Review of Alita: Battle Angel (2019) by Jas_Car — 14 Feb 2019

I would like to offer my spoiler-free thoughts on Alita:Battle Angel for both those new to the franchise and fans of the source material (as I have been for 24 years).

The film centres around cyborg Alita, discovered as a discarded head & torso with amnesia, who starts having glimpses of her past life when her combat potential is awakened.

First appearing in the 1990 manga/comic, this version of the story more closely follows the 1993 anime (therefore is a new retelling of the old retelling of the original story) with elements from later comic story arcs added for spectacle.

Back then, Alita's genesis story and world were fresh and groundbreaking but, In the decades since, other writers and producers have used similar themes, concepts and imagery, a lot of which are now commonplace in sci-fi. Some have perhaps even been influenced by the original work (2013's 'Elysium' springs to mind). Thus, newcomers may not find too much here that separates this film from the dystopian sci-fi crowd.

Personally, having read the ongoing manga graphic novels since 1995, it is with this background I judge the 2019 film.

While I prefer the original manga story over the anime version this is based on, Alita:BA excels in expanding it into a modern cinematic blockbuster, handling most of the source material with respect. However, the film also brings with it some of the problematic pacing, narrative and character writing found in the anime, which are more obvious now that everything has been scaled up for this version (and adds some of it's own).

It succeeds in translating the world and action to the big screen even better than I had hoped (I watched it on a 3D IMAX screen and the film looked consistently spectacular). The central character is very well portrayed, acted and realised, and there is greater focus here than before on her growth and development from being child-like to more adult as she tries to discover her place in the universe.

There are plenty of nods and references to the graphic novels, some work well while others seem a bit forced or taken out of their original context. Fans of the manga would notice and really appreciate many of the inclusions and homages.

Taken in isolation, I believe the film is enjoyable and reasonably accessible to newcomers, but suffers from cramming too much into an origin story and treading familiar ground. From that viewpoint I would give it a 6/10.

However, as a fan familiar with the context of this movie and it's origin, it turned out far better than I expected it to. The love that the production team has for the project is there for all to see and I was engaged and entertained throughout. The production values were mesmerising; within 1 hour of the film ending I bought the "art/making of" book, I'm not usually that quick to do so! As such, I would give an 8.

Having been aware that this film had been in stuck in development for nearly 20 years, I am extremely pleased that it has finally been made. However, I fear that the timing of it's release is perhaps too late to truly capture the imagination of modern audiences or cement itself a unique place in sci-fi history, unlike it's 30 year old manga counterpart.

For these reasons, I'm settling on a 7.