Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Review

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I did anything major with this blog; and I am still formally retired from doing recaps. Though, I have been wanting to do these experiments for some time; so this post and the next will be some live-action reviews of recent anime-related movie adaptations. So, as the first, I present my full review of "Alita: Battle Angel." Based on Yukito Kishiro's groundbreaking source material, this movie may not be a total disaster like I was worried about it being; but it's also not the masterpiece many others have held it up as. So, let's open it up.

We open on the year 2563, about 300 years after an event known as "the Fall." Dr. Dyson Ido (Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz) is searching through some ruins when he discovers the intact head and brain of a discarded android. One side note before I continue: it seems that the 20th Century Fox logo turns into one for "26th Century Fox" at the start; though if they were really trying to predict the future; they could have just put a pair of Mickey Mouse ears on it.

"Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: a war against the machines."

Ido then takes the head and brain to his lab, which specializes in cybernetic enhancements. He is able to place them in a new body, who is thereby dubbed "Alita" (Rosa Salazar). I will also get this out out of the way about the eyes: even with the VFX being redesigned, there's just something very off to me about the CGI androids in this movie. The android parts still look all right, but it's the human parts that definitely straddle the uncanny valley for me. This also isn't the only time they've had to redo CGI characters in recent memory either, but here are some screencaps to compare and contrast.

Initial design from teaser trailer.

Final design from finished film.

Alita then gets dressed in an outfit that was left for her, and this leads to a scene where she eats an orange with the peel still on it in view of Ido and his assistant Nurse Gerhad (Idara Victor); before Ido shows how to do it correctly. Neglecting how this scene and Gerhad weren't in the source (in fact, it as basically only Ido and the occasional helper on hand), this essentially has the same effect as the spinach scene in AI. This won't be the only time other movies with a similar premise come up in this review either, especially given the people involved with this one.

Alita then runs outside of Ido's lab, where she is in awe of the setting of Iron City. This practical set, which was built with the combined efforts of New Zealand's WETA Workshop and director Robert Rodriguez at Troublemaker Studios; is actually one of the most visually-interesting things about the movie; even with varying degrees of cybernetic enhancements. One of them is this street performer playing a double guitar with his robotic arms (Iba Thiam), and given what I'm about to tell you; I'd actually be more interested in seeing a movie about him.

Then, at roughly 10 minutes in; when Alita meets a dog by a taco truck (which will apparently still be around in the 26th century), she takes a fighting stance against a walking tank called a "Centurion" (not uncommon, I admit); and she discovers that she apparently has knowledge of a lost martial art known as "Panzer Kunst," literally "Armored Art" in German. No, the film never explains that; not even in a later scene with Ido. Especially strange as Christoph Waltz is German. This also draws the attention of a young man named Hugo (Keean Johnson) and ends up getting caught up in his dealings.

"Your foster parents are kind of dicks, huh?"

Another character she comes across is Dr. Chiren (Jennifer Connelly, lovely as always), who apparently used to be married to Ido; and Alita is using a body meant for their late daughter. (sighs) I will address this further when the time comes, but for now; I shall point out as others have that the kid didn't even exist in the original manga. Ido and Chiren weren't even married at all: they were just colleagues, because heaven forbid a relationship in a dystopian YA sci-fi film be purely professional.

Alita and Chiren meet in Iron City.

As Ido and Chiren talk nearby, their daughter's death was not the only reason why they separated: they both had different ideas about how they wanted to use their knowledge of machines, which was the primary reason from the manga and the 1993 OVA (which adapted the first two volumes that were published at the time) that Ido chose to help the less fortunate in Iron City; and Chiren continued her work in the city of Zalem. One minor change before I address some major ones: while in the manga and the OVA, Chiren crushes her cigarette out on an insect; she just does it with her hand in the movie, since she doesn't smoke here. As an aside, seeing Connelly in this setting just makes me wish I was watching Dark City again instead.

"Good morning Dr. Silverman. How's the knee?" "Fine, Sarah." (Beat) "She, uh, stabbed me in the kneecap with my pen last week."

