Death Note: The Last Name

Picking up where its hugely enjoyable precursor left off, ‘Death Note: The Last Name’ obeys all the rules of the Japanese movie sequel: bigger, faster, weirder. The first film spelled out its complex mythology in simple terms, but any pretence at clarity vanishes in the sequel as the original premise– amoral law student Light possesses a book, the Death Note, which allows him to kill anyone he chooses – is swamped in a mind-mangling series of crosses and double-crosses, new rules and fake books and exposition scenes which only serve to muddy the waters even further.

Some strengths remain, notably the wacky rivalry between cold-hearted Light and his shambling emo-goth sugar-junkie nemesis. But the introduction of new female characters reveals a dubious misogynist streak, and, as the contrivances pile up and the mythology strains at the seams, it becomes hard to ignore the lunacy of the entire enterprise