Akira
91
Just about as good as it gets for an action movie, jam packed with thrill and swag from top to bottom. Now usually action ranks very low on a list of genres I usually enjoy, but this one knocks it out of the park delivering very well on many levels.
I’ll start with my favorite part, the world-building, without a doubt this Neo Tokyo is one of the best atmospheres built in Japanese animation, just the incredibly detailed in and outs of the futuristic yet warm city is just a circus for the eyes and don’t even get me started on the ears, the movie has an amazing soundtrack and score, the tropical and cyber, so powerful music of this movie makes for a triumphant experience from start to finish and it never lets up.
The characters while not spectacular, are great in their own right, while the characters are likeable and fleshed out well, there isn’t a central character to focus on, like obviously Kaneda is our protagonist we just don’t spend enough time with him, this movies unique jump around style makes for great actions sequences and sometimes subpar pacing, but it allows for very little important character development moments, I don’t blame them for leaving them out in the name of action but it just doesn’t work for me.
And that action, wow. Now I am not the person to ask about action but my god does it rock here, just non-stop, and I mean non-stop action sequences and fighting, everything from the bike races to nuclear missiles keep your heart going and you won’t wanna look away. I will say this movie almost does too much at times, like I said that strange pacing gets to be a lot and it makes for overstimulation on the screen sometimes, like damn I love these scenes but let me take them in!
That brings me to the climax, it is fucking wild and to be honest I’m not sure how I feel about it, the Akira plot we work towards the whole movie never really gets explained and it’s kinda annoying, like all the stuff with Tetsuo makes for great scenes and even becomes emotionally deep at times, but it all culminates a little lackluster ironically, I was left speechless because it all ends so suddenly and I was a little disappointed. Looking back I can’t lie I did have fun the whole third act, but I just wanted to pick it apart for future reference.
Not sure I talked it up enough but this movies animation is absolutely break-taking, like I said this movies Neo Tokyo makes for some stunning visuals, so goddamn colorful and full of life, this is what animation was made for.
After reading this I would expect a 4 star or even lower but honestly the positives in the movie punch the negatives in the mouth and this mess somehow comes together to create the formula for a masterpiece.