alita: battle angel review
alita battle angel is a movie based off of this manga, Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro.
Unfortunately, i've never actually read the manga (it's quite an old manga and on top of never reading manga, I've never been a huge fan of cyberpunk as a genre either) so I can't actually tell you how I feel about this as an adaptation from medium to medium. that said, there are very obvious plot points that they've twisted to suit the movie format better, and I actually really appreciate that they did so.
The original manga actually has a few endings, mostly due to Kishiro's health complications with the first series, before he created another sequel to amend the first ending which he wasn't happy with, but the movie doesn't come close to talking about these yet.
The movie includes characters that later become very important in the rest of the manga that previously haven't been touched upon like Lana Condor as Koyomi, and Ed Skrein (who is perfect for douche-y villain roles? Ajax was amazing) as Zapan, who also becomes more relevant later, but also Jennifer Connelly as Dr Chiren, who isn't actually in the manga at all (she's a side character in an OVA).
In regards to the actual plot, a lot of criticism were levelled against the film in regards to it mostly being sequel -bait, which is fair because the movie never 'finishes', it just finishes an arc. Everyone in the movie is a tool for Alita's story to proceed, rather than being a self contained story that cares about all the characters becoming better people - should the movie have treated the source material with more disregard by finishing this? or is this just a tool to get another movie. Who knows?
I don't really have a problem with the plot pacing, it makes sense, and it all works really well to me.
I've read a bit of the original plot arcs and the differences - such as Hugo wanting to go up the tube because he's strong enough rather than him trying to escape being killed (like in the movie), and i just think that was a much better change and I liked that a bit more.
source material aside, Kishiro really enjoys this movie and watched it a lot of times, so I think that's a success in itself. I think from what i've seen, the movie does actually improve on a lot of wasted plot points.
The movie? well, nobody doubts that James Cameron is an ambitious director. Avatar alone proved that he was able to take technology to make it a whole experience in itself, and this time he tried to make Alita, a 'photoreal' character in a real world. I don't have much of a problem with the technology/CGI/ WETA tech - this isn't really my expertise at all so I don't have much to say. On certain occasions though, it was clear that they had gotten someone else to play Alita, the facial expressions lack - I want to chalk this up to how good and realistic they are at tracking faces and overlaying another face on top of the actors, to the point that you can actually point out when the person has actually been replaced because the facial expressions don't look the same. All that said, the action and CGI work really well, and i liked it a lot.
My big problem is actually with the weird ratio of white/POC characters? I noticed Nurse Gerhad/Idara Victor, literally only has less than 10 lines despite constantly being present in most of the earlier scenes and being a pretty notable part of the origin/home aspects of Alita's backstory.
Additionally, every single POC ends up being silent and then compromised in most of the film? First, a black woman gets killed, then you've got the east asian motorball player who gets absolutely wrecked and then killed, you've got a silent 'master clive lee' who basically has ONE line, and Lana Condor being an important future character just gets one actual line which is - "why don't you like her", Mahershala Ali/Vector AND Tanji/Jorge Lenderborg Jr gets killed ON SCREEN, but Jennifer Connelly gets killed off screen.
It's just an unsettling experience in a 'multicultural' or 'international' city that literally every important character ends up being white or white presenting, and that a huge majority of those who are silent are POC, and that of the list of dead people, 80% of them are POC.
I found that a strange jarring experience, especially if you've made the effort to do 'inclusive' casting that POC are still the first to get knifed (again, looking at you XMEN FIRST CLASS)
regarding performances, I liked Rosa Salazar as alita, she has a really nice expressive voice that reminds me a bit of scarlett johannson in Her that cracks with just the right amount of ~emotion~ and credits to her for keeping on that full body suit for the CGI. despite not being the actual actor, i think she brought an interesting emotion to the character.
Keean johnson as Hugo though, an interesting pick? he's not a big name either, and his acting isn't necessarily awful, but there was something so generic and uninteresting about his version of hugo that i felt that he could have been played by anyone. he seems faltering in the role, like he's constantly lost, but he isn't that suave and captivating as alita seem to make him out to be - and in the moments he should be in control, he falls flat for me. i wish they'd even, maybe switched out ed skrein- partially because i think ed skrein has an interesting charisma about his personality, but mostly because i love ed skrein.
chrisoph waltz i've seen before in DJANGO UNCHAINED, so his role in this reminds me a lot of the bounty hunter role in DJANGO as well. I liked him in this role though, gives him a interesting european tinge in the internationalized iron city
Ed skrein and jackie earle haley are both really great in their role - they're good in these roles and it feels a smidge type cast-y, but it works and really well - so there's nothing i can fault about this.
I like Jennifer Connelly's physical presence in the film, while I think she was slightly wasted, her appearance was a really good and slightly intimidating aesthetic that reminds me a bit of Demi Moore in Charlies Angels Full Throttle - she knows what she wants, she knows what she's doing.
Mahershala Ali as Vector also has the same physical presence, the wardrobe department does a really good role in giving him such great suits, but he doesn't really get a chance to flex his acting chops here - there are moments they could have given him to shine but because the whole movie itself is one big plot to build up alita, everyone else is basically tossed to the side.
That aside
this movie is really popular as an action movie basically has a huge range of appeal , and the selling point of both james cameron and interesting camera work, is a great one.
alita opens in china with $62 million, and is doing relatively well (apparently), so we can stay hopeful for a sequel i imagine. but don't quote me on that.
