Alita - Battle Angel

 

 

The Year is 2562, 300 years after an event called THE FALL. In a scrapyard a robotics engineer finds the head of a young girl. Using his skills as a cybernetic surgeon, he is able to reactivate her brain and Alita is born.

I loved the fact that they gave the character large anime eyes which makes her an outcast among those who are totally human but in this environment she fits right in. Her creation and her journey of discovery are as fascinating as everything else in this movie.

For 15 years, James Cameron owned the property and of course did nothing with until Robert Rodriquez got attached to the project. Now we have one of the most popular works of Manga that Japan ever produced brought to the big screen with all the digital bells and whistles we should expect from a property so beloved. I myself was happy to see something fresh and original that I enjoyed learning more about from first trailer until I saw the complete movie. I enjoyed the final result very much and was never bored.

Alita lives in a world where machinery and humanity are merged. Some have one robotic arm, some only have their heads attached to killer robot bodies. And all of this is perfectly natural. Doctor Ito, the man who found Alita's head in the first place, however is keeping secrets from Alita, secrets he thinks her brain can't handle. So there is a mystery here and an interesting one at that.

I love any story that gives me a hero's journey and Alita is a hero to believe in. She can be the one that can change the system that is corrupt and without compassion or justice. She may not be human but she fights for humanity against an enemy that is all powerful.

There is a sense of wonder here and a sense of discovery around every corner of this film. I wanted to stop it just to look at the detail for a little longer. I can already see myself watching this one a few more times and I am barely into the first 15 minutes. While saving a puppy in the streets, Alita learns she has skills unlike anyone else. Soon those skills are put to the test against three cyborgs who were after Doctor Ito who himself is a hunter of evil cyborgs. In this world the people who live below are stalked for their body parts by killer cyborgs who work for the corrupt oligarchy who run everything. The weak are eaten by the strong. Alita follows her 'father' one night believing that maybe he is the person who is killing people for their organs but soon learns the truth.

They play an insane kind of killer cyborg roller derby called Motorball. That is a beautiful CGI spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. I included the second trailer just so you could see the action for yourself. The chase through the streets of Iron Town is also fantastic. No one messes with Alita.

There are many other spectacular fights between Alita and various cyborg killers that are more machine than human and built specifically to kill and harvest body parts. It's some of the best digital effects I have ever seen and in 3D it must be spectacular. All of Alita was created using motion capture technology and the end result is cutting edge visuals.

 

 

The mythology is a little muddled but I could follow what was going on and I was thrilled by the whole sense of discovery here. I left wanting to know more about this world that Alita inhabits. I also have a crush on her but remember, she is over 300 years old so it's all cool. The movie ended ripe for a sequel and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here.





True to its origins, Alita is a living cartoon of a film, which only makes its ridiculousness easier to absorb.