L: Change the WorLd (film)

L: Change the WorLd (also known as Death Note: L, change the WorLd or Death Note III), directed by Hideo Nakata, is a spin-off film and a sequel to the Death Note film series. The series is based on the manga Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba illustrated by Takeshi Obata, but follows an original storyline. The film was released in Japan on February 9, 2008, Hong Kong on February 7, 2008, Singapore on February 21, 2008, and the United Kingdom on December 29, 2008.

Two versions of the film were shown in the United States on April 29 and 30, 2009. The first version of the film shown was in Japanese with English subtitles and the second version shown was dubbed in English with the same voice actors from the English dubbed Death Note anime like the US release of its predecessors. The film was released on DVD in the US on August 18, 2009.

The film was also adapted into a light novel with the same name on December 25, 2007 by "M", While the novel is similar to the movie, there are many significant changes to the plot. (For example, Near is not a Thai boy, but the same Near that appears in the manga) It also reveals more information about L and his past. Viz released it on October 20, 2009.

Plot
In the final 23 days of L's life, he meets one final case involving a bioterrorist group that aims to wipe out much of humanity with a virus. The virus has an infection rate that is ten times the infection rate of the Ebola virus. He takes a boy he names Near, the sole survivor of its use in a village in Thailand, and an elementary school student named Maki Nikaido under his wing.

The film begins by showing a number of events that take place before the films main timeline. Naomi Misora is seen working for L, who is watching the events via camera and computer. As Misora finishes her mission, L tells Watari that Misora had finished earlier than he expected. He then tells Watari to make arrangements for L to go to Japan, and says that there is a good chance that he won't return.

The film skips to the events of the Kira investigation, and L is seen with Watari. The two are discussing the case, and varius screens show Light Yagami being monitored. L, holding the Death Note, says he is ending the case, and begins to write down a name. Watari asks if it is Light Yagami's name that he is writing, and L says "this is the last name that will be written in the Death Note". L holds up the notebook which contains the name "L Lawliet".

The film skips again, this time to the day that Light Yagami died. Watari is seen in an elevator with Misa Amane, who asks if Watari is like L's father. Watari begins to answer, but is killed by the Death Note. L is then shown covering Watari's body with a sheet, an event that takes place soon before L confronts Light. Another scene shows the events that happen soon after Light Yagami's death. L holds the Death Note, and Ryuk appears, asking if L intends to use it. L says that even though Light wanted to be a god, he didn't die like one. L calls the Death Note a murder weapon, and holds it over a candle. The notebook begins to burn, and L drops it into a box with the other Death Note, destroying the existing notebooks.

L now has less than a month to live, and begins solving cases. Sitting at his computer, he picks up numerous binders that contain the details of multiple unsolved cases. He quickly solves them all, and is seen sitting in the room alone, with his head on his knees.

Meanwhile in Thailand, a man called "F" is documenting the results of a deadly virus in a small village. While there, the village begins being wiped out via bomb, due to the destructive nature of the virus, and lack of a cure. While attempting to escape the destruction, F finds a small boy free of the virus and gives him a necklace and a phone number to call. "Boy" escapes the village, but F dies after contracting the rapid spreading virus. "Boy" calls the number given to him by F, and is brought to L's headquarters.

Dr. Nikaido later received a sample of the deadly virus which destroyed that village in Thailand. His assistant, Dr. Kimiko Kujo, reveals herself to be the leader of the organization that created the virus. Dr. Nikaido, who has created an antidote to that virus, refuses to give it her. She later kills him, and she is convinced that his daughter Maki has the antidote formula.

Under the pursuit of Dr. Kimiko Kujo and her assistants, Maki runs away after viewing her father die from being injected with the virus. She eventually finds L's headquarters. Soon after she finds him, the bio-terrorist group tracks Maki down, forcing L, accompanied by Maki and "Boy", to runaway to a high-tech truck concealed as a sweets delivery truck dubbed "Angel Crepe" with the help of a Japanese-American FBI agent, Hideaki Suruga.

They escape to Nikaido's research partner's lab, and request the mans help to recreate the antidote. Using "Boy", who solves the puzzle left by Maki's father in her notebook, L manages to acquire the antidote just as the terrorists are about to take an infected Maki to the US to spread the virus. L stops the plane and gives all the infected passengers, including the terrorist, the antidote. Maki then tries to kill Kujo for revenge, but L stops her. The film concludes with L leaving "Boy" at an orphanage and giving him his "real name", Near.

Cast

 * Ken'ichi Matsuyama as L
 * Narushi Fukuda as Near
 * Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido (二階堂 真希 Nikaidō Maki)
 * Shingo Tsurumi as Kimihiko Nikaido (二階堂 公彦 Nikaidō Kimihiko)
 * Youki Kudoh as Kimiko Kujo (久條 希実子 Kujō Kimiko) a.k.a. K
 * Sei Hiraizumi as Koichi Matsudo (松戸 浩一 Matsudo Kōichi)
 * Bokuzō Masana as Asao Konishi (小西 朝夫 Konishi Asao)
 * Yuta Kanai as Tamotsu Yoshizawa (吉沢 保 Yoshizawa Tamotsu)
 * Megumi Sato as Hotsune Misawa (三沢 初音 Misawa Hotsune)
 * Renji Ishibashi as Shin Kagami (� 賀見シン Kagami Shin)
 * Kiyotaka Nanbara as Hideaki Suruga (駿河 秀明 Suruga Hideaki)
 * Masanobu Takashima as Daisuke Matoba (的場 大介 Matoba Daisuke)
 * Shunji Fujimura as Watari
 * Kazuki Namioka as F (エフ Efu)
 * Hao Ganhane as Azetsu Mokotu
 * Erika Toda as Misa Amane
 * Shidou Nakamura as Ryuk (voice)
 * Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora
 * Yōji Tanaka as Sasaki (佐々木)
 * Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami
 * Ayui Naisora as Yagure Mokotu
 * Shigeki Hosokawa as Raye Iwamatsu

English dub voice cast

 * Alessandro Juliani as L
 * Michael Strusievici as Near
 * Meg Ryan as Akizuki Mokotu
 * Chantal Strand as Maki Nikaido
 * Ted Cole as Kimihiko Nikaido
 * Cathy Weseluck as Kimiko Kujo a.k.a K
 * Michael Dobson as Koichi Matsudo
 * John Novak as Shin Kagami
 * Brian Dobson as Hideaki Suruga
 * John Murphy as Daisuke Matoba
 * Shannon Chan-Kent as Misa Amane
 * Ron Halder as Watari
 * Brian Drummond as Ryuk
 * Nicole Oliver as Naomi Misora
 * Bill Switzer as Sasaki
 * Brad Swaile as Light Yagami
 * Megan Hollingshead as Yagure Mokotu
 * Richard Ian Cox as F
 * Michael Adamthwaite as Raye Iwamatsu

Intent
Hideo Nakata told The Daily Yomiuri that he wanted to exhibit L's "human side" that was not exhibited in the Death Note series.

Reception
Up until March 5, 2008, there was total of 2,200,000 attendance (a total of approximately 250,000,000 yen) for this film. March 5 was also Ken'ichi Matsuyama's birthday, so he celebrated both his birthday and the hit of the film.

Despite there not being any English release, there has already been mixed reception from Japan. On Yahoo! Movies, the average User Review results have been 4 out of 5 stars with fans praising the acting, but criticizing the slow pace of the story.

Derek Elley of Variety Magazine described the film as "a lame spinoff" with many plot holes, absence of the mind games in the Death Note films, and a lack of suspense.