Alita: Battle Angel

[Shradow 38]

So the movie's been out a couple weeks and I was wondering if anyone else had seen it and would like to discuss it. I read the manga and really loved it, and personally I thought this adaption was really great (which seems to be the general consensus, critics were mixed about it but audience reception seems incredibly positive).

My thoughts:

Spoiler

The whole movie looked really good, during the first trailer Alita's big eyes threw me off but I got used to it the day after and seeing the whole movie it was not an issue at all. All the different cyborg designs were cool.

Really great action. The manga's always had really good action and they definitely managed to deliver, even if the gore/violence was toned down some from the manga.

Pacing was weird at times, but they managed to adapt I think 4 volumes of the manga into this movie and still have everything make sense which is solid. The only specific scene that felt odd to me off the top of my head was when Alita was trying to rally the other hunter warriors to fight Grewishka, the tone of that dialogue seemed to come out of nowhere.

Obviously there were changes, though I found it interesting that some things were adapted from the OVA as well as the manga. For example, Grewishka is very similar to the villain Grewcica from the OVA, as opposed to the character Makaku who serves a similar role but we get a lot more depth on in the manga. Cherin was also only from the OVA. The integration of motorball into this part of the story was most likely done to include more cool action, but it didn't really mess up the story any so it's fine, plus we got to see a cameo of Jashugan (one of my favorite characters in the manga), though I feel like the actor they got for him doesn't really fit his distinct look. Alita herself finding the Berseker body was a neat scene, in the manga iirc Ido just already had it from a crashed ship he'd found in the past or something and he just like pulled it from the basement or something when Alita needed it. Nova being able to control people from Zalem was interesting, it surprised me that he was brought up so early.

My big worry is that Nova is going to just be a straight up villain that needs to be defeated in any sequel movies. Going into manga territory some, he's a very eccentric scientist who sticks around for a long time, sometimes as Alita's enemy and sometimes as her ally. I worry they might waste Nova's character like they did Vector's. In the manga Vector is a shady businessman but not an outright villain, and Alita doesn't kill him off and he instead is recurring as well.

Though speaking of recurring characters I can't wait to see more of Zapan, he'll definitely show up later. They did the face slicing off and everything.

The ending was largely perfect. Hugo trying to scale the pipe to Zalem, getting all chopped up, and then Alita running away to motorball. It's set up very well for the next arc assuming we get a sequel. Can't wait for Jashugan.

Overall I'd give it ~8/10.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Shradow