Review of Akira
This film manages to completely nail certain parts but in other it is so lacking I am not really sure what to think of it. If you read the other review you will see a lot of 10 but also a lot of 3 and strangely I completely undestand both camps. I will have to really section this review just to show you what I mean. 1.Animation/Graphics - I am not a big fan of many old shows because I really dislike the way anime was done in the past. To my surprise I absolutely loved the way this show looks. Everything from the way charactersmove to the way explosions look just clicks with me. If I had to score it this would be a solid 9 or 10.
2. Sound - While not as good as the animation, the soundtrack still hits really hard. They really experimented with some of the tracks and in my honest opinion it worked out really well. On the other hand, dont expect some basic anime song or some generic heroic theme. One of the first songs you will hear sonds like an asthmatic guy trying to catch his breath. I really like that the took the risk with the OST but I also fully understand if you didnt like it. For me its a solid 8 or 9.
3. Story - here is where it all goes downhill. The movie barely has any story to speak about. The first 1/3 is mostly just action with some short scenes to set up the basics and show as that one of the main characters gets super powers. After that the film just becomes non stop action with some story scenes sprinkled in. These scenes were really random and I have no idea what most of them tried to tell me. For example there is like 2 min long scene that is there to set up the leader of the resistance and the fact that some people worship Akira as a god. There are signs of a story there but thats about it. After a while I basically had no idea what the hell is happening and this feeling sadly never left. To top it all of the ending was absolutely horibble and I mostly have no idea what the hell happened. I hope that the original manga had a better story because this is a fat 2/10 from me.
4. Characters -Most characters in this have exactly 2 short scenes. One where they get introduced and the other when they get killed. Thats about it for the side characters. The main cast isnt better. Strangely enough for a 2 hour film Akira has a pretty decent number of characters, but as I said most have about 3 min of screentime. The main cast range from completely forgeteble to no character at all. Againg I hope that the source material was better, because even I could write better characters then this 1/10.
5. Action - This is what completely rescues this movie. As I said most of the film is just mindles action. It both looks and sounds great and is really enjoyable to watch. Sadly as I said I have no idea why is the action happening but fuck it, a good looking fight is always welcomed.
I think that you see why the reviews are so divided. I personaly enjoyed my time with Akira but the flaws are just too big to overlook. If you are looking for completely mindless action with no story to speak of I would say go for it. It both looks and sounds good, and action is basically the only thing this movie offers. If you want something more, for the love of god dont touch this film. My final score would be 8/10 but as I said I understand both the 3/10 and 10/10 reviews.