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 and 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 will be 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 siginifgant 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
Ken'ichi Matsuyama reprises his role as L Lawliet from the previous Death Note films. The film chronicles the final 23 days of L's life, and follows L as he solves one final case. L is the protagonist of this film. L has to stop a bioterrorist group that aims to wipe out much of humanity. A virus with ten times the infectiousness of Ebola killed everyone except for one boy in a village in Thailand. L takes the survivor and a junior high school girl named Maki Nikaido under his wing.

Dr. Nikaido, a research doctor, has received news and a sample of a deadly virus which affected a now destroyed village in Thailand. He discovers that the virus is one-hundred times stronger than Ebola. His seemingly trustworthy assistant outs herself to be the leader of the organization that created the virus, which is still incomplete due to the lack of an antidote. Dr. Nikaido, who had managed to create an antidote, refused to give her the antidote and preferred to be dead rather than endanger the world. Realizing that she could not get the antidote from the doctor, the assistant kills him, now convinced that his daughter Maki has a deciphered formula for the antidote.

Maki, who had witnessed the murder, runs away in fear, eventually finding L's headquarters. Soon after she finds him, the bio-terrorist group tracks Maki down, forcing L, accompanied by Maki and Near, 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. L seeks the help of Dr. Nikaido's research partner to create a antidote for the virus. Eventually finding that Near contains the secret to the antidote, L manages to acquire a quantity of the antidote just as the bio-terrorist group is about to take an infected Maki to Washington in America to try to spread the virus. L manages to stop the plane before departing Thailand and giving all infected passenger, including the bio-terrorist, the antidote. The movie conclude with L leaving Near at Wammy's House and giving him his "real name" to Near and his toy robot which is shown in the main Death Note series.

Shunji Fujimura also reprises his role as Watari, but, dying in The Last Name, he is dead early in this film. Despite being depicted on the promotional poster, Misa Amane and the Death God Ryuk have brief cameos in the film, appearing on screen for less than thirty seconds each. A video still of Light Yagami is also used in the film. The Thai boy becomes the detective Near at the end of the movie.

The film was supposed to chronicle the events before L met Kira, and was when Naomi and L worked together. Instead, the film will be about what happened after the Kira story and before L dies which is 23 days later.

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 (加賀見シン 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)
 * 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

English dub voice cast

 * Alessandro Juliani as L
 * Chantal Strand as Maki Nikaido
 * Cathy Weseluck as Kimiko Kujo a.k.a K
 * Michael Dobson as Koichi Matsudo
 * 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

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.