Alita: Battle Angel

[Tiny Dancer]

Those huge eyes were there in the source material from what I can gather. They were huge, even compared to the eyes of other characters in the same franchise. So kudos for them at least keeping the character design as close as possible to the source material.

Even though, I admit, it is still a bit jarring.

Because the source material is Manga/Anime.

[RampageBW1]

Just saw the trailer. Why are her eyes so fucking weird? It works in Anime and Manga, doesn't work with real people.

She's not supposed to come off as a "real person" because she's a fucking Android.

[Alvito]

This movie was such a disappointment. Slow in some spots, super rushed in others. It jumps around a bit too much. After awhile it starts to feel like a Micheal Bay film, just special effects and zero effort on story or flow of story telling. I do understand the insane push in marketing over the last 2 weeks though. Something that is fairly common when a movie is expected to fizzle out rapidly after the first weekend. Cameron shit the bed on this one. Makes me wonder how bad the Avatar films will be now.

[Alvito]

Cameron just produced, Robert Rodriguez directed. The Avatar films will still likely be bad as the first one wasn’t amazing.

With how long they have taken to come out and the hype for them I see them in a place kinda like Diablo 3 was. No matter what they do it will fall short. Avatar was also driven by being visually amazing and that isn't as big of a deal now. If you went by story alone it can be seen as lame retelling of Dances with Wolves in space.

[Tiny Dancer]

She's not supposed to come off as a "real person" because she's a fucking Android.

...

The actress is a real human being and it looks weird on real human beings. Big eyes like that are ok for comic book figures, but not for actual people, like the actress in that movie. She's supposed to be an android, yes, but an android, that is supposed to look like a real person. She has big eyes in the Anime/Manga, not because she's an android, but because big eyes in Anime/Manga are a trademark. It just looks weird with actual people.

[RampageBW1]

...

The actress is a real human being and it looks weird on real human beings. Big eyes like that are ok for comic book figures, but not for actual people, like the actress in that movie. She's supposed to be an android, yes, but an android, that is supposed to look like a real person. She has big eyes in the Anime/Manga, not because she's an android, but because big eyes in Anime/Manga are a trademark. It just looks weird with actual people.

Hmm, from the trailer for the anime version of Alita, it seems most of the other characters either have normal sized or smaller than normal sized. It seems to have little to do with the stereotypical eye size of anime, but rather Alita's eyes are bigger than everyone else's.

Admittedly, it's been a long time since I watched the anime, and only basing my observations on the anime trailer posted above. (haven't read the manga)

But I did admit that the size of the eyes are jarring. But lets not also forget that if they changed Alita's eyes to normal size, people who love the source material will bitch and moan that they didn't get the character right. Anime based movies already have a bad reputation, lets not make them have a worse rep by ignoring the source material when it's convenient (which other anime based movies probably already do, IE Ghost in the Shell).

[Tiny Dancer]

Hmm, from the trailer for the anime version of Alita, it seems most of the other characters either have normal sized or smaller than normal sized. It seems to have little to do with the stereotypical eye size of anime, but rather Alita's eyes are bigger than everyone else's.

Admittedly, it's been a long time since I watched the anime, and only basing my observations on the anime trailer posted above. (haven't read the manga)

Whether the other characters have big eyes or not doesn't matter. She has big eyes cause it's anime. It looks normal in anime. It doesn't look normal on an actual person. Whoever made this decision is an idiot. She looks uncanny valley kinds of creepy in that movie.

[omeomorfismo]

film fucking good, zapan amazing xD

too bad that yugo is so damned ruined and soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stereotypically american high school that the result is only a good film =(
oh, even the costumes arent amazing, they achieved to change the Scenography in a dirty one (respect the one in the trailer) but the costumes remained too clean imo =(

10+ for the skyline in the first church scene *-*

[Khain]

Watched it on friday and I have to say I loved this movie. It's definitely flawed, felt rushed at some points but the heart is there, the characters are great the visuals and action were superb. I also was deeply interested in the story so much that I'm contemplating reading the manga because I can't wait for the squeal.

[Itori]

I made sure to watch the anime first before I watched the movie, and I have to say I was extremely surprised. I really enjoyed this movie, it may not be the best out there but its definitely worth a watch, sure it has some cringy dialogue moments and some scenes could have been done better, but overall it was a pretty good adaption. When I seen the critics and reviews afterwards I laughed at them, it seemed like they just watched the trailer and sat down and started raging on it for no reason. I really hope they make a sequel.

[Xenogeist]

I just saw it and I thought it was great. I'm a big fan of the manga and I can't imagine how it could be adapted any better. There were some obvious changes for the movie but most of them worked well. The only minor gripe I have is Nova. They should have just ended it with him smiling and eating flan, not taking off his 'glasses' like that.

I know it's a long shot but I'd love it if they made more movies. Nova is my favorite villain and the story just gets better as it goes on.

[Independent voter]

Went to see it and I like it. Lots of eye candy but weak on the writing end. Just like most anime.

