See here for full details on the 59 sci-fi movie challenge.
So I finally saw Akira. It’s quite a strange, cool, trippy sci-fi movie.
It cleverly tackles subjects like the corruption of power and the nature of the universe and evolution effortlessly, while throwing up colourful and lasting images and characters. The animation is sublime and looked great with its bluray makeover, the voice-acting is passionate and the score is weirdly and unsettlingly experimental in a way that perfectly compliments the mad visuals.
The setting of New Tokyo, built from the ashes of World War III, is beautifully realised and conveys a heavy sense of dread, that probably rang even truer for this film’s post-cold war release. The Han Solo of the piece, Kaneda, has more than enough charm and cool and is the perfect foil to the maligned Tetsuo, whose fall from grace is charted roughly a million times better in two hours than, say, Anakin Skywalker’s six-hour long laugh-fest of a fall. Continue reading