Unfortunately, i've never actually read the manga (it's quite an old manga and on top of never reading manga, I've never been a huge fan of cyberpunk as a genre either) so I can't actually tell you how I feel about this as an adaptation from medium to medium. that said, there are very obvious plot points that they've twisted to suit the movie format better, and I actually really appreciate that they did so.
The original manga actually has a few endings, mostly due to Kishiro's health complications with the first series, before he created another sequel to amend the first ending which he wasn't happy with, but the movie doesn't come close to talking about these yet.
The movie includes characters that later become very important in the rest of the manga that previously haven't been touched upon like Lana Condor as Koyomi, and Ed Skrein (who is perfect for douche-y villain roles? Ajax was amazing) as Zapan, who also becomes more relevant later, but also Jennifer Connelly as Dr Chiren, who isn't actually in the manga at all (she's a side character in an OVA).
In regards to the actual plot, a lot of criticism were levelled against the film in regards to it mostly being sequel -bait, which is fair because the movie never 'finishes', it just finishes an arc. Everyone in the movie is a tool for Alita's story to proceed, rather than being a self contained story that cares about all the characters becoming better people - should the movie have treated the source material with more disregard by finishing this? or is this just a tool to get another movie. Who knows?
I don't really have a problem with the plot pacing, it makes sense, and it all works really well to me.
I've read a bit of the original plot arcs and the differences - such as Hugo wanting to go up the tube because he's strong enough rather than him trying to escape being killed (like in the movie), and i just think that was a much better change and I liked that a bit more.
source material aside, Kishiro really enjoys this movie and watched it a lot of times, so I think that's a success in itself. I think from what i've seen, the movie does actually improve on a lot of wasted plot points.
The movie? well, nobody doubts that James Cameron is an ambitious director. Avatar alone proved that he was able to take technology to make it a whole experience in itself, and this time he tried to make Alita, a 'photoreal' character in a real world. I don't have much of a problem with the technology/CGI/ WETA tech - this isn't really my expertise at all so I don't have much to say. On certain occasions though, it was clear that they had gotten someone else to play Alita, the facial expressions lack - I want to chalk this up to how good and realistic they are at tracking faces and overlaying another face on top of the actors, to the point that you can actually point out when the person has actually been replaced because the facial expressions don't look the same. All that said, the action and CGI work really well, and i liked it a lot.
My big problem is actually with the weird ratio of white/POC characters? I noticed Nurse Gerhad/Idara Victor, literally only has less than 10 lines despite constantly being present in most of the earlier scenes and being a pretty notable part of the origin/home aspects of Alita's backstory.
Additionally, every single POC ends up being silent and then compromised in most of the film? First, a black woman gets killed, then you've got the east asian motorball player who gets absolutely wrecked and then killed, you've got a silent 'master clive lee' who basically has ONE line, and Lana Condor being an important future character just gets one actual line which is - "why don't you like her", Mahershala Ali/Vector AND Tanji/Jorge Lenderborg Jr gets killed ON SCREEN, but Jennifer Connelly gets killed off screen.
It's just an unsettling experience in a 'multicultural' or 'international' city that literally every important character ends up being white or white presenting, and that a huge majority of those who are silent are POC, and that of the list of dead people, 80% of them are POC.
I found that a strange jarring experience, especially if you've made the effort to do 'inclusive' casting that POC are still the first to get knifed (again, looking at you XMEN FIRST CLASS)
regarding performances, I liked Rosa Salazar as alita, she has a really nice expressive voice that reminds me a bit of scarlett johannson in Her that cracks with just the right amount of ~emotion~ and credits to her for keeping on that full body suit for the CGI. despite not being the actual actor, i think she brought an interesting emotion to the character.
Keean johnson as Hugo though, an interesting pick? he's not a big name either, and his acting isn't necessarily awful, but there was something so generic and uninteresting about his version of hugo that i felt that he could have been played by anyone. he seems faltering in the role, like he's constantly lost, but he isn't that suave and captivating as alita seem to make him out to be - and in the moments he should be in control, he falls flat for me. i wish they'd even, maybe switched out ed skrein- partially because i think ed skrein has an interesting charisma about his personality, but mostly because i love ed skrein.
chrisoph waltz i've seen before in DJANGO UNCHAINED, so his role in this reminds me a lot of the bounty hunter role in DJANGO as well. I liked him in this role though, gives him a interesting european tinge in the internationalized iron city
Ed skrein and jackie earle haley are both really great in their role - they're good in these roles and it feels a smidge type cast-y, but it works and really well - so there's nothing i can fault about this.
I like Jennifer Connelly's physical presence in the film, while I think she was slightly wasted, her appearance was a really good and slightly intimidating aesthetic that reminds me a bit of Demi Moore in Charlies Angels Full Throttle - she knows what she wants, she knows what she's doing.
Mahershala Ali as Vector also has the same physical presence, the wardrobe department does a really good role in giving him such great suits, but he doesn't really get a chance to flex his acting chops here - there are moments they could have given him to shine but because the whole movie itself is one big plot to build up alita, everyone else is basically tossed to the side.
That aside
this movie is really popular as an action movie basically has a huge range of appeal , and the selling point of both james cameron and interesting camera work, is a great one.
alita opens in china with $62 million, and is doing relatively well (apparently), so we can stay hopeful for a sequel i imagine. but don't quote me on that.
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