[Molvonos]

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I'd never read the manga, so went in with fresh eyes and mind. Some of the battle sequences had me at the edge of my seat, which generally doesnt happen.

So I'm kinda hoping they do a sequel.

[Budong]

Movie was surprisingly good. The eyes actually are a big selling point of the movie as it gives you a terrific window into a cyborg's very human soul. It wasn't jarring at all and was a very minor cosmetic difference from humans compared to the absolute wholesale changes some cyborgs had in the movie.

The CGI was absolute top notch, especially in relation to Alita. Fight scenes were the highlight for me, they were intense and fun as hell. I could watch her kick ass for hours.

Some parts of the story were cheesy and cliche but no movie is perfect. Some characters were pretty bad and made no sense. There wasn't a lot here that would be considered new, especially if you watch anime.

Lastly, this movie had some huge balls to end it where it did. I felt like I was just beginning to get into the overall story when the movie stopped. It will be an absolute crime if this doesn't get a sequel to finish what it started. Very tempted to read the manga but I think I'll wait a while to not spoil the next movie. When the films are done, then I'll read the source material.

In short, go see it. And see it in Imax 3D if you can, you'll thank yourself.

[Lemons]

Loved this movie so much. As much as I like the Sci-Fi genre my biggest issue with it is that many of the movies lack soul. District 9, Elysium, Pacific Rim...I enjoyed these movies to varying degrees, but there's almost no soul there. I came away from those movies like "huh, that was cool and interesting" but there's another part of me that's left completely unnourished. Alita doesn't have that problem.

Probably the movie's biggest strength is Alita herself. This cyborg girl is a very human connection to the film...I can't remember liking a character this much in recent memory. Gonna go in to a bit of spoilery territory here to explain why.

She has no memory from before so literally everything is a new experience for her. Eating a orange (yes she has to eat...apparently to keep her human brain alive) is like the best thing ever to her. Seeing the world through her lens was really fun considering as an adult that feeling of discovery is largely gone...I felt like a kid again watching her basically be a kid again. She is very kind and sweet and just reminds me of those other great female characters like Katara and Leeloo who are badass and yet have a very feminine and caring side to them.

Just wanted to discuss some weird missteps that kept this move from being a 10/10

Sigh...why did this have to happen? Everything was going so well in this movie up until this scene. The scene where Alita stops Zapan from killing Hugo then they launch into this farcical moment where she sees Hugo's murder warrant on a screen behind him and like...instantly believes he's a murderer? It's like wtf...all Huge had to do is tell her exactly what happened...that Zapan framed him...like...is that hard? But no, Hugo suddenly loses all ability to speak simply to serve the plot and so we can have that moment where Alita thinks Hugo has been lying to her. This is how it should of gone "oh my god Hugo, what did you do?" "I didn't kill that person, Zapan did it and framed me!" "oh, that makes sense" *Alita turns around and murders Zapan instantly*

Then Zapan just kind of casually walks up behind her and stabs Hugo...like wtf? Her reflexes are insane and yet suddenly she can't grab a blade that's completely within her arm's reach and stop it from stabbing her boyfriend? What? Then instead of instantly turning on Zapan and murdering him she just attends to Hugo. At this point the movie has already demonstrated the ridiculous power disparity Alita and Zapan multiple times...it would take her all of about 2 seconds to murder him, and then she could go back to tearfully cradling Hugo.

Like...what kind of fucking plot armor does Zapan have? We've already shown that she has no issue outright murdering bounty hunters...she murdered like 10 of them in the sequence just before this one, but suddenly the way she was acting around Zapan was like he's strictly off-limits. Why? Did I miss something? In fact to finally wound him, not even kill him, she basically tricks him into trying to steal her bounty, which I guess in itself is punishable by death and FINALLY gives her the legal opening she needed to just like...slice off his a portion of his face...not even kill him. I just...I don't understand...Zapan must be really important to the plot of Alita 2 because plot armor is the only reason I can think of that Zapan didn't get murdered like 10 times over the course of this movie.

Sorry had to get that off my chest. SEE THIS MOVIE! It was great! go go go!

[omeomorfismo]

Loved this movie so much. As much as I like the Sci-Fi genre my biggest issue with it is that many of the movies lack soul. District 9, Elysium, Pacific Rim...I enjoyed these movies to varying degrees, but there's almost no soul there. I came away from those movies like "huh, that was cool and interesting" but there's another part of me that's left completely unnourished. Alita doesn't have that problem.

Probably the movie's biggest strength is Alita herself. This cyborg girl is a very human connection to the film...I can't remember liking a character this much in recent memory. Gonna go in to a bit of spoilery territory here to explain why.

She has no memory from before so literally everything is a new experience for her. Eating a orange (yes she has to eat...apparently to keep her human brain alive) is like the best thing ever to her. Seeing the world through her lens was really fun considering as an adult that feeling of discovery is largely gone...I felt like a kid again watching her basically be a kid again. She is very kind and sweet and just reminds me of those other great female characters like Katara and Leeloo who are badass and yet have a very feminine and caring side to them.

