Alita: Battle Angel (Post-release)

What did you think of Alita: Battle Angel?

  • Total voters
    62
I just watched it and liked it very much. Some random notes:

I agree that you're going to get more out of this if you're a fan of the manga.

I thought the relationship between Hugo and Alita in the manga was more endearing than in the movie because they were younger and it was more innocent. The movie added a few years to both characters I guess to make them more relatable. I would have preferred the younger Hugo and Alita.

In the manga it's Alita who preserves Hugo's head by doing the bypass through her own heart. It was an important character moment in the manga - that she could act so purposefully, without hesitation, to do something so gruesome to save someone she loved. The movie stole that act from Alita and gave it to Chiren who wasn't even a character in the manga. Really disappointed.

It was weird that they gave Ito an ex-wife at all. It seems unnecessary unless they wanted to construct some connection between Vector and Ito. I don't know.

Fighting was very good. A lot of the moves were variations off of moves we've seen before but I imagined they could have been a little more creative. I imagined Panzer Kunst to be more exotic - designed around moves that can only be done by an android body. I'm not complaining but there's room to grow with the choreography.

Motorball was ... amazing! The manga art communicated speed and this movie translated this in spades. They did everything right there. Sure they trimmed off a lot of detail from the manga game but the speed and action were simply breathtaking. I'd watch this again and again just for the Motorball sequences. I look forward to a sequel with more Motorball.

Apparently this movie did better than expected due to overseas performance. That's good news because I want to see a sequel and I want to see more Motorball.
 
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The character of Chiren and her role in saving Hugo was lifted directly from the OVA. That said, I agree the character is pretty unnecessary and served only to clutter the over-packed narrative of the movie while undercutting Alita's attachment to Hugo.

dascoyne said:
I just watched it and liked it very much. Some random notes:

I agree that you're going to get more out of this if you're a fan of the manga.

I thought the relationship between Hugo and Alita in the manga was more endearing than in the movie because they were younger and it was more innocent. The movie added a few years to both characters I guess to make them more relatable. I would have preferred the younger Hugo and Alita.

In the manga it's Alita who preserves Hugo's head by doing the bypass through her own heart. It was an important character moment in the manga - that she could act so purposefully, without hesitation, to do something so gruesome to save someone she loved. The movie stole that act from Alita and gave it to Chiren who wasn't even a character in the manga. Really disappointed.

It was weird that they gave Ito an ex-wife at all. It seems unnecessary unless they wanted to construct some connection between Vector and Ito. I don't know.

Fighting was very good. A lot of the moves were variations off of moves we've seen before but I imagined they could have been a little more creative. I imagined Panzer Kunst to be more exotic - designed around moves that can only be done by an android body. I'm not complaining but there's room to grow with the choreography.

Motorball was ... amazing! The manga art communicated speed and this movie translated this in spades. They did everything right there. Sure they trimmed off a lot of detail from the manga game but the speed and action were simply breathtaking. I'd watch this again and again just for the Motorball sequences. I look forward to a sequel with more Motorball.

Apparently this movie did better than expected due to overseas performance. That's good news because I want to see a sequel and I want to see more Motorball.
Click to expand...
 
There are very few prominent female characters in the early parts of the Manga, Chiren was added to balance it out.

They also toned down Alita's nature in many ways. In the original she's not attacking Zalem with a team of soldiers, she's a cold blooded terrorist.
 
The Resident Evil series wasn't weaker from not having more female characters in the cast. Mila had enough presence to carry the film. In Fury Road Furiosa had tremendous agency despite not only being the only female in the cast but also as second billing to Max. These characters built their presence on character moments. Chiren only took away from Alita's character by robbing her of a defining moment. In the manga Alita's character had strength, willpower as well as complete innocence than in the movie. Chiren was a mistake.
 
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^yes, but that is only apparent to those who have read the manga. Since I had not, I didn't feel that it robbed Alita of anything. Her heart was breaking, and she wanted more than anything to save Hugo... but didn't know how to. Which is in keeping with what was shown in the rest of the film, because if she knew how to rig a heart transfusion to his head, she (presumeably) wouldn't have needed Ito to hook up her new body for her, either. Plus, the fact that we were given Chiren, at least this gives the character an opportunity to grow; to leave behind the selfish, jaded person she had become, and find her way back to the loving mother she used to be.

Having not read--and therefore not having an attachment to--the Manga, I thought it worked fine.
 
I finally saw it and since I am unfamiliar with both the manga and OVA, I have no point of reference on those points. Overall, I thought it was good. I read this thread, so I was prepared for a somewhat anticlimactic ending. The only thing that bothered me is the characterization of Alita as a "little girl". I just feel like her memory loss wouldn't cause her to revert to a purely childlike state. She'd have some instinctive memory but wouldn't be able to fill in the details. But then again, I'm no expert on memory loss.
 
I didn't really see her as a little girl. The first body made her appear that way... because it was made for Ito's daughter, who was presumeably under 13. She definitely had an innocence to her at first... but that seems normal for someone who doesn't have years of experiences and confidence (not to mention apprehensions) influencing their actions. Once she began to remember her previous life and saw what her powers could do, her naivety started to burn off and she seemed to mature a bit. also the second body helped with that, as her mind reconfigured it to match her internal sense of herself. that's why Ito's assistant remarked "I think she's a little older than you thought..."
 
I just saw this and it blew my mind. I am not an anime / manga guy. Look at the cast... how many oscar winners? How many Tarentino / Rodriguez cool film alums? To me this film is the Beyond Thunderdome of this generation. Not a fantastic movie but so out there and visually detailed, a passion project. That hunter guy with the sword, did you see the detailing on his back armor? So many little details in all of it. It was like they did not give an F, no studio meddling here this was just *alls out art with wicked fighting. Like the 5th element, or cloud atlas, just doing its thing love it or leave it, it ain't about you. Lol.
 
I can't wait to get the movie on Blu-Ray. Doesn't release until August 19th here in DK, so I have to wait a little longer.

It seems big dvd and blu-ray sales may determine whether a sequel is made or not.
 
^ is that how it works !?
DVD & Blu Ray sales figures can kill off any future (potentially incredible) projects ?
How does that work ? I’m pretty sure Serenity sold extremely well in those mediums and yet no further films followed !
 
No, it's not how it always works, but good dvd and br sales can make executives who are not sure about whether a sequel is worthwhile suddenly get dollar signs in their eyes, but if they are absolutely against the idea, then it doesn't matter how well the movie sells on the home video market - like we saw with Firefly/Serenity and in part also with Dredd 3D (I believe that has sold fairly well on dvd and br too, but not sure).
 
I see your old posts and top it with a necro post:cautious:
Just saw the movie today and loved it. It had that same scifi vibe to it as The Fifth Element and Ready Player One.
Yes, there was the motion capture face, but overall it didn't matter to me as I enjoyed recognising and reliving the animé story. Both her cybernetic bodies were works of art btw, the first even more so perhaps with the engraved details
 
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After seeing the Anime I kinda prefer the more low-key emotional ending to that one compared to the more bombastic one of the movie. One feels artistic and heartfelt whereas the other feels more commercial.
 
According to what I could find on google: yes, even cast members of part 1 were excited about a sequel and would participate, but I couldn’t find anything on a release date
 
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