Chiren then goes back to her new husband, and moreso, her boss; Vector (Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali). I will address how the movie alters his character as I go on, but I will say for now that the actor at least understands what kind of movie he's in; and his performance is an example of that. He's a much more complex character in the manga, but it's a common course of action when an actor is given a script they deem beneath them.

Vector watching from a distance.

Then, at the 17 minute mark; we get one of the more notable changes from the original: the film places a much greater emphasis on the sport of Motorball (a sort of mixture of roller derby and rugby). While some didn't mind this, I actually feel that it actually did more to hinder the story than help it. The film adapts the first four of the nine volumes of the manga, and it shows with how I'm once again trying to reconcile hundreds of pages of material in a single 123-minute movie. It also doesn't help that it's giving me flashbacks to The Maze Runner; a book and film series that I'm not a fan of at all. It's also an introduction to Hugo's colleague Tanji (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) and Koyomi (Lana Condor). The latter wouldn't appear in the manga until way later, so this is another example of a movie trying to set up a sequel before the first one is even out. More on that later, since this Motorball scrimmage actually starts out with Alita falling on her back a couple times before she starts getting the hang of it. This will become fairly ridiculous later, especially since the movie tries to play this straight rather than go all in the material. Instead, the movie tries to play things realistically even though we've already gone full Wile E. Coyote at just 17 minutes in.

After that, we get a scene where Alita and Hugo are supposedly falling in love; even though there really isn't a whole lot of chemistry between the two actors at all. Also, once again; heaven forbid we have a relationship in a YA dystopian sci-fi film that's merely platonic. They weren't dating in the manga or the OVA, they were just good friends. This is especially problematic for the denouement; and we'll get to that when the time comes.

The movie also significantly alters many characters' justification for being bounty hunters; or "Hunter-Warriors:" some of this is probably due to how differently Japan and the US view bounty hunters; but most of it is purely creative license. While the source material basically portrays them as peacekeepers doing what they can to survive (since there are no police or guns in Iron City), here; they're much more morally-ambiguous. Not a bad idea, but it's marred by uneven execution. Case in point: while Zapan (Ed Skrein, seemingly playing straight the archetype he was spoofing in Deadpool) isn't that different from the original, Ido's justification is significantly changed; rocket hammer be damned.

On that note, we get the fight in the alley with Romo (Derek Mears) and Nyssiana (Eiza Gonzalez); both androids that are in league with Grewishka (Jackie Earle Haley); which is how the movie is Romanizing the character of Grewcica; I guess. The action scene is all right, but it's actually an example of how I have mixed feelings toward the movie rather than seeing it a step forward for live-action anime/manga adaptations. Don't get me wrong: it's clear that every bit of the $170 million budget is on the screen here; but I never really got into it the same way others did. Even as an admitted fan of the original source, I felt the film focused way too much on the action and not enough on the story and characters. It's an all right film; but the progression of the characters never really felt natural; and the script apparently had drafts ranging from 200 to 600 pages before it was trimmed down, and it shows. These flashback scenes with Alita fighting alongside her mentor Gelda (an uncredited Michelle Rodriguez) actually would make a more interesting movie than the one we actually ended up getting; to be blunt.

Back in Ido's lab, we get the movie's origin of Alita's namesake: the name and her android body originally belonged to Ido's late daughter (Emma Lindsey); who was a paraplegic that was kidnapped and killed by a "jacked" Motorball player named Amok (Casper Van Dien, the movie's words, not mine). Obviously, I'm not really a fan of this kind of subtext; and this whole plot thread didn't exist in the original: the name actually came from Ido's cat. As mentioned before, the girl didn't exist in the original; and Ido never even married. I am not against making changes for an adaptation, but changes of this nature don't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Alita looks over a picture of Ido's late daughter.

Later on, at one of many Motorball scenes in the movie; we see the reigning Champion; Jashugan (an uncredited Jai Courtney, conveying fewer emotions than his role in Terminator Genisys) as Hugo exposits to Alita that the "final Champion" can go to the city of Zalem. To be honest, there's enough material in this plot thread to make a movie of its own; or even a TV series, but trying to wedge it into this movie did not do the pacing any favors at all. It's basically like cramming the appendices of The Lord of the Rings into the entirety of the Prancing Pony scene.

