TGWTG User Blogs

Daily on TGWTG.com's blogs we get at least 5 different reviews, whether they be film, game, anime or a TV show, and whilst this is fine, you can't do much else, I've yet to see many people review the DVD's that they probably watched most of the films on. I mean it's the novelty we received with DVD's, and why I consider the jump from VHS such a larger leap than the jump from DVD to BluRay. With VHS, you'd have the movie, and generally a couple of trailers/adverts/piracy warnings/video certificate warnings ("Sexual swear words", we love you Simon Bates) before hand. However there was never a way to see deleted scenes, alternative endings (unless they were at the end, after the credits), director's commentary, subtitles for the hearing impaired or multi language options. With DVD's, we got all those things, plus behind the scenes documentaries, interviews, production diaries, image galleries, trailers etc. Plus all of these things could now be brought up on a menu that is generally well interfaced, and now we could skip through the films in matter of seconds.
Really, I shouldn't have to point all these things out, we know full well, but I'm just making two points: 1. I want to start taking a closer look at the DVD releases of some films, whether they are good or bad, and 2. That the only new things we get with BluRay are Higher Definition (which doesn't appeal to everyone) and ‘in-movie' menus, which are pretty pointless.

So to mark the first DVD review, I'm going back to my first blog entry on TGWTG.com, my review of the first Death Note movie, and am now going to review the DVD release.

Film

Since I've reviewed the film already I don't need to get much into it again. To summarize, Death Note may be the best Manga adaptation ever released. The film is exciting, well adapted, has great acting and is overall what I expected. My only gripes with it were the uneven pacing, the anticlimactic end and the dubious over acting of some sections coupled with poor special effects.

On its own, I gave Death Note four stars, comparing it to the Manga, I probably would give it three and a half, but that says enough. Not everyone, particularly those who don't normally watch anime or read Manga, will have read the original work, so for them it's a great film that won't be ruined by unfair comparisons.

DVD

In terms of packaging and presentation, I absolutely love this DVD. The box is wrapped around a cardboard cover, featuring the classic poster of Light and L, covered with all the usual information i.e. Title, review captions, blurbs, content descriptions etc, you know. But taking off the cover reveals the box, which is a complete replica of the Death Note, and it looks bloody brilliant, being a Death Note fan.
Opening the box reveals the first pages of the removable booklet, detailing the most important rules of the Death Note. On the next page, there are two blank (and no doubt ineffective) Death Note pages. After that the booklet has character and actor bios, as well as the Director's bio. The rest of the pages are a recounted experience of all the films behind the scenes notes. This is placed to make up for the DVD's lack of a director's commentary, which I personally don't find that entertaining on a DVD, but that's up to the viewer's choice.
Finally we have the two disks. The main disk obviously sports the film, both in 5.1 and 2.0 audio, both selectable from the main menu (which has the film's theme, "Dani California", looping over clips from the movie), a scene selection as usual, and a small gathering of special features which amount to two trailers and a web link.

The special features disk is an enjoyable, if slightly lacking collection. The making of feature is pretty good; it presents a more raw kind of documentary than the kind you'd normally find, where filming is shown as it went down, rather than how the actors describe it later on. It goes from day one to final day of filming, putting great detail onto some of the films more notable aspects, such as the process needed to create the CGI creation Ryuk (all the way from pre-dubbing to motion capture suits), the subway scene (which is the first time a Japanese underground railway has been used a film setting) and the scenes in which large areas of Shibuya and Harajuku are used for filming large crowd scenes.
For a Western audience, it also gives us an insight into the way the Japanese film their movies. There, it's a very formal and quick process. True, they had to film 2 films in the space of a year, but there's little time for rest as the cast are constantly at work. What I found most interesting was the way in which we see Kenichi Matsuyama act on set. He is very socially quiet and kept very much to himself, sitting away from cast members on his own, simply to stay in character. Overall it's a good making-of featurette, it gives any fan of the film what they want to see, and though it's not very long, it covers all the bases.

The same can't be said about much else. There's a ‘video diary' (which really is essentially what the making-of was....) that makes very little coherent sense; just random clips one after another that you kind of wish were elaborated.

After that is the press conference. This is pretty interesting, the main cast of Death Note (Light, L, Misa, Soichiro Yagami, Raye Iwamastsu, Naomi Misora, Watari and ‘Ryuk') plus the director answer questions both about the film and just random questions such as "If you had a Death Note, what would you do with it?" and "If a loved one was killed by a Death Note user, would you take revenge?". Bizarre for a press conference, indeed. By this point I still think Matsuyama is in character for L, as he barely answers each question. And hilariously to make up for the absent Ryuk they pretend he's there, and Fujiwara, having touched the Death Note as Light, is the only one who can talk to him. It's a crowd-pleasing spectacle, but not as much as the seasoned actor who plays Watari, whose a total joke churning machine. A decent view.

Finishing off the disk are a complete set of trailers, ranging from the normal theatrical to the interesting teaser trailer that actually advertises Death Note as a completely different, more art based kind of film, and a pretty lame image gallery.

So all in all a complete package? Well not really. I personally would have appreciated an interview with Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, the original writer and artist respectively for the Death Note manga on their thoughts on the film. And, though it is mentioned in the booklet, maybe a small feature explaining why and how the first two songs on The Red Hot Chilli Pepper's most recent album, ‘Stadium Arcadium' (‘Dani California' and ‘Snow (Hey Oh)'), were used as the openings for the two Death Note movies, but maybe that's something their saving for the Death Note: The Last Name DVD release. Maybe.

So final verdict? Overall this is a decent package for anyone who enjoyed the film. It has a great making of featurette, a jam packed tiny booklet and a kick ass case, but hardcore fans may feel the set lacks just an extra feature or two, as everything can be seen within an hour. Still, as a limited edition set, it's worth a buy if your thinking about buying it, I'm pleased with the purchase, and I reckon most people would be.

Film Rating: ****