Friday, February 22, 2019

Alita: Battle Angel


2563.  300 years have passed since “The Fall”, a war that devastated the Earth.  The lower classes of humanity struggle to survive on the ground while those who prosper dwell on Earth’s last floating city, Zalem.  One day, a kind inventor, Doctor Ido, uncovers the remains of a cyborg girl and restores her to life.  Taking the name “Alita”, this young woman quickly learns there is more to her than at first glance.  She possesses great strength and combat abilities, far above normal cyborgs.  The quest for the truth brings Alita into the crosshairs of the most dangerous organizations in Iron City and even those in Zalem above.  As Alita heads towards her destiny, she’ll find the true meaning of her existence…and her mission to save the world from an ancient enemy.

Battle Angel Alita is a classic Anime/Manga title that has long been in the sights of live action film development for as long as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Dragon Ball Z.  For just as long a time, it was a passion project for director James Cameron and he always kept saying Alita was at the top of his to do list.  But since Cameron is busy with Avatar sequels for the next decade, he took on a producing role (and co wrote the screenplay) and handed the directorial reigns to Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City).  But enough factoid trivia, I all know what you’re asking: is Alita: Battle Angel any good?  If you’ll recall, I did a Top 5 list with a good friend who’s read the manga about how neither of us thought adapting Alita was a good idea (you can find it here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/t5w123-top-5-reasons-i-think-live.html)  Well…I think a lot of those fears have been surprisingly alleviated while others are about what I expected.  Still, I think it’s safe to say this is far from the worst live action adaptation ive ever seen, in fact, at its best, it’s a very fun flick to enjoy.
 
One of my primary concerns going in was Alita’s infamous big eyed design that drew a lot of curiosity and ire from the community.  Well, ill be honest, a few minutes in and I wasn’t really paying attention to the size of Alita’s eyes because Rosa Salazar is doing such an amazing job proving why she is the shiniest gem in the movie.  Salazar plays Alita equal parts innocent, naieve, battle hardened, clever and even vengeful.  There are times when you just want to give her a hug and let her know everything will be alright and there are times when you just go “DAMN” when she tears through a cyborg like they were nothing (which she does a lot).  Alita certainly grows from beginning to end of the movie and Salazar portrays that evolution flawless from curious reactivated cyborg to battle ready bad ass.  And her design is pretty cool too.  Both of her cyborg bodies are beautifully designed.  Her first one is more artsy but has some good detail in the limbs.  And then there’s her more recognizable black and steeled Battle Angel look that feels perfectly pulled from the Manga or the OVAs.  In short, Rosa Salazar seems better suited to her role than Scarlet Johannson (or half the cast) in Ghost in the Shell and might be worth the price of admission alone.
 
Visually, yeah this does feel like a James Cameron vision if he wasn’t too busy spending the rest of his lifeforce on Avatar (ok ill stop that now and keep better focused).  One part Blade Runner, one part Thunderdome, Iron City may not really stand out other than it looks really pretty…but it is really pretty and feels very much alive.  The inhabitants are all well designed as well.  As you’d expect, lots of cyborgs in this flick and they’re all dressed to kill (that’s more literal than you think).  Im amazed at just how well the faces of Ed Sekrin or other actors fit on their cyborg bodies but the rest of their forms sometimes doesn’t even look CG.  It’s been a while since ive seen a near flawless combination like that.  And boy does that mean the action is incredible.  Watching Alita kick ass is the kind of action we’ve long wanted from a scifi Anime in live action.  She moves so quick and so graceful you’re drawn in and don’t want to look away.  Probably the best of this action isn’t even a one on one battle but the Motorball segment…yeah if you like the Pod Racing sequence from Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, I think Alita battling every single angry cyborg bounty hunter out to get her on the track kind of blows it away (also maybe its just me but I think this is perfect test footage for a potential live action IGPX movie…just saying). 
 
Well, I suppose you know what’s coming next.  Yes the movie is very pretty and very action packed.  But Alita: Battle Angel still isn’t anywhere near the perfect live action Anime heights as the 2006 Death Note duology or the first Rurouni Kenshin.  Alita’s central story of finding her identity and her place in the world is good, but I felt like we’re watching a compilation movie of an Anime season sometimes.  Some scenes are over before we know it and are thrown into the next action set piece, while others are just there to set things up for sequels that may or may never happen.  This is very much an Alita Begins movie but seems to want to stretch things out and prep a franchise rather than tell a self contained story.  It also takes the film a little bit to get going.  I wasn’t bored by Alita herself, I was just hoping the action would have kicked in a bit sooner.  Then there’s the supporting cast which is a solid dream team including Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connely, Mahershala Ali and Ed Sekrin.  Only Waltz and Keean Johnson get the better material due to their more direct involvement with Alita as her father figure, Ido and her love interest, Hugo, respectively.  You felt the emotional connection between these three in their separate scenes, especially between Alita and Ido.  Everyone else doesn’t really get a lot to work with.  While Sekrin does get to chew some scenery as a villain, Connely and Ali both seem like they just don’t have much to do than deliver standard, shadowy villain dialogue that just sounds tired.  I hate to say it but unless either was interacting with Alita (and Alita herself was more engaging) I was bored when either of their characters was on screen.  Come on, these guys deserve better than this. 
 
At the very least, Alita: Battle Angel is doing more to give a damn about its existence than Ghost in the Shell.  There’s more heart and emotion in Alita herself to power the whole movie and the action is a ton of fun if you’re just looking for two hours of escapism.  While pretty to look it, you cant ignore that the film has ambitious beyond its runtime and wants to do more when it should lessen its focus to the here and now instead of the future.  Not everything has to have a franchise built in from the start and one day live action Anime adaptations will get that.  Still, Alita: Battle Angel isn’t a total train wreck and id put on par with the middle ground of live action Anime like the Bleach or Space Battleship Yamato movies.  It’s a far cry from the two 2017 dumpster fires that were Death Note and Ghost in the Shell (btw I might end up doing a Top 5 talking about how much better Alita is than that later film, just fyi).  As a guy who didn’t know anything about Alita outside of the name, face and the fact it was Anime, I was entertained but id love to know what fans themselves thought of the film.  For now, id say this was the more better win live action Anime have needed for a while, far from perfect but very far from the worst of the worst.
 
7/10

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