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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