#and my dad liked the Alita movie and I have all the manga on my shelf just... waiting

[hybryda]

You know... it makes me sad sometimes to know that there are stories I know my mom or dad would enjoy to read or watch and love them, but they would never see them bc it's manga or anime and I hardly convinced them to watch some k-dramas

[briangroth27]

Alita Battle Angel Review

I've never read the Alita manga, so I went into the movie not knowing what to expect. I ended up really enjoying it! The movie isn't perfect, but it quickly won me over and I'd definitely watch a sequel.

Full Spoilers...

I really enjoyed Alita's (Rosa Salazar) characterization here first as a curious and awe-struck, fun-loving youngster and later as someone who feels with all of her being and stands up for those who can’t protect themselves, even if it means sacrificing her life and (literal) limbs. The movie's biggest issues came from some clunky dialogue—Alita sounds like a teenager, sure, but a cliche one—and distracting CGI around her face. There were very few times where Alita didn't look like a CGI creation, which pulled me out of the movie over and over again. Her hands/arms and the rest of her looked realistic, but it was the oversized eyes that threw me off; I don't know if that's how it is in the manga, but if so I wish they hadn't adapted it so faithfully. I'd much rather see her expressiveness than faithfulness to the source material. Even with the routine dialogue and noticeable CGI, however, Salazar crafted a compelling character! She did a great job, bringing believable emotion through the sometimes overdone dialogue and CGI when it mattered most, so I was able to connect with Alita despite those drawbacks. Her impulse to never stand by in the presence of evil made her easy to root for and her response to an offer of mercy from one of the villains—"fuck your mercy"—was one of the best uses of the PG-13 "one f-bomb" rule I’ve seen as well as a fantastic, fist-pumping moment! The teen rebellion aspect worked really well and I liked that it wasn't just about dating a boy her “dad” disapproved of or playing a sport he thought was dangerous, but about beginning to fight a larger battle against society. All of those elements coalesced to ground Alita in relatable teen dramas while sending her off on her task of leading a revolution against her society (which is unfortunately also relatable to teens these days).

Christoph Waltz gave a great, naturalistic, and warm performance here; maybe my favorite I’ve ever seen of his. I thought he walked the “could be a killer” line very well without tipping into over-the-top villainy for the sake of the twist. I also fully bought his fatherly connection to Alita (or at least—at first—the cyborg body he'd built for his daughter). This was a neat, positive spin on Frankenstein, which was a fun change (though different characters brought other aspects of that story in, in much darker ways). I would've liked to see more interaction between Ido and his ex-wife Dr. Chiren (Jennifer Connelly), but the shared history they hinted at felt realistic and like they’d had a full life together before the movie started.

I'm glad Alita’s boyfriend Hugo (Keean Johnson) turned out to be truly supportive of her rather than just trying to get close to her to steal her body parts or something, but it felt like they could've done more with his character. He and his crew (Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Lana Condor) brought the darker body-snatching elements of Frankenstein to the story and while that was a strong twist, I wanted more fallout from it. I also wish the irony of him becoming his victims had been given some time to breathe. While he does get his head cut off for his crimes, it's done to save his life and Alita forgives him for what he was doing to people just like her awfully fast. I get that she had to make a split-second decision to save him or not, but she could’ve continued being mad at him after he was out of the woods. Alita learning about what he'd been doing and both of their reactions to him losing his body should've been bigger moments. For example, they spend a whole scene with her taking in his human torso, but they mostly gloss over their reactions to his new one. Even if Alita’s quickly-resolved reaction to his body-snatching side gig was supposed to be related to how easily she goes from one cyborg body to the next in the film, that could’ve been emphasized. 

Mahershala Ali made for a good minor villain as Vector and I really liked the dark twist of how he was getting people into Zalem. I would've liked to know more about him and what he thought about being such a literal pawn, though. He thinks it’s better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven, but did he have any plans to expand his empire in Iron City or to rebel against his boss, Nova (Edward Norton)? Intentional or not, Nova being a white man who routinely takes over the body of his black employee carries slavery symbolism and I wish we’d seen more of Vector’s reaction to it beyond the discomfort/annoyance he felt. Nova’s ability to remotely plug-in and take over any of his pawns was really creepy and cyber-punk in the best way. I've seen that used in other anime (like Ghost in the Shell), and it will never not be creepy. It's also a good way for the setting to dramatize the 1% literally using and disposing of the lower classes. I'm excited to see what other ways Nova can use his tech to fight Alita in future installments! I wonder if there'll be a point where Alita has to kill a pawn who’s otherwise a good person; that’d be an interesting moral challenge. The other Hunter-Warriors and cyborgs (Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Eiza Gonzalez, Rick Yune, Elle Lamont and more) were good challenges for Alita and boasted a cool array of designs, even if they were more CGI than I would've liked.

The world was very well-designed and I’m eager to see what Zalem looks like in contrast with Iron City. The lower city had a great lived-in sensibility that lent it a history without stopping to explain every little detail of the world in unnatural ways (while using Alita’s memory loss to explain the important things with her as our surrogate worked well). I don't need to see a prequel though: I don't ever need to know more about The Fall and what we see of Alita's memories was more than enough to set things in motion. Let’s move forward, not back. Motorball doesn't feel like a new idea outside of the movie, but it made total sense as the biggest sport in this world. While maybe not the most original sport, I liked that it felt fully constructed by this era and for these cyborg characters. They made full use of the characters' repairable and interchangeable body parts with all the destruction involved in the sport, which made for some thrilling sequences. The action and fights in general were very coolly choreographed! They all felt relatively different and each of the Hunter-Warriors offered unique challenges, always keeping things fresh. 

The movie's pacing was really well done, moving briskly along and covering a lot of ground in just two hours. Ending on Alita about to win her way to Zalem so she can face off with the 1% was a great choice! This was one of very few modern sci-fi/Young Adult movies where I didn't feel like all the cool stuff was only hinted at and saved for a sequel that might not happen. It felt like a huge amount of things went on, which made for a very satisfying experience and built my anticipation for the future nicely. 

While there were some issues with the dialogue and definitely the CGI (and some character beats could’ve been explored more), I'd definitely like to get more Alita movies. I hope Disney decides to continue this story now that they own the rights, because I want to see what happens next! Alita is still going strong in theaters, so definitely make some time to see this! 

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