Slashdot Mirror
Blade Director to Adapt 'Akira' For Western Audiences
dswensen writes: "According to the Sci-Fi Channel web site, Steven Norrington (director of Blade) is going to write and direct an adaptation of the classic anime Akira. Norrington says his story 'preserves the tone, the visual and the epic scope of the original, whilst telling a somewhat more accessible story [to Western audiences]." The article doesn't mention whether the adaptation will be animated or live-action. Given Norrington's track record and the butchery that usually takes place under the guise of making something 'accessible,' it's hard to take this as extraordinarily good news."
... is hollywood's access to people's wallets ;)
Why mess With Perfection?
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
..to fuck up a good thing. About the only thing you can say about some of Norrington's work (like _Death Machine_) was that it was too funny to take seriously. If he tries to modify _Akira_ for the Masses in the US, it's not going to be recognisable. Throw any sense of perspective about the world or evolution out the window, it'll just be a bloodbath.
Really though, I have no idea how they could possibly improve on it. There is no way that they can make a better animated movie, and I don't see how a film could capture the spirit of Akira.
If it's already a classic in one form, why try to remake it? Making it more "accessible" is just anther way of saying "dumbing down". If the remainder of the Western audience doesn't understand the film (in either the subbed or dubbed version) then why the hell would you bother? The movie is a classic for so many reasons on it's own (artistic style, notoriety, story base, etc). I'm probably just pulling a bit out of my ass there, but my point is, if it's already good leave it alone.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
What's the deal? Why does Hollywood have to take every worthwhile piece of art and ruin it?
Akira wasn't my first introduction to anime, but it was my first experience with anime of its calibre. The music, the story, the animation... it's art.
You are all fartheads.
seriously, I've been a fan of that movie for years. Part of the anime experience is that good films of the genre usually require a good 2, 3 or more viewings to truly capture. Discussions and arguments rise up due to people's different interpretations of these films.
imho the 'western' world doesn't need an adapted or abridged version of a fantastic film. Akira works on more than just the 'film' level, consider the music, which was put together in such a modular way (check out the special edition DVD's second disc for that, it's really slick!)
i just don't think it'll be able to compare, sure it may appeal to a general audience and gross a bunch of $ due to media hyping it up...but it will be just that another money making scheme from the movie industry.
This seems sort of silly, doesn't it? I'm sitting here looking at my 2001 re-release of Akira in which they re-translated and re-dubbed the entire movie to try and make a more comprehensible copy for us westerners. Unless his plan is to make it live-action (dear God no!), I don't see how this will even be worth a look.
There are plenty of people who don't understand "western" movies.
Maybe some people don't relate to Anime because they just don't relate to it, the same way others don't relate to a lot of the hollywood crap.
Since thay cant create they "Copy" aka "Remake" it. Holywood is basicaly bankrupt in the idea department.
;)
Even when they have an orginal ideas the muck it up. Look at Starship Trooper. Good story horrible movie. Just had too mant bugs in it.
This is a bad thing. The odds are it will be Akria in name only unless they change that also!
THeres a huge culture gap between Japan and America. People here (America) just seem to think that Anime is just a cartoon.. for kids. What i like about Anime is that the author/director person can do whatever they want and achieve impossbile camera angels if they wanted. I guess people here prefer seeing live action, I think Akira is a great anime. Anime is a great medium for storytelling, and cheaper too? ( i dont know how much it costs to produce an anime, but you dont have to pay for location permits and the such, and travel expenses)
So really, is it necessary to have to 'adapt' Akira to the western screen? If you want bring the ture akia experience to western audiences, then you shouldnt have to 'adapt' it. WHen i watched dubbed movies, and then the undubbed version i find that alot is lost in just the way the character says a line, infliction is just as important as the actual dialoge. and alot of times,the dub speech and the expression on the characters face just dont match. just my ¥2
Sun is Warm, Grass is Green
Remember when they did the American version of La Femme Nikita with Bridget Fonda or something? They managed to achieve heir vision by removing all elements of style and character, and replacing them with larger explosions.
Great work America.
1. If you don't want to see the new version, don't watch it. Nobody is saying you have to give up your old version of Akira and trade it in for the new one. You don't like it, don't watch it!
2. There's nothing wrong with trying to make something better. Some people might find this new version better, some will like the old version. Not everybody likes the same things.
3. If anything, this will bring the story of Akira to a larger audience, it will get people to wonder where it came from, and they'll seek out the Japanese version of the moive, and the comic books. Then there will be people that will see it for what it was, and they may like it better, or they'll like the newer version better.
To each his own, and if something brings a story to a wider audience, one that would have NEVER seen it otherwise, I say more power too them.
And to the person that brought up La Femme Nikita and the remake (Point of no Return). I saw Point of no Return, thought it was interesting, found out it was a remake of La Femme Nikita, thought it was MUCH better.. and you know what, if they didn't make Point of no Return, I would have NEVER known about La Femme Nikita.
Free Mac Mini
Hey, Mods&Metamods, I call foul.
The above comment just repeats the sentiment already expressed in the original story submission, with a couple of expletives sprinkled in for good measure.
I pretty much agree with that sentiment, mind you, but how precisely does simply rephrasing it rate a "5?"
Has the definition of "insightful" been changed to "agrees with me?"
Allow me to play devil's advocate and say this might not be such an awful idea, so long as it is clear that it is a redone film and that the original is mentioned somewhere during the credits.
Any American who claims to understand this film entirely is mistaken...the plot and meaning of all of the elements is understandable, but none of us fully understand the culture and context the story exists in. Think about most any American film...it doesn't translate verbatim to Japanses culture. Do they really understand Pulp Fiction? No...the conversations lose their touch when it's not in your native language. Does American Pie translate well at all? Doubt it...their culture is very different than ours.
