THE first thing that will hook viewers is the sheer scale of this epic sci-fi adventure which involves massive world-building. There’s certainly lots to take in visually. The amount of detail is astounding and it’s easy to get lost in this post-apocalyptic scrapyard world set mainly in a place called Iron City in the far off post-war future.
The gritty streets, punctuated by dusty clusters of old buildings, more modern structures and worn vehicles, are steeped with a melting pot of varied inhabitants. All this showcases the hard knock life of the dense populace on the ground. Many of the inhabitants have machine parts and cyborg people are the norm.
Hovering above the mess of a city is a haven in the skies called Zalem, where the apparently unseen privileged society dwell. The garbage from above gets dumped onto the ground and Iron City provides the various raw materials and processing for the people upstairs, linked by an array of giant transport tubes.
Then there’s the crazy extreme sport called Motorball that entertains the oppressed masses in the city. A combination of gladiatorial, death race, roller derby, survival and enhanced cyborg elements on rollerblades with an iron ball, all played at hyper velocity, it is an awesome sight to behold.
This movie is based on the popular cyberpunk Japanese manga Gunnm (known as Battle Angel Alita in the US) by Yukito Kishiro from 1990, a long-spanning comic book series — nine volumes long (not including the 19-volume follow up title, The Last Order, and the ongoing Mars Chronicle).
Alita: Battle Angel takes its inspiration from the first four volumes and was first developed by Hollywood powerhouse filmmaker James Cameron (of Terminator, Aliens, Titanic and Avatar fame) way back in 2005. Cameron later passed it on to director Robert Rodriguez who took on his 600-page treatment and had to trim it down to a two-hour movie.
With the enormous task of realising this monumental work with a close to USD200 million (about RM816 million) budget, the result is arguably Rodriguez’s best work since his other comic book adaptation film, Sin City, in 2005.
It is certainly a dynamic and visual feast of action and well executed effects sequences, which just begs to be watched on the biggest screen, in this case Imax, and in 3D as well (it really complements the action onscreen and intensifies the experience, instead of just being a gimmicky cash-grab).
Alita: Battle Angel (apparently the title was set way back when Cameron was at the helm since his movies only begin with the letters A or T) follows the story of the titular character (played via motion capture by Rosa Salazar). She’s basically a human brain in a disembodied machine body that cyborg medical expert Dr Ido (Christoph Waltz) finds at a junk yard while looking for spare parts for his clinic.
He revives her and gives her a new body and names her Alita since she has amnesia. But as she starts to relive her life, she slowly discovers her extraordinary life and some deadly things about herself as well. Eventually she’ll become a Hunter-Warrior who is paid to track down and kill criminals and a Motorball star. Along the way, Alita also finds love with a local street rat Hugo (Keean Johnson).
Fans of the manga and subsequent anime will most probably enjoy this movie the most, since it is a faithful recreation of the source material and features great vistas and well-made action sequences. Alita: Battle Angel has great cinematography by Bill Pope, who worked on the The Wachowskis’ Matrix trilogy and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.
Dutch composer and DJ Tom Holkenborg, a.k.a. Junkie XL, who did the theme song for the Wonder Woman movie as well as the score for Mad Max: Fury Road, also provides rousing and driving music to accompany the spectacular visuals.
Unfortunately, with the calibre of the cast on tap, some are actually wasted, especially Jennifer Connelly, as Ido’s estranged wife, and Mahershala Ali, as a shady businessman, black market dealer and Motorball stakeholder. The love story portion of the movie also came off as quite melodramatic and cheesy and could have been toned down.
Alita does come off as too much of a bubbly Disney princess, at times, and the more serious nature of life and the events happening in the movie are not really explored further, like the societal haves and have-nots.
Those who are not well acquainted with the source material might also not get what the big deal is about this movie, which takes its time to introduce the world of Alita and its many characters that don’t get much backstories.
Then there’s the part where the movie builds up but then ends and leaves viewers wanting more, since it is certainly structured with sequels in mind, which is not surprising considering the colossal narrative length of the original story.
The computer generated images of Alita as performed by Salazar is impressive though and a breakthrough for photo-realistic special effects. Don’t let all the negative talk about Alita’s “big creepy eyes” dissuade you from catching this.
Bottom line, Atila: Battle Angel is a stunning piece of epic filmmaking that deserves to be seen on the big screen, even if its heart and emotions only shine through in glimpses.
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ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Starring Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson
Duration 122 minutes
Rating P13