In 1988, the landmark Anime film AKIRA, by director Katsuhiro Otomo, defined the cutting edge of Anime around the world. By today's standards, AKIRA remains a landmark achievement in cell animation and retains the explosive impact of its highly detailed animation and its intensely violent saga of power and corruption. Pioneer Entertainment proudly presents this classic film, completely restored and digitally re-mastered. Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda's motorcycle gang encounters a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject. The military captures Tetsuo and conducts experiments on him that unleash his latent psychic ability, but when these new powers rage out of control, Tetsuo lashes out at the world that has oppressed him!
Akira is the film that introduced me, along with thousands of other naive Westerners, to Anime. It's been the favoured poster boy of Manga ever since and still stands today as one of the finest examples of animation, Japanese or otherwise. The opening scene of warring motorcycle gangs colliding with a revolutionary plot and wrinkly psychic kids is still a top favourite movie moment for me. I remember when I first saw it; after being brought up on nice, safe Disney, I think it blew my mind and I've never quite recovered! Thank goodness.
That scene sets the balance for the rest of the film which is a dizzying clash of plots. You have the cool, irreverent, often violent action provided by Kaneda's bike gang as they look for their friend Tetsuo, who has been taken by the military after an accident. The military in turn are dealing with politicians and revolutionaries alike in a powerful sub-plot, while a girl from the revolution is tolerating Kaneda, as they have a mutual interest in finding Tetsuo. He is the heart of the story, struggling to come to terms with strange powers that are quickly getting out of hand. The wrinkly kids are also very powerful and are trying to keep him in check for his own sake, especially as he is learning about Akira. Who or what Akira was is left ambiguous throughout, but whatever is left of "him" is buried deep under the city and Tetsuo is determined to get at it. The last act of the film is all the various factions converging on one point for an epic, breathtaking finale.
The various plots are wound together with an assured attention to detail, never at the cost of pace and all the elements balance each other perfectly. For instance, the kids attacking Tetsuo disguised as huge toys that bleed milk would be unbearably disturbing but for the next scene of cathartic, wanton destruction or a wisecrack from Kaneda. The sci-fi plot is deep and philosophical, concerning human evolution. If there is a complaint, it's possible only the surface of potential was scratched. Certainly the original manga, also by director Katsuhiro Otomo, is much larger. This is really picky though and newbies won't notice because they will be too busy trying not to fall off the edge of their seat!
The quality of animation is astonishingly detailed, fluid and cinematic (some Anime has a tendency to be stilted), and the sound design and bonkers score match it throughout. This DVD release is getting on for 10 years old, but it's a fantastic transfer. Also the 5.1 is only available in English dubbed, but it's unusually good. I did have the dubbed VHS first, then VideoCD and remember the latter subtitled version being a big improvement, but this dubbing is excellent.
It is a very modern and dynamic piece of film-making and a benchmark for the sci-fi genre, a benchmark Hollywood has consistently failed to match. It treats the viewer with intelligence and doesn't compromise the story at all. If you enjoy the genre, but are wary of watching "kids cartoons", I urge you to try this. You owe it to yourself. There's healthy support on these forums for Anime, so why not dive in and find out why.
Genre: Horror Director: Claudio Lattanzi Rating: NR Length: 1h32 Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English Subtitles: None
Stars: Lara Wendel Robert Vaughn Timothy W. Watts Leslie Cumming James Villemaire
Plot: A Vietnam Vet savagely slaughters his cheating wife and her lover, his parents and his pet bird. Years later, a team of bird specialists researching the mating habits of a rare species of bird stumble upon a sinister blind man and some angry feathered fiends. Soon, the dead rise and a vengeful winged terror swoops down upon the living!
My Thoughts:
The first time I've seen that film I certainly didn't like it, mostly because I was expecting something else... yes, the Italian can even catch me with their titles
So more than seven years after that bad experience I've decided to give it a second chances. As I said forget about the title, this isn't connected at all with the other Zombie movies (too be honest none of them are really connected to each other) and there aren't really any killer birds (except at the end). But yes the film had some living dead creature on a revenge mission. Once again most of the special effects are good (some of them are cheap since it was very low budget, but at least one killing is awesome), the house they use is creepy and look like an abandonned house (it was probably one) and, for once, the film isn't dub as it was shoot in english with young American actors (except for Vaugn and Wendel this was the first film of everyone else). The film after a good start goes slow for a while but when they arrived the action is non-stop untill the end. Sure the acting isn't that great and Robert Vaughn is in for a check but we don't really watch those italian horror film to see shakespearian acting anyway.
So if you are like me and hate it the first time try to give it another try, it isn't perfect but at least it is better than Zombie 4: After Death.
First aired: 6/2/2002 During the trial of D'Angelo Barksdale, a mid-level dealer accused of murder, the prosecution's star witness recants her testimony, resulting in a not guilty verdict. After the trial, Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty explains to Judge Phelan how he suspects the Barksdale crew for a slew of related murders. When the judge contacts McNulty's superiors about this revelation, McNulty is taken to task for his indiscretion. Meanwhile, D'Angelo is free to return to work, but he soon discovers that he's been demoted.
Users: 0
October 06, 2025, 11:19:33 PM