I'm expecting nothing spectacular, but it might be good. I wish him luck!
Matt
Akira is about a theme that has been touched on by many Sci-Fi authors. That the ultimate form of evolution for human beings will be when we achive Pure energy. Humans will become a conciousness of unlimited power. In akira the government is performing expirements on children in attempts to tap into some of this power. Akira went to far fully transforming into an energy being an the power of his transformation destroyed the city. Tetsuo eventually becomes so powerful the same thing happens. meanwhile though as he's transforming he loses control of his body. Akira returns to help Tetsuo Transfrom, and together they use the energy realeased from Tetsuos Rebirth to create a new universe of which they are the gods, hence the whole Galaxies and Stuff at the end.
Of course this is by no means definative, this is just my take on the movie, that's what makes it so good, that it's open to interpretation.
-Mishra
I'll probably get nailed for this - but to me Akira was an awful bore. I watched it like 4 times I really never did get it - this coming from someone who took several anime film classes (seriously!). And then it hit me - this film is gross, confusing and really pretty poorly written. I don't care what the manga (comic) had to say about it - this is the film version. I think people idolize it because it had a much higher cell count then any other film, but big deal.
:)
BTW - one fun thing to do is read reviews of what the film was all about from film critics - every single one of them tells a different tale of what the story is about.
To make it worse all you have to do is just release the - what was the company called? Silverline Studios? Version - I guess it was edited for content - and the voice acting was pretty bad.
Why not take a more beautful film like Mimi o Sumaseba or Tanuki Wars - and release that in north america? Those films were fun
At first glance I thought the subject said the director of 'Blade Runner' was going to remake Akira. I was thinking what an excellent idea. If he just does a high budget live action film with matrix and blade runner elements it would be excellent. However then I re-read it and it was just 'Blade'. A sad day indeed :(
Akira was really about the Trial of Best Friends being split apart by something thrust into their lives that they couldnt control. It was an exmplary expression of the inherent im-balence between most best friends, showing Tetsuo's Jealousies of Kanada, and Kanada's own problems being an orphan and a kid without direction. The thing thrust between them is of course the military research from WW III... The Akira project. Akira was actualy just another boy like Tetsuo who was injected/exprimented on with brain and mind over matter enhancments... eventually becomming too powerfull for the goverment and himself. The resultant plotline revolves around a de-stabilizing culture still suffering the ravages of WW III, The movie explores the depth of a broken society by using the two main chracters deeply intertwined love/hate relationship that takes them through ALL clases of neo-tokyo, from the impoverished kids and gangs, to the wealthy and corrupt goverment leaders to the rebelious masses who are straining for revolt to the college kids with grand ideas of reshaping the future to the terrorists urging and pushing for a rebelion. Meanwhile Kanada and Tetsua are fighting a very simple battle that most best friends fight constantly, who is the top dog.
The magic of Akira is its ability to Delve into all these areas with phenominal depth while capturing the viewer with a very real and very plain struggle. Think of how many times youve been jealous of your best friend and there you have the center of Akira. It goes back to when we all used to fight with our GI Joe's, who got to be king cobra or Hawk, who got to be optimus prime or StarScream, who got to be skeletor or He-man.
I fear that Norrington will miss and destroy the original films scope by trivializing the story in face of big explosions and not so great Computer Generated scenes. I sincerly DONT believe the movie needs to be made accesible at all... I only speak and understand english and have (in my own opinion) captured and understood the entire movie without any need for westernization (english dub of course).
I also Believe that this move CAN be done as live action succesfully, it would be sheer excelence if directly ported to 35mm, scene for scene reproduction would be excelent to watch... however i fear the movie will be made shorter eliminating the truely great storyline extrapalations and additionaly i doubt the american characters will have the chemistry necesary to discribe how close kanada and tetsua and the others are. It'll probably end up with Kanada a brad pitt looking white guy, tetsua a Chris rock or some other short and loud person, Kay just a beutifull dumb chick with reduced lines and reduced character (like storm from the XMEN movie), and other non-sensical characters.
The beuty of Akira is its reality, all the chracters are distinctly Japenese from Japan, no cross-culture characterizing conflicts, they simply are japanese street kids. I myself am a mulatto american street kid with little resemblance and very minute cultural similarities to this films premise, and what i enjoy most about this film, is it doesnt try to pander to my "background". It simply is a story that tells it like it is (or would be) without trying to be translated into my environment. I can only imagine how horrible an American Akira out of the Ghetto would/could be.... on the other hand... it could be astoundingly good....
But with this guys track record.... looks like Akira's gonna get mangled
--Idiots, Every single one of YOU, A flaming mass of conglomerated morons, hey wait a second, isnt that how RAID works?
Somebody shoot that guy
Technoli
Hollywood is just too scared to release completely original material.
That happens less and less nowadays.
Makes perfect bussiness sence - release a movie that has already been seen and already has an audience.
A story that originally took many volumes of manga to tell is compressed to an hour and a half;
And yet, the movie made sense and the manga didn't. Hmm. Believe me, I would have read the manga if I could. Same for Battle Angel. It was all ridiculous, as are most comics, to be honest.
It's quite clear that you've never seen a single Peter Jackson film other than FOTR.
I've never read a single Tolkein book, and have never been a big reader of the Fantasy genre, but I like FOTR enough to see it 3 times. You friggin geeks can piss and moan about how every single little detail wasn't in the movie, but a flick doesn't gross a few hundred million dollars on geek appeal: it appeals to a broad audience.
If you want the book in its entirety, read the goddamn book.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.