Let's be clear the Death Note movies were works of art and mostly loyal to the original material, the performances were fantastic and they delivered on every front.

I was deeply concerned about this L themed spin off for a number of reasons, primarily because it's very existence felt like a cash grab.

Immediately it felt like it was part of the franchise, integrated into the last film and following on nicely.

Of course if the movies had followed the original material this movie for obvious reasons would never have been possible.

Trouble is now it was entirely L's story and could he carry a film by himself? Honestly, no. And that's a shame because bringing L into other cases could in itself be brilliant and worthy of an entire television show but somehow, someway it simply didn't work.

L himself was great, the actor once again knocks it out of the park but is dropped into a non-Death Note themed story that simply isn't worthy of him or the franchise.

Thanks to him and the general quality of the film it's still quite good but isn't as smart as we've come to expect from the series and just not that great.

Add a team of interesting characters with L and I stand by this being perfect for a television show but as a movie it just doesn't stack up.

The Good:

L is perfect once again

Is following on from the events of the main movies

The Bad:

Story is very bland

Not as well written as the Death Note movies

Isn't particularly intelligent

First off, a note to the Death Note fans who have only enjoyed the anime/manga series: This movie is a sequel to the two live-action Death Note movies. The two movies follow an alternate ending to the Death Note anime/manga storyline, and this movie follows up to that. Therefore, if you don't know the movie ending, then you'll be left scratching your head where this movie fits in the timeline.

Another note to the people who are expecting another epic battle of wits between L and a new Kira and/or a new Shinigami (Death God): This movie does not have it. At all.

Light, Misa, and Ryuk only make a brief appearance, pretty much to recap and wrap up a small loose end from the previous movies, and that's it. This movie is about a whole new case, unrelated to Death Notes and Shinigamis. There is a reason why the words "Death Note" are not in the title of this movie. This is likely going to be a major sticking point to most fans of the Death Note franchise.

Not helping is the fact that the new case and the storyline (and the way it's told) isn't really much to write home about. The villain is supposed to be a super-genius of L's ilk, but we never get the kind of duel of the minds we've come to expect from Death Note. And for all the threat that the villain poses, the movie simply doesn't feel that suspenseful. In fact, one "horrific" death scene just ends up being unintentionally comical. As a crime thriller goes, this is a mundanely written and directed work. If such aspects are what you will be watching this movie for, you are going to be seriously disappointed.

So what should you be watching this movie for? L being L (and the actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama's top-notch portrayal of him),and L making human connections with children.

Does that description make you roll your eyes? If so, then this movie is definitely not for you.

But if you are the kind of person who enjoys L's eccentricities -- and maybe even finds him flat-out adorable for those qualities -- then you are absolutely going to love this movie. The director Hideo Nakata has said that he wanted to show L's previously unseen "human side" with this film, and in this respect, he delivers in spades.

I watched this movie at Los Angeles Anime Expo 2008 in an auditorium with 1000+ people, and I got a huge kick out of this movie. Fans were giddily screaming when L did one of his signature eccentric moves, oooh-ing and awww-ing when L showed his tender side, and hollering "YEAH!!!" when L made a triumphant heroic entrance. Grand joyous time was had by all.

To me, this movie was the perfect homage to L and his fans. And as such, I'm giving this movie an unabashedly inflated score of 8/10. If I were to rate it as a straightforward crime thriller movie, I might go as low as 4/10.

This movie is strictly for the fans of L's eccentricities only. Everybody else can safely skip this movie.

I haven't read the manga series, but I really enjoyed the two Death Note movies. L for me, was an interesting character, however, I was very skeptic to how this movie could possibly work, since a super-weird character like him usually only work in smaller roles, and the mysteriousness was the underlying charm of L in those two movies. I had an extremely low expectation in this film, and to my surprise, it was even worse than what I had imagined.

First of all... the story is absolutely worthless. It's something you would expect from a Hollywood B-movie or a low budget made-for-TV movie. The original series had been an exciting cat-and-mouse game of wits and deception. Even if they didn't want to re-use the Death Note, battle of wits is vital to the success of a movie like this, and for a character like L to reach full potential. This on the other hand, was L in a MIB ripoff organization in a cheesy biohazard plot with really dumb villains. As if that alone wasn't enough, they also added typical Japanese corniness: psychotic killers with environmental nonsense ideology and how the entire human race should be purged.

Horrible overacting by the supporting cast and poor direction didn't help. This was not a movie meant to be directed by a horror movie director. That "death in the lab" scene was totally corny, and the director kept trying to make Maki, the little girl, seem like a child psycho killer you would see in horror movies, and it was totally unconvincing and stupid. Fukuda Mayuko, who played Maki is an extremely talented up-and-coming actress, and I am very upset this director put her through a crap role like this.

I loved the final scene where L attempts to stand up straight since he found a new hope in life and wanted to live longer, and I can tell Matsuyama Kenichi tried really hard in this movie. He did great job. But "no matter how gifted, one cannot change the world alone", he couldn't save this movie alone.