I recommend this only for the bizarre little experience of watching it dubbed (something I rarely do) and hearing the exact same Viz voice actors (including Alessandro Juliani) not terribly well-synced with the Japanese cast. And the shinigami look exactly the same in 3D. Weird.

I made the mistake of watching the anime finale before watching the movie. I knew that “Death Note: The Last Name” wasn’t going to be exactly like the anime because there were things that happened after the first movie, in the anime, that were too much to cover in one film.

If I had watched the movie before the anime, then I would say that the movie was good. It kept you at the edge of your seat watching the cat-and-mouse chase between L and Light. They didn’t have time to introduce two vital characters, Mello and Near, from the anime in the movie, but I think in the time that they had, it would have left people confused.

The only complaint that I have is that it could have been trilogy. It seemed like they tried to tie all the loose ends in the span of time that they had, which could have been done if there was another movie. Who knows why the didn’t. Maybe they didn’t have enough funding, etc., but it’s a shame cause I would have probably named this one of my top five trilogies.

If you have watched the anime, skip the second movie. I feel like I ruined the anime finale by watching this one. It tainted it and now I have to rewatch the anime ending to get the bad taste out of my mouth.