Wednesday, December 20, 2017

T5W#123-Top 5 Reasons I Think the Live Action Battle Angel Alita is a Bad Idea

I probably should have done this last week when this trailer dropped (But last week was Star Wars and Star Wars trumps everything else-Last Jedi ROCKED BTW).  Last week though, we got the first trailer for the long in development Battle Angel Alita live action movie.  For the longest time, since before man first learned to walk, director James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, Avatar) had long sought to bring this classic Anime title to the big screen.  Now that he’s firmly entrenched in his Avatar universe, he’s handed the directorial reigns to Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sharkboy and Lava Girl).  And the initial reactions have been…well…mixed, lets say mixed.  A friend of mind sent the trailer my way as I had no clue this movie was still happening and as I kept watching the 2min trailer, one thing became clear to me: This movie is a bad idea.  And today on T5W, im going to explain why I think that is.  These are my Top 5 Reasons I Think the Live Action Battle Angel Alita is a Bad Idea.  Special shoutout to my good friend, Vivian, who sent me the trailer link and was kind enough to share some of her own thoughts to help me write this since she knows more about Alita than I do.  Thanks Viv *hugs*

 

#5-Storyline (Vivian Option)
As one might expect, cramming mass volumes of a manga or 26 odd episodes of an Anime into on 2 or so hour film is going to be impossible.  I suspect that this Alita movie will be trying to set up a film series of its own and stick to a bare bones origin tale.  That being said, Viv has her own concerns about how the characters will be portrayed (especially when it comes to Alita but we’ll get there in due time) and further doubts they’ll be true to their original source characters.  Likewise, Viv also let me know that the Alita story itself gets a little complicated at times.  Complicated doesn’t work unless youre doing a multiple part adaptation and Alita really cant take that kind of risk if it wants to somehow work.  It has to be a film that somehow stands on its own while honoring its source story rather than just trying to look cool.

 

#4-Relevance of the Title
Battle Angel Alita came out in the early 90’s.  While it was a popular title in circles for a while, I haven’t heard it spoken of as much as other titles from the decade, like Ghost in the Shell.  Lack of relevance in the last decade could hurt the chances of Alita making an impact, especially if it’s a US produced feature (more on that later).  The title could generate buzz from die hard fans and I could imagine some kind of Anime tie in happening to promote the movie.  But I feel like this is a film that (much like Ghost in the Shell in a way) should have been attempted in the 90’s when their original Anime productions came out.  Nowadays, fans are talking about dreams of My Hero Academia or (even still) Neon Genesis Evangelion, more than they are Battle Angel Alita.  It makes me feel so sad for it.

 

#3-Watering Down to a PG13
From what Viv told me, Alita is a pretty violent Anime title.  This makes sense given that it’s set in a post apocalyptic future where Cyborgs fighting each other to the death is just another day.  I’m imagining sort of Ghost in the Shell or Armitage meets Ninja Scroll style action.  So why, after seeing the first trailer, am I expecting this movie isn’t going to get the R-Rating it probably needs?  Not that I think the visuals are anything to write home about at the moment, I think they look average tbh.  But come on, Alita’s level of cyborg on cyborg violence feels like something James Cameron could do in his sleep, you know having done Terminator and all.  But to get more of an audience appeal, Im expecting a lot of watering down to the title.

 

#2-The Current State of Live Action Anime 
Let’s face it, 2016 was a pretty bad year for Live Action Anime films.  While Japan did give us a (supposedly good) Gintama movie, we got so-so responses or worse from the Fullmetal Alchemist and JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure films.  Lest we forget, the US had an even worse year.  Ghost in the Shell and Death Note might’ve gotten so-so reviews from my end but I cannot ignore the “KILL EM WITH FIRE” reception the anime community gave them and im not gonna argue.  We had two chances to make films based on two special titles (one of which is very near and dear to my heart).  Instead, we got movies that join Dragonball: Evolution as evidence that Live Action Anime (good ones and bad) should be handled by Japan and Japan alone.  At least they know the sum of the parts of the manga/anime that make those stories work…rather than rushing out a pointless cash grab.

 

#1-Those eyes…those horrifying eyes (Vivian thoughts included) 
I felt so bad for actress Rosa Salazar.  The whole of my first viewing I was really wondering if those were her natural eyes and that is a horrible thing to think.  Im sure she could act the hell out of this part but…why try to make her eyes look the way they do?  Was this a Cameron choice or a Rodriguez choice?  Does this make her character seem more Anime?  Why not just have her look like Rosa Salazar does in real life, with some cybernetic augmentations obviously?  These eyes are just…something isn’t right about this approach.  Vivian shared similar concerns with me about Alita’s overall design.  I didn’t notice it until she pointed it out how “Avatar” Alita looks in the trailer.  It wows me because aside from the obvious CG cosmetics she look real.  Is she being mocapped by Rosa Salazar?  Again, why go this route when basic practical effects could have done a better and more convincing job.  Honestly, it feels more like a bad joke than anything else and do we really need another joke of a live action Anime feature? 
 
(BTW note: I totally see now that Rosa Salazar plays Brenda in the Maze Runner movies.  She’s hot and she can act, a force of nature those movies don’t deserve.  That just makes the anime googly eyes even more insulting.) 
Guess we’ll find out if we’re all right or wrong on this one when Alita: Battle Angel arrives next summer…the same summer as Avengers: Infinity War…wow this film might be more screwed than I think.
 

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