WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens, she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.
MOVIESinMO Review
This is an anime’ fan’s dream. Alita: Battle Angel is the first big-budget Manga adapted film to utilize modern technology a step above what Avatar or Ghost in the Shell showed us. The story is intriguing and slow but since this is more of an origin story, I’ll give them a pass on the drawn-out explanation of Iron City and its inner workings. The action is great but there were two scenes that stand out as half-done. Normally, I wouldn’t complain but those scenes completely took me out of the movie. After a few more descriptive scenes of dialog, the action kicks in and Alita becomes a great movie again. As for scenery, I saw this film in 3D and it was spectacular, especially the motorball scenes. Settings like that, along with the violently pure innocence of Alita, almost makes up for the abundance of dialog – almost. The amount of information given in this film is overwhelming. Alita: Battle Angel is a manga nearly thirty years old, so I can understand if the writers, director, and producer feel like they need to fully explain this story before they can tell the story. Personally, as long as you have the basic concept, it should work. The problem here is all of the unnecessary changes they incorporated within the story along with the unnecessary backstories. Ultimately, Alita: Battle Angel is a spectacular looking film with a story in dire need of a sequel.
OUR RATING – A HOLLYWOOD MANGA 6.5
MEDIA
- Genre – Fantasy
- Street date
- Digital – July 9th 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray – July 23rd 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2:39:1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
- French: DTS 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras
- Alita’s World – A series of motion comics used to help explain the world of Alita.
- The Fall (HD, 5:05) – This chapter goes over the war that led to Alita’s arrival in the scrapyard.
- Iron City (HD, 3:19) – This chapter focuses on Hugo’s life as a scrap dealer.
- What It Means To Be A Cyborg (HD, 2:28) – Zapan, the cyborg bounty hunter, goes over his life as a machine.
- Rules of the Game (HD, 2:52) – A look at the rules of motorball.
- From Manga To Screen (HD, 20:47) – A look at the original manga, the adaptation process, and what it means to combine the film and the original art, and what the process was to hand the movie off from Cameron to Rodriguez, featuring interviews with the cast and crew.
- Evolution of Alita (HD, 19:43) – A look at the technology, design, character, and depth of Alita, featuring interviews with Salazar, and the cast & crew.
- Motorball (HD, 6:02) – A more in-depth look at the awesome sport that is motorball.
- London Screening Q&A (HD, 26:38) – The cast and crew sit down to discuss the making of the film.
- 10 Minute Cooking School: Chocolate (HD, 5:28) – One of the best features on any Rodriguez film, his cooking school.
- 2005 Art Compilation (HD, 14:20) – A recreation of some the film’s key sequences, using 2005 art as a storyboard.
- Scene Deconstruction (HD, 10:47) – A neat feature that allows you to watch multiple scenes from the film in different stages of production to see how the CG animation process and use of evolving technology work in bringing Alitato life.