Is this the Akira plot?

More details are emerging regarding the live action adaptation of Akira. Today we have a possible synopsis of the movie that needs to digested with a few grains of salt as they don’t appear to be officially confirmed by anyone involved. Either way, here’s an idea of how the movie may play out:

Source: Bleeding Cool

Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel.

Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers.

Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.

And to add more fuel to the fire they included some casting rumors:

Kristen Stewart – Ky
Garret Hedlund – Kaneda
Helena Bonham Carter – Lady Miyako
Ken Watanabe – The Colonel

I was feeling a bit enthused up until Kristen Stewart’s name popped up. The possible deviation from the story from the original movie was very much expected for me but it seems a bit overly simplified? It’s probably for the best as I remember having to ask several people to help me better understand the story of Akira on initial viewing (this was before wiki’s) and I don’t feel that mass audiences would voluntarily do that much homework on this particular project. Not yet anyway.

Helena Bonham Carter was already rumored which I think is a decent casting but what happened to Gary Oldman in the role of the General? I’m not knocking on Watanabe’s skills just that Oldman was probably the better choice. This is a lot to digest and requires extra salt until we receive some type of official confirmation.