Review: ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL is the Next Generation of Visual Storytelling

This week I was lucky enough to see Alita: Battle Angel. I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Alita: Battle Angel is the movie adaptation of the Manga of the same name, or Gunnm depending on how hard core you are. The story follows Alita, a cyborg suffering from amnesia trying to find out what her place in the world is. With the help of her new father figure Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) and friend Hugo (Keenen Johnson), Alita (Rosa Salazar) will learn how to live in this unfamiliar world she has woken up to. She is hoping to find the key to unlock her memory, to find out who she really is, and what her future will be.

Along the way, Alita finds that she will do anything to protect the ones she loves, including putting herself in perilous situations. In these situations, the veil that has been clouding her mind is lifted and more of her past is revealed. Thus drawing her to more and more dangerous encounters in order to help her remember who she is.

Look, I am going to try to make this as spoiler free as I can. I want to tell you so much more but whatever I say will spoil one of the many surprises that will be found in this movie. I will say that you need to see this movie. There is a lot of story packed into 2 hours and the best thing about the film is that I didn’t want it to end.

Some of my favorite scenes are the Motorball sequences. In Iron City the game of Cyborg Motorball is the the main source of entertainment. One of my only complaints, other than there is a villain named Vector that makes me think of Despicable Me everytime he comes onto the screen, is that there isn’t enough Motorball. The shots are dynamic and the action is limitless. It is totally what adrenaline junkies want from a movie. If they make a sequel to this movie, I hope they throw more Motorball into it. The only way we will get a sequel is for us to put butts into seats. So do the world a favor and go buy a ticket.

This is the culmination of years of work between Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron. You can totally see their fingerprints all over it. It has all of the outrageous stunts that Rodriguez is known for, but done in the ultra realistic way that only James Cameron can bring to the screen. It seems like Cameron used this film as a way of testing out the new technology that he will use in the upcoming Avatar sequels. I must say, they are amazing. We are seeing the beginning of a new wave of CG forward movies. I can’t wait to see what is to come.

With an outstanding cast consisting of Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Bastards), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Jennifer Connelly (A Perfect Mind), and Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner, Bird Box) as Alita, Alita: Battle Angel is the next generation of visual storytelling. The mixture of practical effects and computer generated technology is pure and flawless. The 3D is amazing and immersive and is probably the best use of the medium that I have ever seen. I cannot wait to see it again.

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL hits theaters Thursday February 14th 2019. I can’t wait to hear your reactions.