WTF Again Japan?!?: Death Note (2006)

At last, I finally do this right.  Basically, I watched both of these Films quite a long time ago, but never reviewed them.  Why?  Who knows with me?  I only discovered this error when I finally Reviewed the Anime and tried to link to my nonexistent Posts.  Let's remedy this now, shall we?  Today's Film is Death Note, the first half of the Feature Film Adaptation of the Anime based on the Manga.  Sheesh- is it from The Bible too?!?  It tells the Story of a young man who starts to change the World via mass murder.  It sure does sound like The Bible!  Anyhow, this is a pretty familiar Story to most people by now, so I'll focus more here on what is different, what could be different and what should be different.  I will do my best not to leave you neophytes out though.  To find out more about this quite popular Adaptation, read on...

The Film begins right away with some random folks being killed.  Some of them are clearly sort-of-evil, while others are just rich assholes.

Hey Kira- ever hear of the Koch Brothers?

Just like in the Story proper, we eventually learn that Light got the Death Note, a book that allows him to kill people (mostly) at will.  This time- the Shinigami is a freaky, CG creation.

The Police work with the mysterious L to solve the case.  While he's actually quite good here, it is worth noting that the guy who plays the Chief (and Light's Father) is the same guy who played the Chairman on the original Iron Chef!

Minor note: Light doesn't play Tennis in this one and he doesn't meet L for a while, so no rehash of the Anime's silly Tennis Duel bit.  I'm...sad?

The bit on the Bus with the FBI Agent and the Subway Scene play out as normal, although this guy makes the silliest Face of Death I've seen in a while.  This is supposed to be serious, right?

In a big change from the Anime, the wife of the FBI Agent Light killed takes his girlfriend hostage and then kills her in a Museum when he won't confess to being Kira.  She then kills herself in the world's least-bloody headshot.

However, we learn that this was all set up by Light- including the death of his girlfriend.  Cold, bro!

It is also worth noting that this Plot Point hinges upon Japan having super-low gun ownership numbers.  That must have been awkward in some States to hear...

At the End, Light and L finally meet for the first time as the former can join the Task Force to catch Kira.  The latter seems to let on that he still suspects Light being Kira by way of this chip bag.

How?  Why?  Find out in Part 2!  The End.

Better and worse with real people.  As I stated earlier, I'm in kind of a weird place with this Film.  I watched it long before I watched the Show and now I'm watching it again.  First, the better.  With a condensed run-time, some of the silly stuff doesn't make the cut.  Likewise, there is less need to recap stuff when you are doing one, 2-hour Film.  To put things into comparison, the Show runs 888 minutes (counting Intro, Recaps and Outros).  In contrast, the 2 Films run at 267 minutes (counting Credits).  One thing that works a little better here is the (admittedly only one so far) Shinigami, as it is the only creature that is not flesh & blood.  That's not a knock on the great animation in the Show, mind you, but just a difference that comes with a change of medium.  I really liked the devious (if complicated) nature of Light's final act in the Film too.  Now we have to get to the bad.  To be fair, there's nothing really all that bad here.  I can joke about them casting 'Chairman Kaga' in this one or one guy's funny death face, but this one isn't bad.  My issues are really minor ones that stand in contrast to the Anime.  I prefer the more introverted look of L in the Anime to the one in the Film.  That's just me- you may disagree.  I also felt like I understood Light's motivations better in the Anime.  When you understand him better, big moments (like his last-minute betrayal) feel more shocking and, well, earned.  It is still a great moment, but not as great as it would be in the Anime.  If you just know about the Show, but haven't seen it, then there's nothing to lose here.  As a (confusing) bonus, most of the Anime's English Dub Cast is doing the English Dub here, so the change is less jarring.  Before I get to the second half, please consider how easy it is to buy dirty Magazines at a News Stand in Japan...

Next up, the Studio-mandated Horror Movie Spin-Off.  Oh joy- another killer Doll.  Stay tuned...

Forgotten Sequels: Battle Royale II

The second time is not the charm!  There are a lot of people or decisions made in regards to this movie to criticize.  The first one- forcing a sequel out when your most interesting star (Takeshi Kitano) got killed off.  If you had planned a sequel, don't kill him or leave it ambiguous.  This leads to my biggest problem with the film overall, but I'll get to that later.  Another problem is the change in tone.  A lot of people on Netflix harp on this film for one reason- it's anti-American stance.  A big chunk of the film's plot is centered around how bad America is for always attacking everyone.  Just to note- this was made before the 'Bush Jr. Wars,' so I find it hard to defend.  The biggest thing about that stance- it's entirely-pointless.  It doesn't fit in with the narrative flow of the series (at least not the film one) and just feels intrusive.  Another thing that's intrusive is the new focus on the BR program in this film.  I get it contextually, but also feel that a better choice could have been made.  According to what I've read, the one person I can't blame is the Director, who apparently died during the film's production.  I could probably blame his son, who took over and helped make this film the mess that it is.  Do I?  I'm on the fence right now.  Before I complain any more here, let me complain as I join in on the...