"On your feet, soldier!"

I mean, honestly: right after this, another player ends up being gutted for parts on the street; so said parts can be added to Grewishka as upgrades. Also, while Hugo's involvement is changed with the intent of making it seem more morally-ambiguous; the film ironically gives off the opposite effect of making his character less complex because of the execution. Yet, the dynamic with him and his associate Tanji isn't that different; it ends up making less sense because of how there isn't as much time for their dynamic to develop. That's the major problem I have with this movie: there's so much packed into every scene, there's barely any time for the viewer to breathe and absorb the impact of what's shown before the next one. While the visuals are at least good at a purely surface level, there's not as much of the subtle nuances from the source that helped make it so memorable to me. It's not that I think these characters are bad or the story totally disregards the one from the source (especially compared to other adaptations I've seen and covered here), I just find everything kind of dull. It's easy for me to write about an adaptation that's great or terrible; it's a bit tougher when it's OK. Admittedly, part of me also has mixed feelings about the movie because both Cameron and Rodriguez are filmmakers I find fascinating and are clearly passionate about the project.

Then, at about 40 minutes in or so; we see Alita; Hugo, Tanji and Koyomi go find a crashed warship from "the Fall", and Alita is the only who can reach the control deck; which is underwater. How convenient, as is how she can work the controls to unlock a new "Berserker" android body. As for how she knows how to do this but not who she is: hold that thought until the next review.

"It was smashed, it didn't work, but it taught us things."

Alita brings the body back to Ido's lab, and after a rather strange argument; Alita decides she wants to become a Hunter-Warrior. I do at least give the filmmakers credit of including this robotic head from the source, and the overall commitment of trying to include as much iconography from the manga and OVAs by their own admission. However, in an adaptation; where you made so many changes to the story and characters already, why leave that in? If that's the kind of thing you'd leave in, why not just save the Motorball subplot for later and have her decide to be a Hunter-Warrior earlier in the movie? That's my main issue with the pacing: there's so much going on that there's enough material for several movies; or even a TV series in just this one; so it feels kind of rushed and often underdeveloped.

I digress: after meeting up with Hugo and the dog from earlier, Alita then goes to a local tavern known as "Kansas" for information. You know, one of my associates named Jim Gisriel compared this movie to the first Donner Superman in terms of story structure. However, while that film at least had some semblance of how Clark was discovering his powers and stakes that made sense for the story, this scene of Alita accosting some of the other androids for leads about the people going missing and getting killed just feels kind of awkward to me. I can tell that the people involved with filming this scene understood its appeal from the source; but didn't really understand why or how to make it appeal to others. Even characters like McTeague (Jeff Fahey) or Master Clive Lee (Rick Yune) just feel like glorified set dressings to me. Even with the former's robotic dogs and the latter's 207 confirmed kills, it bears repeating that introducing a character or concept is not the same as establishing them. Sure, they're telegraphing Zapan's weapon; the "Damascus Blade" very hard; but he's really less of the character he was in the manga and more of a cartoon supervillain that Ed Skrein lampooned in Deadpool, as I mentioned before.


Seriously, this whole bit with Alita talking to a pair of barflies about what's happening just feels so strange; and a key reason why I don't think we’re ready for fully-CGI human characters just yet. On top of this, Rosa Salazar's performance comes off less like this generation's Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley or even Neytiri and more like the B-reel from those Maze Runner movies that I didn't care for at all.

"Can't let you take the man's wheels, son. Now get off before I put you down."

This leads into a bar brawl that I guess is all right, though I admit there is a vast difference in me watching this film Rodriguez made with $170 million and watching his $7,000 directorial debut with El Mariachi. The action in that film had this coarse, unrefined and raw energy to it that made it impressive that it was such an entertaining film on as modest a budget you can imagine. Here, it feels like I misplaced my Playstation controller and I walked in on someone playing a Tekken bonus game.

