DEATH NOTE (Japan, 2006)
Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Asaka Seto, Shigeki Hosokawa, Shido Nakamura
“The Japanese psychothriller gets a fresh spin with double-header Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name, in which the central idea and the games the two principals play -- rather than gore or clammy atmospherics -- provide the thrills.” – Derek Elley, Variety

DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME (Japan, 2006)
Directed by: Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda, Shunji Fujimura, Shido Nakamura

“Like the first film, Death Note: The Last Name is less a shocker -- nary a drop of blood is spilled -- than an elaborate on-screen game, defined by arbitrary rules that may exist for the convenience of the plot, but acquire an absorbing logic of their own.”  - Mark Schilling, Japan Times

DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME aren’t just movies, they are bona fide international phenomena. Based on a manga that has sold over 20 million copies in Japan, the two movies were released in 2006 and while DEATH NOTE kicked The Da Vinci Code out of the top slot in Japan and was number one at the box office for two weeks, DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME, released a few months later, was number one for four straight weeks and the two movies together drew more viewers than any other Japanese film in 2006. They set box office records in Hong Kong and across Asia, a big budget spin-off is in the works and in China the government has pulled the Death Note manga off the market because they fear that it is “...apt to harm the physical and mental health of young people." In our book, that’s a ringing endorsement.

Given the jaded tastes of American audiences, what’s most impressive about all this is that the DEATH NOTE films aren’t blood-soaked shockers, or sci fi extravaganzas, but fast-paced, taut cat and mouse thrillers with a goth edge. Disillusioned law student, Light Yagami (Tetsuya Fujiwara), chances upon a notebook lying in the street one day and he quickly discovers that if he writes the name of anyone inside its pages they instantly die. Light embarks on a plan to kill all the criminals in the world and bring justice to the planet, much to the amusement of his new companion, Ryuk, a hulking CGI God of Death with the looks and attitude of a demonic drummer from an 80’s metal band. Light slaughters millions in his criminal holocaust (“They deserve it,” he justifies) and even though the global crime rate drops 70% the cops aren’t too happy about these mass murders, and they’re aided by L (Kenichi Matsuyama), a mysterious detective who turns out to be a gangly teenager with a big brain, a sweet tooth and a taste for gamesmanship. Things get even more complicated when the Police Chief (Takeshi Kaga, Chairman Kaga on Iron Chef), who is also Light’s father, is appointed to unmask this mysterious killer, who is also his own son.

A web-savvy, Veronica Mars-esque take on an Agatha Christie novel crossed with an Edgar Allan Poe short story, this flick is a live action manga that drops the viewer into a world where they have to hit the ground running. Shusuke Kaneko, who revitalized the Gamera franchise in the 90’s, tells his sprawling story in broad, clean strokes, eschewing visual dazzle to focus all his energy on getting as many narrative balls into the air as possible. A head-spinning cat and mouse game, the DEATH NOTE movies require so much concentration and focus from the audience that their running time flies by. It’s J-horror turned into mass entertainment for a new generation.