Overall Rating
  Awesome: 68.29%
Worth A Look: 12.2%
Average: 15.85%
Pretty Bad: 0%
Total Crap: 3.66%
2 reviews, 70 user ratings
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| Akira |
by Robert Collins
"Worthy of acclaim; just not a cult"
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"Akira'"s tag line is "Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E!" And with a plot structure this dense, this convoluted, threatening at any time to burst at the seams, it seems very much appropriate.Though much of Akira is needlessly complicated, thankfully, the main plot remains mostly decipherable throughout. In a bleak future (as if there were any other kinds of future in science fiction), society has been given up to make way for technological advances, and in the slums of Neo-Tokyo, bike gangs run rampant. The focus is upon two of these bikers: the charismatic leader Kaneda, and Tetsuo, whose reliance upon Kaneda has forced him resentfully into the background. After a tragic encounter with a psionic child, the gang uncovers a government conspiracy, and, with the assistance of a revolutionist, try to prevent the total destruction of their city.
Based upon a much-revered and considerably long Japanese Manga serial with which it shares its name, Akira compacted its bi-weekly strip to a comparatively short running time of little more than two hours. It was then, once again, stripped away of even more excess from the Japanese version of the film to supposedly relieve the short-lived attention spans of the American public; that, in turn, would eventually become its most noticeable and greatest flaw.
Despite cutting down upon the length of the film, seemingly all of the film's complex subplots remained. However, with the limited time, the film begin to suffer from incoherence and inconsistencies. Some of the subplots' resolutions became rather hasty, and, with the unrelentingly breakneck pace, some seem to be lacking any kind of conclusion at all. With such an enormous amount of side-stories and legions of characters, Akira's plot becomes brain-numbingly confusing, and an exercise in how much you are able to retain.
With the action seemingly non-stop, there is little time to discern what's happening, and, with new subplots revealing themselves in rapid succession, that's a real shame. Even worse, Akira suffers from an overload of themes, and, thus, risks becoming a true philosophical nightmare. At its end, its main theme is apparent (the prices mankind and society must pay for the continuation of technological progress), but there are so many other secondary ones that their significance becomes cloudy and even meaningless. One would wish Akira would take a more leisurely pace, just so one could clearly realize what points the filmmakers were attempting to make, and even simply immerse themselves into the lavish imagery present.
Oh, I didn't mention that? Technically, Akira is excellent, definitely one of the superior examples in its genre. With a unique, often subtle synthesized score rich with chords and breathtaking detail to every one of its visuals, one deed of which it cannot be accused is laziness. The character designs, unlike much of its anime brethren, are naturalistic and unexaggerated; they and the solid, grimy architecture of the setting all add to the gritty realism aspired by the picture. Whether it is assaulting them or massaging them (usually the former), Akira is nonetheless infinitely appealing to the senses.
Akira, despite its numerous flaws, still deserves a look. Since its production in 1988, it has continued to be a very competent action/science fiction flick with an admirable amount of intelligence. What it lacks in coherence, it makes up for in its stunning visual endeavors and its technical genius. Even though what it means to say doesn't always come across clearly, at least it knows what it's trying to articulate. While its adult themes and unquestionably spectacular artwork have propelled to a cult status of which it isn't entirely deserving, it is nevertheless a crucial animated film and a rather entertaining one, to boot.And, no matter how unfavorable anybody's objections are toward the film, one must praise "Akira" for how it was able to introduce the Western civilization to the anime medium and bring the genre into a more mainstream light, paving the way for superior works, like classics "Ninja Scroll," "Ghost in the Shell," and "Princess Mononoke." For that, I'll always be thankful
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1928&reviewer=316
originally posted: 06/17/02 13:12:53
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Brisbane Film Festival. For more in the 2005 Brisbane Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
02-Feb-1989 (NR)
UK
N/A
Australia
02-Feb-1989 (M)
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