The Best Hollywood Anime Adaptation Yet!
There has been little to no success of an Anime Hollywood adaptation, until that is James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez came along.
The director of non other than “Titanic” and “Avatar” has long since had the rights to Alita: Battle Angel and after being in production for a long time the film adaptation, based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga “Gunnm” or “Battle Angel Alita” is finally getting the big screen treatment with the biggest names in the industry making it possible.
Produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau the cyberpunk action is directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and stars Rosa Salazar as the titular character who delivers the best mocap performance since Andy Serkis himself.
Speaking of Andy Serkis, of course the only team to bring the world of Alita to life in none other than WETA Digital (you know the Kiwis behind “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” films).
With the visuals of the film in very capable hands it is needless to say that Alita delivers on that department. I have never seen the fusion of human and machine look so seamless and perfect, which is just ideal for the world building that the film successfully delivers across as well.
The action sequences are breath taking and edge of your seat exciting! This is one movie experience deserving of the big screen (the biggest one possible) so go IMAX!
I watched a bit of the 1993 OVA and I can only say that the adaptation is pretty solid and some of the scenes were directly taken from the anime (even the dialogue!)
Set in a post apocalyptic time, years after the “fall” Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) finds a cyborg in a scrapyard, said scrap yard is where the trash of the sky city of Zalem falls.
Zalem is a massive and ominous city in the sky, which appears to be like a “heaven” to those living in the desolate “Iron City” which is where Dr. Ido and the rest of the survivors of a war try to make a living for themselves.
Dr. Ido brings the cyborg, whose very human brain managed to survive back online and christens her “Alita”. She can’t remember anything about her past and while discovering the world around her as if for the first time, she looks at everything with a child like wonder but the dangerous streets of Iron City slowly awaken a killer instinct and a power in her.
Okay, so there is a lot that happens in the movie (not spilling anything) and it could be overwhelming for some but growing up an Anime fan, you become accustomed to “lore”, you are after all trying to incorporate a whole lot of source material in a two hour or so movie. I would say, don’t get lost and overwhelmed in it. Just enjoy it. I think James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez do a good enough job of getting an action packed and quickly escalating film going.
What I didn’t expect were the emotions that the film drew from me, I didn’t get to finish the OVA so there was this one cliff hanger (pun intended) scene that just crushed by poor enlarged heart. Like, really, there were tears stinging in my eyes and I was not expecting that at all.
The film succeeds in making you root for Alita. Even if she is a cyborg, you want to see her kick ass, you want to see her succeed and by the end of the film, when she raises her hand to the skies you can’t help but cheer her on.
9 / 10 – Alita: Battle Angel is in cinemas Feb. 6 with evening screenings on the fifth.