Ido enters the bar, and Grewishka comes in with his upgrades. Though I admit killing the dog is an easy way to get viewers against the villain (in anything from John Wick to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure); what follows next is just something I could never understand the appeal of: Alita then proceeds to use the dog blood as makeup/warpaint (something that was in close to every promotion I could see), declaring, "I will not stand by in the presence of evil." ... No disrespect intended, but did anyone actually read this out loud before it was filmed, edited and included in the final product? Regrettably, as Grewishka crashes through the floor; that's not the only clunky dialogue either. We're barely halfway through this, folks.

As Alita follows Grewishka into the next action set piece, Grewishka taunts her by saying, "Welcome to the underworld, my world, from here there are worlds upon worlds above worlds; it's where I used to live." On top of being a big case for why we have script doctors, I guess that deadline came from the department of redundancy department. For contrast, THIS is what he said in the manga.

Notice the difference? I personally think that would have fit the setting better; and made the character more threatening. To be fair, the ensuing action scene is competent; and it's clear that even if the story and character hurdles still have a way to go, that this is at least a significant step forward on a purely technical level. The film took two editors (Stephen A. Rivkin and Ian Silverstein) as well as acclaimed cinematographer Bill Pope (whose credits include The Matrix, Scott Pilgrim VS The World and Spider-Man 2) to get this onscreen. Still, the fight does get busy; especially as it's intercut with another flashback involving Alita sparring with Gelda; as well as a brief flash of Nova (Edward Norton, who thankfully doesn't have any awkward; vaguely-YA lines to spout). I will address this later; but to me at least, this would be like if you had a cameo from Thanos halfway through the first Iron Man.

"The future, which had once been so clear to me, had now become like a black highway at night..."

After Alita's body is torn up by Grewishka's "grind cutters," the latter asks if she wants to beg for mercy. She responds by breaking off her arm in Grewishka's eye; ending the fight on the line "Fuck your mercy!" ... Well, there's your PG-13; fellas. Hope all the teenagers that saw this enjoyed that. Personally, I'd be more interested if this was R-rated and closer to the original story.

Anyway, Grewishka slips away licking his wounds to Vector and Chiren; and since Alita's first body has been destroyed, Ido decides to integrate her with the Berserker body. While many people have criticized the innuendo of this sequence, I again submit it's actually less suggestive than the original because of the PG-13; and the body doesn't show her "naughty bits." I personally find it odder that while she doesn't smoke, she has a light anytime she wants one.

Alita in her "Berserker" body.

Elsewhere, while Grewishka is getting more repairs done; he wants to have the scars left alone; as reminders. I mean, Watchmen, the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street; now this movie? What is it about Jackie Earle Haley and having his face messed up?

So, Alita ventures off into Iron City and regroups with Hugo; and even as he admires her new body; there's just something off-putting about this casting. If they had developed their relationship more, maybe I'd feel differently. As it stands, there's so little chemistry between them that not even Walter White could find it.

"We're not gonna make it, are we?"

This whole subplot with her artificial heart is also pretty ridiculous, as is its payoff. I dealt with a lot before I stopped doing this on a regular basis; and while it's not the worst deus ex machina I've talked about; the Honest Trailer for this movie put it succinctly when they referred to it as "the Heart of a MacGuffin."

I guess a sample of Unobtanium would have been too subtle.

Now, we get to the much-ballyhooed final Motorball sequence; where Alita takes part in her first qualifying match, taking up the number 99. You know, part of me would have liked to have seen her actually learning to hone her skills and master them. Instead, this absurdity is just tossed at me with a little over 30 minutes left.

Alita preps for her Motorball match.

In the adjoining locker rooms, Vector offers the other competitors 500,000 to "kill the girl called Alita." I once again point out that while Vector wasn't just some Motorball fixer/gangster in the source; that Ali at least understands what kind of movie he signed up for, and makes the most of what he's given. Since he's also going to be in this reboot of Blade, at least I know that the sunglasses and black outfit will be ideal to take up Wesley Snipes' mantle. Just give him the Daywalker blades, and I'm sold.

