who believes he has been chosen by Light himself to carry on his work.  Which of these three will claim the six Death Notes…and which of them will claim the mantle of “Neo Kira”? 

Before I saw Rurouni Kenshin in 2013, the two part adaptation of Death Note (Death Note and Death Note II: The Last Name) was my gold standard in live action Anime adaptations.  The movies got so much right from the fun of Death Note’s mystery, cool and memorable characters, intense pacing, some nice visual work on Ryuk and the perfect casting of Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light and Kenichi Matsuyama as L. The films ended on a pretty definitive note (no pun intended) much like the Anime and the Manga.  So when I heard that a third film was coming, set 10 years after the 2006 films, I was worried…but also intrigued, especially by the premise.  And the previews looked like something fun could come out of the whole affair.  Needless to say, I was pretty pumped to check this film out.
 
The premise of the film is what grabbed me right away: six Death Notes placed across the globe; the prospect of a worldwide race to reclaim them; an emphasis on a more digital approach to investigations; and three potentially interesting new leads working alongside returning favorites.  For the most part, the movie does hold onto a lot of that promise throughout…though it is a little disappointing we see so little of the world wide action other Death Note users take in their parts of the world before everything returns to Japan.  Of the three main leads, Ryuzaki is the big winner of best character.  Sousuke Ikamatsu didn’t attempt to recreate L in any way.  He’s more eccentric, whimsical, a bit cocky and way more active than his sit back and think everything out predecessor.  His back and forth with lead Kira Taskforce detective, Mishima isn’t bad either.  They butt heads often though it does lead to them working well together despite their different approaches to the Kira case.  Mishima himself is alright.  He’s proclaimed “Death Note Otaku” who wants to solve the case for sure but is also eagerly collecting info on the Death Note lore like an obsessed fan.  Sitting in the back of the race, sadly, is Shien.  Touted in the previews as the ultimate Kira successor, we hardly spend any time with him and what time he is on screen, he never measures up to Light in any way.  In effect, Light Up the New World loses the one thing that made the first two films so memorable: the intellectual battle and on screen acting spars between Light and L.  Ryuzaki has more of that in common with Mishima than Shien, who eventually feels like he doesn’t really matter in the long run despite the skillset he brings to the table.
 
We do get to see several returning characters and they aren’t just in cameos (not everyone that is).  The big two are Misa and Ryuk.  Ryuk is still a hit.  Plus he gets to be more part of the action this time around and he looks better than ever after ten years.  The visual effects department actually does such a great job with Ryuk and a couple of his Shinigami buddies that you wish we could see more of them and other Shinigami as well.  As for Misa, it was an interesting choice to bring her back considering how her story was concluded in the previous films.  Even with the massive tease of a plot twist thrown her way, it feels like Misa does serve a role…but that role perhaps could have gone to someone else?  Maybe if id seen Misa interact with other characters besides Shien and her criminally all to brief reunion with Ryuk, id feel stronger about her being around.  I did like how her character had changed over the years.  No longer is she the ditzy TV idol but a seasoned model who feels the wear of years despite her good looks, that was a good route to go with her.  Regardless, Erika Toda is a very welcome face to connect these two eras together (same with Ryuk).  We also see the return of Detective Matsuda from the original Kira Taskforce, and he’s just as gullible and lovable as ever, though he does bring Death Note expertise with him too.
 
There’s a lot going on in Light Up the New World and not all of it ends up being positive.  For all my like of the new cast, there’s something missing from their battle for the Death Notes…mostly the Light and L rivalry like I said.  But to make up for that, the movie tends to toss out a couple of very, very, very out there twist reveals that are hard to swallow or comprehend.  Just what kind of contingencies could Light have had in place before his demise?  Is Ryuzaki playing a game intending to double cross the Taskforce?  Why is Shien so convinced Light somehow survived getting Death Note’d ten years ago?  All of these questions and more are asked and are given answers and I couldn’t accept a lot of them.  While I was shaky about a few things by the halfway mark, it’s the finale where things get truly crazy.  I lightened up (again no pun intended) about a couple of reveals but one in particular makes just ask “How was that ever an idea?”  I feel like the writers were hoping these twists and turns could make up for some underdeveloped storylines, mostly revolving around Shien’s lack of interesting story or Misa’s involvement.  Like I said, I could accept some things, just not everything like did with the first two movies.
 
A third film to make a “Death Note Trilogy” was unnecessary.  Heck they even tried an L spin off film, “L: Change the World” and it didn’t work for the same reasons Light Up the New World doesn’t fully succeed: you set the bar to high with L battling Light.  Take one or both out of the equation and your film just isn’t going to have the same magic.  Light Up the New World tries to compensate for this with mostly fun new characters and a bold new premise.  But the premise never meets its potential, some of the characters aren’t memorable and the lack of a solid dynamic like Fujiwara and Matsuyama’s Light and L all work against the films chances at standing on the same pedestal I hold its predecessors.  I didn’t dislike Light Up the New World as a whole, it is way, way, WAYYYYYY better than that trash Netflix film from 2017.  But you have to bring your A-Game to try and match the success of a pair of legends that translated one of Animes greatest stories into a live action format.  Light Up the New World tries to bring the same game…but more or less ends up with a B.  Seriously, if a couple of the big twists made more sense and Shien had more to do than play Kira poser, this could have really worked and I wish it had.  It aint Kira worthy but it doesn’t deserve an entry in the Death Note either.

7/10

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