‘Alita:’ Why you should be watching

Ever since I saw the first trailer with a girl with huge eyes and robot body I knew that I was going to fall in love with “Alita: Battle Angel” one way or another. Many had their reservations, and rightfully so, but I genuinely believe that this film delivered exactly the experience it aimed to craft. “Alita” is a cyberpunk, sci-fi fans dream put to live on the big screen. The world of Iron city is one of the most visually distinct I’ve seen in some time. It draws clear inspiration from the likes of “Blade Runner” and “Akira” but it does enough to keep itself unique. This is helped in large part by the fair amount of real, physical sets used to help bring the world of “Alita” to life rather than using a blank green soundstage that would later be filled in by VFX artists. It helps ground the characters in a world that feels as if you could visit it, and it helps the motion-captured protagonist feel more like they’re actually in a scene.

The titular character is a true testament to the state of current animation capabilities because Alita looks incredibly life-like. Yes, the eyes can be a bit off putting at first but you completely forget about that within the first five minutes of the film. With a relatively good performance from leading woman Rosa Salazar you have an animated character on screen who feels just as real as anyone else in the world of “Alita.” It also helps that she’s acting alongside acting juggernaut Christoph Waltz, who I would absolutely pay to just hear talk for hours on end. Sadly, his character gets sidetracked by being the mouthpiece for most of the exposition of the world but he manages to still maintain a great performance nonetheless.

That does bring up the one main gripe I have with “Alita” though, and that’s the writing. I fully expected that the writing wouldn’t be incredible in this film and sure enough I wasn’t surprised when characters would be doing either one of two things when they spoke: spouting exposition or saying the most basic character dialogue imaginable. That being said, I did find the exposition on display to be rather interesting and I found myself wanting to learn more about the world and the movie holds a good pace so it never lingers on these scenes for too long. When we finally get to the action, that’s when things pick up. The action in this film is absolutely stunning. Since the movie was rated PG-13 I expected the action to be a bit watered down to prevent an R rating. I was very wrong. Due to the characters fighting being mainly cyborgs made of metal, the film gets away with a lot of wild visuals and rather brutal kills. The entire Motorball sequence in the film made me want to just watch a film centered around Motorball and just how visceral it is.

What was most surprising about “Alita” and it’s reception was just how beloved it’s been to fans of the original manga and short run anime series. While the film is not perfect as I just mentioned, it appears to be quite faithful to the source material and shows a clear passion and affection for the world of “Alita.” That would make sense since James Cameron has been trying to get this movie made for years, patiently waiting for the day that the technology was right to bring this manga to life. This is the best live-action anime film without a shred of doubt, although there wasn’t really steep competition in that department. Just looking at the “Ghost in the Shell” live-action film from a few years back that looked visually great, it didn’t have the same level of reverence for the source material and really ended up messing up the themes the original aimed to create. That’s why I believe the anime community has heralded this film as the one that got it right, with anime YouTubers like “Mother’s Basement” calling on fans to vote with their wallets and give this film the success it deserves. I’m inclined to agree with him.

Overall, “Alita” is a surprising delight to watch with a great pace, great action, and a fantastic score to match. While the writing is often lacking and the romantic subplot drags the film down from being wonderful, it isn’t enough to stop this movie from being a good time. Also, please go see this movie so there can be a sequel that gives me the Motorball scenes I crave. Not every movie needs to be Shakespeare, but every movie should have more cyberpunk aesthetics. Maybe that last part is just for me.