An out-of-body experience

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 1998)

A cinematic experience of the highest order, AKIRA is in my opinion the finest and most detailed movie of any category. Composed of an intriguing and deliciously complex storyline carried by incredible visuals and a riveting soundtrack, watching AKIRA is like passing your consciousness though a megawatt sensory amplifier. A monolith of chaos and demonization, the movie is significatly intensified by a highly unsettling quality and an indescribable, apocalyptic-psychotic climax that threatens to push the already sadistic violence into the NC-17 category. It's very easy to get lost in this berserk supernatural nightmare, and find oneself immersed within an unnerving vision of hyper-reality that is experiencing to say the least. Both disturbing and fascinating, I've never seen anything else quite like it. As one reviewer put it, "an out-of-body experience." Excellent in every sense of the word.