Alita Battle Angel trailer has just dropped on Youtube under 20th Century Fox and it is looking great. There has been a lot of hits and misses when it comes to anime and manga adaptations but judging by the trailer alone, this is going to create some serious hype.
From visionary filmmakers James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, Alita Battle Angel is in theaters July 20, 2018.
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez Screenplay by: James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and Robert Rodriguez Based on the Graphic Novel ("Manga") Series: "Gunnm" By Yukito Kishiro Produced by: James Cameron and Jon Landau Cast: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson
photo from: imdb.com
Battle Angel Alita or Alita the Battle Angel is a manga series created by Yukito Kishiro back in 1990. It's a nine part manga series on which two volumes of the manga was turned into a two episode animated feature entitled Battle Angel.
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The manga and anime is set in the post-apocalyptic future and focuses on Alita, a cyborg who has lost all her memories and is found in a garbage heap by a cybernetics doctor who rebuilds and takes care of her. This is somewhat shown in the trailer itself so it would be safe to assume this live action movie plays close to the manga/anime at least for that part of the story.
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In the manga/anime, Alita becomes a hunter/warrior/mercenary of sort but it seems not the case in the trailer. Half of the trailer feels like it's going for a love story instead which can either make or break the movie at this point as it deviates from the source material. Then again Battle Angel is a hyper violent series like many others that came from Japan during that time with the likes of Akira and Ghost in the Shell, so toning it down and making Alita more human-like makes sense.
photo from: imdb.com
I feel the trailer will have mixed views at this point. Some will find Alita's doll like appearance...especially her eyes somewhat of a turn off since they could have gone for a more human look. Personally I like how they made her look the way she is. She is a cyborg after all and the eyes makes her look different and more alienated from the rest of the normal humans in her world. I like how they did the CGI. Alita looks so much like how she looked in the manga. I'm crossing my fingers that we get to see her with wings on this one like in the manga. Hey it could happen.
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| The live action version in the trailer compared to her anime version |
photo from: imdb.com and iwatchstuff.com
Judging by the music they set on the trailer this movie will most likely be a story or emotionally driven film rather than an action packed one that was the manga. I guess they wanted to give Alita more depth and a more humane appeal. The love story element would somewhat attract female audiences in some way to watch the film. The casting seems good for what they were going for but a near 20 plus years between 1990 when Battle Angel first came out to now, this movie will have a hard time getting an audience save for the hardcore fans.
photo from: imdb.com
Alita Battle Angel has a Bladerunner-ish appeal to it with a little love story wrapped in, but if done correctly it could set the standard for manga live action adaptation that many of the Hollywood made movies of this type have failed. With only one trailer out, it's still too early to predict anything but I'm seriously hyped on how far they could take this and is looking forward to more.
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