The film begins with your basic recap of the first film, focusing on the two surviving characters.  They explain that the situation has not improved with their escaping and thanks in no small part to the evil country of America.  Strike 1.  The film talks about the teacher who was running the program (Kitano) and then shows his daughter, who just happens to be the right age for the BR program.  That's just silly, but whatever floats your boat.  Before we get to know the kids too much (especially in comparison to the first film), they end up in the familiar, military convoy and at the site of the new BR program.  They meet up with...well, this guy.

The new kids don't take well to their orders, leading a prolonged section of them being threatened and/or yelled at.  Someone apparently thought that this part of the original film was the best, so they try to 'make the most' of it.  They finally get their mission: dress up like soldiers and take out the two survivors from the last BR program in order to kill them.  That's a bit in contrast to the original film!  Especially when you consider that the bad guys' plan is to arm the kids in order to have them kill other kids, but also put exploding collars on their necks.  Work together to kill people...or die.  They are sent out to assault a beach, a scene stolen right out of Saving Private Ryan.  Yes, it is based on history, but most people know the visual best from that film.  Plus, this film was released only two years after Spielberg's.  Side note- they use American history as a template in a film that derisively-insults America- odd, right?  This scene goes on for a bit, but lacks the drama of the original film.  One- they're being attacked by the heroes of the first film.  Two- I still don't know who the hell these people are!

Things take a turn when the survivors from the last BR program finally realize that the people shooting at them are students.  Nice of you to notice the giant collars on their necks!  The group still have a big face-off circa The Rock before the resistance fighters jam the signal to the collars.  The two groups agree to work together. The lead guy from the new group goes to talk to Shuya, who proceeds to give a long speech condemning America yet again.  Amongst his list of countries that America has attacked/invaded is Bosnia.  Yeah, not so much.  In fact, I don't think I can take any more of this movie.  The End.

Holy disappointment, Batman!  The plot of this movie is pretty embarrassing, especially when compared to the original film.  While I was not the film's biggest fan, I saw what they were going for.  This one- I don't see it.  The resistance movement is bad because America made them bad by...um, doing stuff.  Seriously, what part did America play in this?  They are attacking you because you strapped explosive collars to their necks and made them kill each other.  Why did you do that?  Because your economy was going badly and people got upset.  It's not like these kids were outright attacking you a la Class of 1999 or anything.  You picked a random group of kids & put them through hell in order to scare other people.  Take note of how I'm talking more about the original film now than this one.  To put it simply, I didn't care for this film.  As I said in the intro, there are a lot of people to blame for this one.  The bottom line is this- this movie has no purpose.  There is nothing that had to be done here.  Someone just saw dollar (or yen) signs and said 'let's make another!'  I think that this reaction shot best expresses my feelings...

Next up, we wrap up this week with a Direct-to-DVD sequel to the sequel of a remake.  It's less confusing and more silly.  Stay tuned...

WTF Japan?!?: Battle Royale

This is the last one, so enjoy it while you can. I mean, sure it's going to be a regular update in the future, but...it's still important. Dammit. Today's film combines Japan's two favorite things: children and murder. That's all I really need to say, isn't it. I bring you...

Battle Royale

The title gives you the idea that this will be a fun, bombastic adventure. It most definitely is not. It is not a walk in the park, but it is by no means fun. Don't let the Godzilla-style title screen fool you.

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Japan's economy in crisis and the children are rebelling. The people in charge come up with a great plan to solve this. To instill fear and respect, they randomly pick one class of students, send them to an island and make them hunt the most dangerous game- man.

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The kids are given a set of collars that will blow up if they go into hot spots- the bad kind, not the wi-fi ones- or fail to kill each other in three days. Needless to say, a lot of people get killed. Some of them are hesitant, while others take to murder like flies to honey.

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Almost all of the nice kids are killed, while a pair of ringers do a lot of killing. One of them is said to join the BR program for his love of killing. What a nice guy. On top of that, their former teacher is the Saw-like leader of the murder weekend. He does it because they were mean to him. The actor playing him is scary in the way he never emotes at all, choosing to play the role with a deadly sense of calm. Wait, did I just praise a guy for not acting in a movie?

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They try to give you a semblance of a happy ending, with one couple surviving and even killing their oppressors. Hur-ray? All of your friends have died violent deaths at each other's hands, but at least you are together. Jerks.

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This movie is just plain odd. It is very un-subtle in its commentary on society (despite everyone touting this fact) and very direct in its murders. A pair of girls are killed by a crazed students with an Uzi when they call for peace. What is the message of this movie? It's okay for people to kill each other as long as you don't? I don't get it, movie. Then again, maybe I just don't want to.

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Back to some non-Japanese films for a while. They will still be strange though, so don't worry. Stay tuned...