Akira is a dizzying ride that's enjoyable, but the ending doesn't lend a lasting touch to a potential great animated classic.

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2010)

Released in 1988, Akira had a faithful cult following. One of the most influential Japanese animation (or anime) ever produced, it explores deep, mature issues that are rarely showcased in animation form. Including graphic violence and gore, and profanity, Akira's target audience is aimed at largely teens and adults, not small kids. The filmmakers' intention is to show how future Tokyo will look and feel like. Their vision is uncompromising; a post-apocalyptic, polluted city with gangsters and corrupted government officials, plus unethical scientists.
Akira's animation is mostly cell-drawn, immaculately detailed, and very colorful. It seduces us from the start, hooking us right into the polluted world of neo-Tokyo. The characters evolve into something quite substantial; their developments seldom paper-thin. Akira has many exhilarating set-pieces, and its own fair share of great action sequences. With fantastic music accompaniment and stunning remastered sound effects, watching on home video is a blast.
The problem of Akira (and it's a major one in my opinion) lies in the last half hour. It starts out in the most brilliant way, but ends in an overblown, exhaustive, and indulgent manner that is nearly suicidal. While the creativity is there, the long-winded ending sequence is likely to end up saturating viewers whom have already been through almost two hours of mind-boggling stuff. Akira is a dizzying ride that's enjoyable, but the ending doesn't lend a lasting touch to a potential great animated classic. Cult followers will be likely to think otherwise though.
GRADE: B+ (www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com) All rights reserved.