Anime adaptations are very rarely viewed in the best light, especially when it’s made by the American market; releasing way too many films that completely miss the mark on their source material, features a lot of pointless changes that more often than not get in the way of the adaptation rather than help it, condenses storylines that could never work as full-fledged movies due to the differences with time and pacing, and fails to deliver something entertaining for both fans and newcomers by being in this horrible middle ground of never wanting to provide pure fan service, but also never going fully unique enough to work as its own creation. This is why Alita: Battle Angel was such a risky choice for filmmaker James Cameron to make. Based on the popular manga Battle Angel: Alita (otherwise known as Gunnm in Japan) made in the early to mid-90s by Yukito Kishiro, the story of an amnesiac android regaining her purpose in a futuristic steampunk dystopia already had an OVA (original video animation) made in 1993 that told the story in a faithful and impactful way, placing more of a question onto why it would need to be made into a live-action film, especially since they have never proven to be critically or commercial successes in the past. But with wild and maverick director Robert Rodriguez behind the wheel, a budget of around $150 – 200 million to work with, tons of well-known actors to provide noticeable star power in a sense that hadn’t really been seen in previously adaptations, and with plenty of good source material to grab from, Alita was going to be a risk that had a lot of safety nets around it, and thankfully the film managed to turn out pretty great given the track record. Set in the year 2563, a deactivated android is found retired in a scrap heap and is brought back to life by Dr Dyson Ido (played by Christoph Waltz). The android, who is given the named Alita (played by Rose Salazar) takes in the new world around her and starts to experience all forms of casual joys and excitements, but finds that  a spark of her old life starts to come back, revealing that she was once a cybernetically enhanced super soldier made to destroy the wealthy sky city of Zalem, which hovers above the squalid residence that she finds herself living in now. Coming across friends and enemies alike and with plenty of bounty hunters out to kill her, Alita has to get herself back to her old style and attitude so she can fight for the survival on the people down below especially Ido and her new crush, Hugo (played by Keenan Johnson), face the threats that constantly try to take her down, and reach and overthrow the floating city once and for all. Despite being in production limbo since 2002, doing only okay at the box office, and having to deal with the previously mentioned anime film adaptation curse and mixed reviews, this film captures everything that made the manga amazing while also translating it beautifully to the cinema screen and to the general movie-watchers through great characters, stylish visuals and action and a wonderful framework for a gripping narrative.

Anytime a manga or anime gets turned into an live-action movie, one of the biggest hindrances is something that is very similar to what happens when most TV shows are turned into films; the film never flows correctly because a lot of plot elements that had time to develop and breath in a drawn-out television or written format have to be crammed into a shorter running time. This film has a similar yet not nearly as damaging issue, as the plot is overstuffed and bloated with detail and information, every scene in the first hour of the film being the essential information giver to the oblivious audience members and making the film feel like it has constant information to give you at almost every turn, jumping from motivation to motivation, and plot to plot several times throughout each act. Because of this, most people can feel overwhelmed by the constant information being given and can lose focus on what the film is even supposed to be about and what the major goal is, but despite that, what save this is that everything being talked about does have a pay-off later down the line and is not just poor exposition. The script for the film written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis is wonderfully punchy and full of personality that matches the strong narrative that came from its original source, doing its best to cram so much into such a small format that despite there definitely being moments where things could’ve been explored more or once-powerful scenes get lost in translation (the ending does fumble the ball quite a bit), it doesn’t ruin the good fun vibes that comes out of this world, the characters and the energy. The story itself is a remarkably fun one with good pacing and a good balance between character building and story progression, the film could have used a clearer goal and better handling of its world-building in some parts to really feel like more than just a super well-told rendition of a popular manga (even though that’s what it is, it’s not something that someone completely blind could walk into a get right off the bat), but the other elements keep your interest over its two-hour length. Robert Rodriguez has always been a filmmaker that prefers to tell stylish and crazy stories in a fashion that is low-budget and often very ”un-Hollywood like”, but his attitude and edge really adds a lot to the film, containing the usual pros (and even some of the cons) in his work and using them to create a very distinct atmosphere and personality that is different from the manga, yet to a distracting degree. The film feels very much like an 80s movie; with the detailed worlds, backstories, characters, and action-oriented situations, and all these elements give the movie a great connectability while also just being a well-constructed narrative that can be emotionally resonant in the same way that it can provide blood-pumping action scenes. The last act of the film can drag a bit and the closing moments destroy an emotional ending with an obvious sequel-bait, but outside of that portion, it’s a mostly very engaging sit.