Just wanted to discuss some weird missteps that kept this move from being a 10/10

Sigh...why did this have to happen? Everything was going so well in this movie up until this scene. The scene where Alita stops Zapan from killing Hugo then they launch into this farcical moment where she sees Hugo's murder warrant on a screen behind him and like...instantly believes he's a murderer? It's like wtf...all Huge had to do is tell her exactly what happened...that Zapan framed him...like...is that hard? But no, Hugo suddenly loses all ability to speak simply to serve the plot and so we can have that moment where Alita thinks Hugo has been lying to her. This is how it should of gone "oh my god Hugo, what did you do?" "I didn't kill that person, Zapan did it and framed me!" "oh, that makes sense" *Alita turns around and murders Zapan instantly*

Then Zapan just kind of casually walks up behind her and stabs Hugo...like wtf? Her reflexes are insane and yet suddenly she can't grab a blade that's completely within her arm's reach and stop it from stabbing her boyfriend? What? Then instead of instantly turning on Zapan and murdering him she just attends to Hugo. At this point the movie has already demonstrated the ridiculous power disparity Alita and Zapan multiple times...it would take her all of about 2 seconds to murder him, and then she could go back to tearfully cradling Hugo.

Like...what kind of fucking plot armor does Zapan have? We've already shown that she has no issue outright murdering bounty hunters...she murdered like 10 of them in the sequence just before this one, but suddenly the way she was acting around Zapan was like he's strictly off-limits. Why? Did I miss something? In fact to finally wound him, not even kill him, she basically tricks him into trying to steal her bounty, which I guess in itself is punishable by death and FINALLY gives her the legal opening she needed to just like...slice off his a portion of his face...not even kill him. I just...I don't understand...Zapan must be really important to the plot of Alita 2 because plot armor is the only reason I can think of that Zapan didn't get murdered like 10 times over the course of this movie.

Sorry had to get that off my chest. SEE THIS MOVIE! It was great! go go go!

its explained why zapan couldnt be killed, he is an hunter hunting a bounty. if alita touch him, she would became a bounty herself, meanwhile thanks her status of hunter she is compelled to kill yugo. its the entire plan of zapan to arrange this situation.
the biggest flaw here is that yugo is so whitewashed that its possible to empatize with him in that situation, in the manga there isnt "b b b but i let them alive" bullshit and his accusation is effectively the spine traffic, meanwhile for alita, its more developed her pleasure for combat and bounty hunting, so effectively the contrast in her duty and her love is more clear

[Asphyx22]

Saw the movie yesterday. Personally, I thought is was really good. Alita was awesome. I was worried her big eyes and overall appearance would make the film somewhat difficult to watch, but you get used to it (it even grew on me) minutes into the film. I am honestly surprised how well they pulled this film off. Even if it's unlikely, I really hope this performs well at the box office and gets a sequel. They left it open, but also managed to give a sense of closure to the story within this movie.

While this film is imperfect, there were a lot of areas they could have easily screwed up, and they did not.

Great film 9/10.

The reveal at the end that Edward Norton is playing Nova made me far more interested in a sequel. He is an amazing actor who could take that character to the next level if they give him enough freedom.

[Kathranis]

The positive word of mouth continues. I really hope it gets enough people to turn out.

Edge of Tommorow similarily got really good word of mouth but people just didn't head to theaters.

[kasuke06]

saw it today. did not enjoy it because there were enough plot holes to drive a semi through. sideways. notably, I have not read the manga, so maybe some of them are explained there, but as a movie, it makes no sense in a lot of places.

Also ended up seeing it in this weird format where chunks were projected onto the sidewalls of the theater for some scenes. it added nothing but nausea and in several of the scenes where it was used, at least one of the side-projectors would malfunction and show shit from the wrong parts of the movie.

[Asphyx22]

saw it today. did not enjoy it because there were enough plot holes to drive a semi through. sideways. notably, I have not read the manga, so maybe some of them are explained there, but as a movie, it makes no sense in a lot of places.

Also ended up seeing it in this weird format where chunks were projected onto the sidewalls of the theater for some scenes. it added nothing but nausea and in several of the scenes where it was used, at least one of the side-projectors would malfunction and show shit from the wrong parts of the movie.

Sounds like something was up with your theater because mine was perfectly fine. Didn't have any issues. Also, just out of curiosity, what did you find in the form of plot holes? The movie seemed pretty tight to me. I do know there are a couple plot details that have not been resolved because the movie only covers the first few volumes of the manga, but those are not plot holes.

- - - Updated - - -

The positive word of mouth continues. I really hope it gets enough people to turn out.

Edge of Tommorow similarily got really good word of mouth but people just didn't head to theaters.

Edge of Tomorrow is such a good movie, and NO ONE knows about it. It baffles me. I really hope this movie does not suffer a similar fate. I want a sequel because Edward Norton could bring a lot to the table for the next film.