Right before the match, Hugo gets caught up with Tanji; and on top of being setup with killing an android by Zapan; Zapan then stabs Hugo in the shoulder and cuts Tanji in half. While that sounds brutal, to be honest; the lack of an impact on me as a viewer has less to do with being desensitized and more with how the movie is trying to cram hundreds of pages of story into the last half-hour of a single 123-minute film. It just feels so underdeveloped and underwhelming, especially given how much I like the source material. This extends to the Motorball subplot: the movie doesn't include what I really enjoyed about that story. While it's admittedly an impressive sport, the manga prominently features Alita learning under a coach that couldn't play anymore because of an injury he suffered. He wanted to pass on what he knew before he died (which he did before that thread was resolved), and the story ultimately makes the sport a critique of the futility of competitive violence. The movie naturally features none of this, and what it does feature is something that I've been resisting talking about for a long time.

I will say that as with the majority of the film's sets, the Motorball arena itself is actually pretty great from a technical point of view. The film featured two production designers that worked with Rodriguez before (Steve Joyner and Caylah Eddleblute), so despite what I'm about to say; it's clear that quite a bit of work was invested in making things look good onscreen. On that note, as Vector picks up a drink while Alita takes the stage; it's clear to me that Mahershala Ali was probably the actor most self-aware about the kind of movie he signed up for. He has this way of making a buffet of the scenery that I feel is sorely missing from most of the other cast members. He may not have the same characteristics he did in the manga, but he's the only actor I can honestly say understood what he signed up for completely.

Vector observing the Motorball match.

As Alita joins a gaggle of androids that look like they got lost on their way to the "Flesh Fair" from AI, Ido realizes that they're a group of "Hunter-Warriors" that were sent to put a hit on Alita! He warns her over the phone (somehow), but Alita decides to go through the qualifying round anyway! That's actually the LEAST ridiculous thing about this sequence, as are these androids that aren't doing any favors by reminding me of IGPX. The ball is launched, and the qualifying round begins! I once again remind you all that when she started, Alita could barely work the throttle without falling on her back. Now she's rolling around and smashing the other androids like she's the offspring of the Terminatrix and Brian Boitano! Honestly, it has all the visual cohesion of some kid smashing all the action figures in their toy box together; if the action figures cost $170 million. Again, it would have been nice to see her learning how to do this; but instead it's dumped on your lap with roughly 30 minutes left.

So, rather than being impressed by the spectacle on display; this just goes back to the two major questions I kept asking myself, even right now: when the visuals looked over the top, I asked "Why not make the whole movie animated?" When they looked realistic, I asked "Why not use makeup and practical special effects for Alita and the other androids?" Given how these questions were never answered in any definitive manner, I didn't go to the movie. They bet $10 on me, and they lost. I will say that the music in this sequence is good, as it is with most of the movie. Tom "Junkie XL" Holkenborg (Mad Max Fury Road, Deadpool, and several DCEU films) definitely did a good job with combining orchestral music and modern electronic sounds; and the "Motorball" cue is probably the best example of that.

Alita then gets a call from Hugo about Tanji's death; and I'm honestly surprised how Hugo can outrun Zapan after being stabbed as well as make it to an old cathedral without bleeding out. Alita then crashes through the jumbotron of the stadium and leads the androids on a chase as she tries to get to Hugo before Zapan; with her would-be assailants getting killed one by one. That's basically the cliff notes of that scene: I could barely tell what was going on watching this on my iPad; there's no way I would have been able to make heads or tails of this in theaters.

Alita makes it to the church right before Zapan does, but Zapan is able to mortally wound Hugo as several Centurions surround the building! I know this is supposed to be a dramatic scene, but it's hard for me to get invested when the tone has basically been turned 180 degrees from the source material. It doesn't have to be 1:1 conversion, but when all I can see are a couple actors in mo-cap suits; it makes well-developed characters and a coherent script that much more vital. 

Now, as Chiren realizes what Vector has wrought; we get the payoff of Alita's heart: Alita is able to trick the Centurions into thinking that she's finished off Hugo so she can claim the price on his head. Zapan realizes what's happened, but it's too late; as by "Factory Law," she can defend her catch, which she does so by cutting off Zapan's face with his own Damascus Blade! Not exactly Nicolas Cage or John Travolta; but it works fine. Telegraphed as all get-out, but whatever helps end this is okay with me at this point.