Much like how the story benefits from the 80s aesthetic, the characters really feel like they come out of an 80s film with how interesting they are just from design alone. Taking most of their designs and backstories from the manga, each character has such a great fascinating presence that just paints a character just from the way they look and act around other people, the interactions between several characters is usually very interesting, and practically everyone in this film looks perfect to how they are portrayed in the manga. Even though an over-bloated cast populated with celebrity names could feel like forceful typecasting to squeeze in marketable talent, the cast for the film is excellent at not only looking like the characters but acting like them just as well and no one feels out of place or like they don’t belong in this world. Rose Salazar is a great relatable lead, showing off the sweet, child-like side of the character in a way that makes her naive and freshness towards the surface world feel so genuine and charming, but when she needs to play tough and act as the hardened soldier, she also pulls that off fantastically as well. Alita herself is actually a really great main character as you feel a genuine progression from the beginning of the film to the end and it’s a character that can be soft and caring in one moment and incredibly hard-core and fierce in the next without it feeling awkward or like a complete switch on her personality. Christoph Waltz is perfect as Doctor Ido and brings a sense of gentle care, but also reserved past damage that makes him an intriguing figure, which can also be said for Jennifer Connelly comes back to acting in a great way as Ido’s former wife and although the character arguably doesn’t have a lot of screen time, her acting is strong enough that you are gripped anytime she is on-screen. Mahershala Ali has a great presence as the villain and all the bounty hunters have these really crazy and even creepy looking designs that make them stand out from other standard robotic minions in other sci-fi stories. The only one who feels out of place is Keean Johnson as Hugo, who is still a pretty good actor but looks way too clean and ripped for someone who’s supposed to be a street rat. He’s never bad (outside of his final scene which feels way too much like a young-adult novel) and he does work well off the other actors, but while everybody else fits in, he feels like the one true outlier.

The visuals of the film take the best aspects of both of the film’s consultants to make something wonderful. The creatively insane and action-packed style of Rodriguez along with the visual eye and uncanny realism of James Cameron leads to several ideas for the film that on paper sound pretty wild and unnecessarily experimental (like the main protagonist being a fully CG’d creation) and for about 80% of the movie, these tricks work pretty well. Alita’s design was an element that a lot of people were turned off by when they saw the trailers and while it can look fairly decent in certain moments, it isn’t a strong enough to feel real in any moment or even feel like it was a necessity for the film. While it does show in moments like with the overly perfect skin that makes it feel unrealistic and the eyes can sometimes be a bit jarring (even for anime characters, those are bulging orbs in her face) the other times especially during the actions scenes, are full of such fun motion and creative angles that people can warm up to it really quickly. While there is a pretty noticeable difference between her and the other people, it’s never too distracting and it doesn’t even feel out of place, her being a robot allows her to feel alien in this world and it works both way. The environments also look really wonderful as well, with most of the areas having a similar feel of being slightly fakey but filled with enough detail and care that it’s easy to not notice. The action scenes don’t feel realistic in any way, but that allows them to be more fast-paced, over-the-top and incredibly fun to witness, each one is like an acrobatic demonstration with robot dismemberment everywhere and equally cool shots done by Bill Pope which can sometimes mirror a panel from the manga in a very effective manner.

Despite how long it took for the film to finally come out and despite critics mostly finding it average and audience members mostly passing it, Alita: Battle Angel is a really good movie filled with great moments, characters and action scenes that makes it a great experience as well as a great telling of its original source, something very rarely felt in anime adaptations. It can be a bit overwhelming to take in all the information on the first watch and the ending is a bit long and ends in the wrong place, but with a great narrative, good pacing, a great main lead, likeable actors, fun effects, and some really cool action, it’s a movie that’s definitely worth a watch. As often as they fail, this proved that not only can it work, but one that people would actively want to see continue. Check it out and watch this meek android girl become a hero.

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