Alita: Battle Angel is the Hollywood live-action film adaptation of
the classic manga Battle Angel Alita. It’s set in the year 2563, three centuries
after “The Fall” – an interplanetary war that devastated Earth and left Zalem
as the only surviving sky city. Below
Zalem is Iron City, whose industries work for Zalem. Nobody from Iron City is allowed to go up to
Zalem, except for the champion of the sport called Motorball.
In Iron City’s junkyard, which contains
the scraps of machinery dropped from Zalem, the famed cybersurgeon Dyson Ido
(Christoph Waltz) usually scavenges for cybernetic parts. During one of his trips there, he discovers a
disembodied female cyborg. He brings her
home, and outfits her with a new body.
When she awakens, she has no memories of her past and who she is. She asks Dr. Ido to give her a name, and he
names her “Alita”, after his late daughter.
Alita (Rosa Salazar), full of
enthusiasm and curiosity, sets off to know more about the strange, new world
she finds herself in. As she learns more
of the workings and secrets of Iron City, she realizes how treacherous life in it
can be. However, she also discovers that
she’s more than equipped to deal with it.
Gradually, her experiences lead her to remember who she really is and
her life’s purpose.
Alita: Battle Angel is easily one of the most visually pleasing films
I’ve seen in 2019. It’s absolute eye
candy. The visual effects are beyond
outstanding, which bring about tons of gorgeous, elating action sequences and
an utterly well-realized, immersive world.
Alita is an extremely likable
character. I admit that her character
design weirded me out when I first saw the trailer. But while watching the final product – the
movie itself – I was never bothered by it.
It actually appealed to me greatly.
As it turns out, her anime-ized appearance actually meshes believably
with its surroundings, co-exists impeccably with the non-anime-ized actors, and
is logically justified by her characterization.
The stunning CGI involved and Rosa Salazar’s equally impressive
performance work incredibly well together in bringing to life an aesthetically
striking character with versatile emotional range. Moreover, she has a compelling character arc
and is a three-dimensional badass. She’s
now my frontrunner for Best Movie Heroine of 2019.
Unfortunately, the film’s plot is
a bit all over the place.
I haven’t read the original 90’s manga,
nor have I seen its 1993 two-part OVA adaptation. As a kid, any affection I could spare for an
anime about a cybernetic superheroine was already taken by Armitage III, and if any of it was left, Ghost in the Shell seized it.
Thus, I only knew of Battle Angel
Alita by reputation. Even so, it was
apparent to me that Alita: Battle Angel’s
script is a victim of studio interference.
From how its set pieces are composited and how its cyberpunk and
character beats are manifested, the film feels like it’s made at its
foundations by people who understand its source material – and anime in general,
for that matter. However, there are
elements and executions here and there that are blatantly Hollywood. The effect on the overall narrative is that
it feels bloated and unfocused at times.
For me, the worst thing about the
plot is the romance. It’s an aspect which
I can picture is a result of a studio executive saying at one point during production,
“Hey, this movie needs a love story in it.
Romance sells tickets, you know.”
Alita’s love interest, Hugo (Keean Johnson), is a bland character, and
though he doesn’t necessarily not
have chemistry with Alita, their romance is simply the crux of several unnecessary,
cheesy scenes. I get that the romance
provides some emotional core. But this could
have been obtained from other sources – like, from Dr. Ido and Alita’s
father-daughter dynamic, which in fact has delivered more substantial moving
moments despite playing second-fiddle to Alita and Hugo’s love story. Romance is something the movie would have definitely
been better off without.
That being said, the writing thankfully
doesn’t become so messy that it ruins the film.
The flaws of its script are overcome by the merits of Alita’s journey of
self-discovery, the development of Alita and Dr. Ido’s bond, and the fleshing
out of its world. And honestly, the spectacles
and action are just too remarkably glorious – thoroughly satisfying the sakuga appetite of
the anime fan in me – that they ended up making whatever concerns with the
story a secondary thing for me.
Alita: Battle Angel ends being clear with its aspiration of jumpstarting
a series. I believe that it has done
enough to deserve it – or, at least, a sequel.
Yes, it could have been better.
But, despite its imperfections, it has succeeded in doing the job of translating
a manga/anime into a Hollywood blockbuster film with a generally favorable
outcome. In fact, it’s arguably the best
example of such to date. It’s a solid
benchmark for Hollywood for its future anime-adapting endeavors.
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