Hugo is also given a makeshift android body to keep him alive; which leads to Alita staging an assault on Vector! This denouement is relatively close to the original 1993 OVA; with some notable differences that I will inevitably address.

"Human Casualties: 0.0"

Alita confronts Vector in his office, crashing through the skylight; and while she's made short work of the Centurions and the robotic head I mentioned before; there's still one last fight with Grewishka to go! As she's hit in the rib with his "grind-cutters", we get one last flashback of her and Gelda during "the Fall", with her mission being to go after Zalem and its leader, Nova! ... That actually would be a more interesting movie than the one I'm talking about; and I will address this in my final thoughts.

So, Alita's wound heals in the most literal example of plot armor I've seen in a while; and she not only cuts off Grewishka's grind-cutters, she cuts him in half a la Kung Lao!

Alita wins! FATALITY!

Alita then accosts Vector, who has really been under the control of Nova all along; and runs him through with the with the Damascus Blade! As he lays dying on the floor of his office, she chastises him that it was a mistake to underestimate her. They are telegraphing this sequel hook so hard, and I will also be addressing this in my final thoughts.

"Men like you invented the Hydrogen bomb, men like you thought it up. You don't know what it's like to really create something, to create a life and feel it growing inside you; all you can create is death and destruction."

So, we get the whole sequence of Hugo trying to climb up to Zalem before he's cut apart by their defenses; and Alita tries to save him and fails. While I do give the filmmakers credit for trying to recreate the scene from a purely surface level at least; it just doesn't have the same impact as it did in the source; let alone any of the previous films that Cameron and Rodriguez have worked on.

"I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do. Goodbye..."

The film closes on months apparently having passed, Alita continuing to pursue Motorball; even having a new android body for that purpose, and cutting a tear in half. She rolls into the arena, raising the Damascus Blade towards Zalem.

"The unknown future rolls towards us, I face it for the first time with a sense of hope: if a machine, a Terminator can learn the value of human life; maybe we all can too."

We formally close on Nova, who takes off his goggles and smirks at the prospect of meeting Alita. In the off chance nothing comes of this: say Hi to Piccolo, Azula, Sinestro and Ryuk for me, Edward!

So, as both an adaptation and a movie on its own; "Alita: Battle Angel" may not be a complete disaster like I was worried, but it's also not something I would feel like watching over and over again. I was never really onboard the hype train for the movie, and I'm still baffled to why one existed to begin with. I always felt that it looked average, and now that I've finally seen and written about it; I consider it to be average. Now that I've let it sit for a while; I would probably give it a 3 out of 5, 3.5 out of 5 at the most. Not great, but thankfully not terrible either.

If you were to ask me about any potential sequels happening, my reply would be "I don't know." Even the people involved acknowledged the risk of this kind of setup, with Cameron himself specifically citing the Warcraft movie as an example. Sure enough, despite opening at #1; it's now in a similar boat: it made over $400 million worldwide, but less than $100 million in North America, with $85 million domestically and $404 million worldwide on a $170 million budget. It also had quite a bit of competition in the time that followed; and certain groups that will not be mentioned here also attempted to hijack the movie for their own gain. If I'm being totally honest, while neither factor helped matters; this is all highly unlikely to have changed anything.  On the weekend of February 14, the movie ended up leading the lowest-grossing President's day weekend in 15 years.

However, even with this movie more or less failing to "save anime movies;" I think it's okay to keep experimenting even if not every experiment works. I once again point out that even movies about American superhero comic books had to go through years if not decades of terrible adaptations to get to being consistently good (even if there are still misfires like the 2015 Fantastic Four among them). Regardless of whether or not you enjoyed the movie or are anticipating proposed sequels; I strongly recommend you check out the original manga and the 1990s OVAs as soon as you can. 

This was certainly an interesting experiment, and while I am still formally retired from doing recaps; my next live-action review should also prove to be an interesting experience to write about. That will be all for now. Later.