Thursday, June 23, 2011

Akira (1988)

Director:   Katsuhiro Otomo
Writer:      Katsuhiro Otomo, Izo Hashimoto
Language: Japanese
Third world war happened in 1988 and Tokyo was destroyed in a nuclear disaster. The film is set in 2019 in Neo Tokyo which was created in a man made island after the disaster. Its a city in which there is much dis content against the corrupt government and bike gangs are rife in the city. Its a punk sci fi action animation with the plot focusing on Kaneda, a teenage bike gang leader, who is trying to prevent his friend Tetsuo from releasing Akira.

The film was revolutionary in the animation genre with lip synched dialogs and super fluid action. Its an adaptation of the manga written by the director with the same name. I found the film to be very good in its first half but in the second half it degenerates with too much action and story squeezed in without much clarity. I was reminded of District 9 whose first half was brilliant but second half just mindless boring action sequences.

Rating: 3.5/5

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