AKIRA
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1989 Jeff Meyer
I feel like I should place a mountain of disclaimers before publishing a review of the latest imported, dubbed Japanese animated film, AKIRA. First, I've been reading the serialized, translated manga that the film is based on, published by Epic Comics. The story is considerably different -- it *has* to be, considering the story is hundreds of pages long in the manga, and has to be compressed and changed to fit into a couple of hours running time. Secondly, I like the way the manga story has been done so far; and while most people seeing the movie will be viewing it with a fresh mind, I was critically comparing it to it's printed incarnation.
That said, I can recommend AKIRA, the film, only on its technical merits. It is fantastic, heart-pounding animation, giving you the kind of intense experience you find in ALIENS or DIE HARD. Until you a) start thinking about what's going on, or b) get to the conclusion, which is some sort of mishmash about man, the environment, the universe and (maybe) God. At any rate, it's not very well explained.
The story deals with Tokyo in the early 21st Century. A conflict in 1991 (I believe) destroyed almost all of Tokyo, and since then the city has been rebuilding itself. However, underneath the newly-constructed Olympic stadium, a secret project with a dual purpose is taking place. One part of the project is to examine, and attempt to induce, advanced mental powers in humans. The other part is to imprison someone -- or something -- called Akira. Into this situation stumbles two groups of people: a group of anti-government rebels (headed by Ryo and Kay), and a bunch of J.D. bikers, headed by Kaneda, and also his younger friend, Tetsuo. The escape of one of the mental psi-subjects involves these two groups together, along with covert government forces headed by The Colonel. These characters become intertwined in a plot to either release, contain, or exploit the force known as Akira.
Katsuhiro Otomo, the man who wrote and drew the manga AKIRA, also wrote and supervised the film. Some of the stories best parts are kept in (the semi-comic, semi-romantic relationship between Kaneda and Kay, for instance). Where the film really falls down is the nebulous reasons behind, and explanation of, what exactly AKIRA is, how he got to be that way, and what happens at the end of the film. The manga explains things (at least, so far) as it goes along with sufficient clarity, but the film tends to give some great other-worldly effects and let it go at that; just because Kubrick got away with it in 2001 doesn't give everyone else Carte Blanche to use the "Rorschach test" ending as a fit conclusion for a science-fiction movie. It could be poor dubbing at fault, but I suspect that the story from the manga was simply too involved to fit within the confines of a two-point-five hour film.
The animation, however, is spectacular (and rather grisly; having a weak stomach for this kind of thing, I found myself a little queasy leaving the theater; how my fellow netters could think of Wendy's was beyond me.), but for those who aren't anime aficionados, I wouldn't recommend it.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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