Alita: Battle Angel. An interesting film if there was ever one. It’s got the tradition novel feel to it, with a lost girl finding true love, and then figuring out she’s a bad*** fighter. This movie had a lot of interesting and unique traits to it, but it also had predictable parts to it as well. The movie had a fun feel to it, but how good was it really?
Before we start, I would like to say this movie surprised me. I watched this movie because a friend said it was good. I wasn’t even sure if I would go watch, but we decided to go, and I have to say that I’m glad I did.
It wasn’t that I was expecting it to be bad. To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never seen a trailer for it, and hadn’t read the book. I was going blindly, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be as good as my friend said it was. I’m glad to say it was pretty good. Let’s talk about it.
Warning SPOILERS up ahead!
Movie Review
If there is one thing about this movie I liked, it’s how beautiful it is. This movie is visually stunning. From viewing Zalem in the gorgeous sky to Alita’s amazing battle performances, I was shocked by the detail and work that this movie’s crew put into this production.
When you start from the beginning and Alita has just been rebuilt, it’s fun/thrilling watching her figuring out how everything works. From biting straight into an orange to watching her admire the Motorball, this movie does a fantastic job putting you into her shoes. You begin to fantasize with Alita as she learns all the wonders of Iron City. Alita’s character development was executed fantastically. She relearning everything, and I’m glad to say that they didn’t make it too cheesy.
When you first meet Alita, you know(just from the movie title alone) that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to her. You learn that she has this instinctive fighter’s instinct built into her. A good example is when she saves the puppy from being trampled or when she saves Ido from the bounty hunters. She has a skill that you don’t want to mess with. I was very impressed on the structure of the movie as well. They created all of the scenes in an easy to understand manner, but still made it a guessing game for you. Having Alita regain her memories in the fashion that she did was also well executed. They gave enough background story of Alita to satisfy you, but you still wanted more.
Now, I’ve already mentioned that the visual effects and the CGI of this movie were pretty good. Of course there is always room for improvement. I thought the CGI of the cyborgs were impressive, but I thought the animation on Zapan’s character was a little overdone. Having is entire body except for the face as a machine was a little much for me. It seemed to be going overboard, but it worked. His character was an annoying little prick, but I’ve got to say he was a great character for the movie. Especially the part, where his fact got cut off.
This movie had several parts that I was impressed with, and of course we can’t do this movie review without talking about the Motorball fight scene. This scene is brilliant because of the camera work. The way the camera was floating around this fight scene was epic. I also felt like this scene really shaped Alita as a person. Before she was trying to figure out who she really was, and during this fight not only does she achieve this goal, but creates an epic battle against seven cyborgs as well. One of my favorite parts of this scene, is when Ido is getting her ready for battle, and he tells her to try not to kill anyone, and when he realizes that they’re all hired to kill her, that he tells her to kill EVERYONE. It’s a funny change of character for the doctor/bounty hunter. It let me enjoy the character more in a funny way.
As there are good parts in this movie, there are also bad parts as well. Every main character in a movie like this has his/her up and down moments. For Alita, this was Hugo. Some people may like Hugo’s character, but I didn’t. I found him as the traditional boyfriend for a girl who has no idea for who she is. They meet one day, fall in love the next. Within a week she’s willing to run away with him, acting like it’s true love. I personally find this situation in movies annoying and cliche.
Having a character who’s soul purpose is to create emotional drama for the main character is not a smart move. It pulls the audience out of the movie and into an emotion state that no one enjoys, and this isn’t just for Alita: Battle Angel, but for all movies. It’s good to create an emotional state if you care about the characters. Alita is unique, and therefore we enjoy her, but Hugo (as I said earlier) is your typical boyfriend. He creates an emotional bond with the main character, turns out he’s a bad guy with a good heart, main character finds out about it and feels betrayed, but eventually gets over it and either two things happen: 1) They live together happily ever after 2) or they kill off the boyfriend. In Alita, they killed the boyfriend. Although I didn’t like Hugo or the drama he created, I did enjoy the movie enough to where it didn’t affect me too much.
Things That Surprised Me
Now, there were several things that caught me off guard in this movie. One of them being that Alita became a bounty hunter. This was a genius move. Not only does it make sense, but it givers her a new personality. Plus, it shows the audience where this story line is heading. When she shows up in the bar, and starts ticking everyone off, I was excited. This was a character who was going to do whatever it takes to get the job done. This gave her the personality as an amazing, bad***, unstoppable force.
Another part of this movie that caught me off guard, was the fact that she killed Vector. This was a scene that I also enjoyed. It took me a reason to realize Vector was being controlled by Nova. When I realized this, it made more sense for Alita killing Vector. He’s just a pawn. This scene was fun and exciting. I also loved how freaked out Vector was when she killed Grewishka.
The last big surprise was that Grewishka…killed…the…PUPPY! I was so sad when he killed that little dog. It was so adorable and he just killed it without a second thought. Although this was a tragic part of the story, I was very happy when the bounty hunter with all the robotic dogs started attacking Grewishka because he killed his puppy.
Overall Thoughts
I’m excited/hoping for a sequel. This movie was a surprise enjoyment, and I hope to see more of it in the future. Watching this movie play out was a new experience, and we need new and creative movies. Right now, a lot of movies are either remakes, sequels, or stupid. It seems like the film industry is running low on interesting ideas. That’s why when something unique like Alita comes along, we should embrace it. There’s always new ideas, and we shouldn’t be afraid to make awesome movies out of them.
Well, that’s my review on Alita: Battle Angel. This movie was a great one and I would definitely watch it again. I hope the sequels are just as thrilling and marvelous as this movie is. Until next time!
Jmanthoughts 