Went out and saw “Deathnote 2: The Last Name” last night. What can I say? More twists and turns that a Dallas season-ender. Granted, no bugger came back from the dead via a shower – in fact, no-one came back from the dead at all. Or did they? Or did they? OR DID THEY? (Ta, Fry and Laurie. Just cannot do that line wiowt wetting meself.)
Ok, basics: Light-O is now bent on killing L, ostensibly to stop the geeky little oik from exposing the real identity of ‘Kira’ (Killer). Or is he? In the meantime, Light-O lulls L into a fall sense of security, getting him to trust him, and even – in a rather garish but breathtaking twist of fate – having L put his very life in Light-O’s hands… Or did he? Or did he? OR DID HE?

And that’s what I love about both this one and number one (‘Deathnote’). You have to think: for two hours yer feverishly trying to work out who’s putting one over on who, and who you want to succeed. I found and dumped allegiances quicker than a Take That fan, I can tell you. While ‘Deathnote’ part one was noticeably less convoluted and more based on the characters themselves, this one downshifted into screaming 7,000rpm territory, relying on good-old-fashioned “will he – won’t he?” ploys and furious one-upmanship that actually came down to survival rather than preening. It was slick, well-acted, and gave the appearance of running on nervous energy, when in fact it was the coolest bit of deductive reasoning and the best use of cause-and-effect (and in fact the best display of downright crafty planning) since ‘Sleuth’ and ‘Death by Murder’ all rolled into one. Imagine Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty on Speed, and you’re half-way there.
The cast is fab, Fujiwara Tetsuya (remember him from ‘Battle Royale’?) is cute as a button even when filled with infinite rage, and Nakamura Shido (yes, Tanaka from the recent Jet Li flick, ‘Fearless’) does an excellent voice for Ryuk, one of the handful of gods of death that we see.

Fabbest of the fab, this film is going to keep me thinking and calling me Japanese mate, with whom I saw it last night, fer weeks. I can see I’m going to have to sit down and crack open them comic books I’ve got, to re-read the plot and make sure I understood everything.
Oh, wait. I’m off to see ‘The Prestige’ later today. Oh, the pressures of squeezing two films into a weekend that’s officially only 36 hours long…
Peach and lube!
Tags:
Deathnote ~ Deathnote 2 ~ Fujiwara Tetsuya ~ Battle Royale ~ Stephen Fry ~ Hugh Laurie ~ Sherlock Holmes ~ Jet Li ~ Fearless ~ Xena ~ Sleuth ~ Asian Cinema ~ Hong Kong
4 comments:
I skipped a couple of paragrpahs here so as not to ruin any surprises if I ever get around to seeing this movie, but I can buy into the gods-over-the-shoulder thing. Sounds grooooovy. Not sure I care for The Prestige, though.
paragraphs, I mean.
LOL
I didn't want to post spoilers or owt that would give the game away ~ don't worry, I want people to enjoy this, LOL
The gods were fab ~ a little slow in the head at times, but good. It's nice that the two important ones had distinct personalities and were kinda opposites. I'm just wondering what will happen now ~ a sequel? Or is that really the end? To be honest, I should just finish the bloody comics and find out...
:)
SD
I can't keep up. I feel very old all of a sudden. I will try and watch it when I retire in a few years and have enough time. Why did I have time at 29 but not at 49? I'm going to hibernate now as it's cold....am I feeling sorry for myself?
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