Alita: Battle Angel [ DVD ]

I was drawn to this through the central story of a young woman found on a scrapheap and brought back to life by a surgeon and went through a voyage of discovery about herself, learning that she was so much more than she first thought. This kind of basic premise mirrored a few of my own novels so I was naturally curious as to what this was all about. While not a fan of manga nor this kind of 'marvel comic' type of subject, I did enjoy the film, mostly through the story of what she had to go through. The CGI was impressive and much better than what I had seen before, and the acting was good, particularly from Christoph Waltz (there again a two-time oscar winner was hardly going to fail). The bad guys were one-dimensional bad guys but that's to be expected. The interesting part was love-interest Hugo who was at the same time a good guy but not, but he had the opportunity to look into his own soul through his love for Alita. Jennifer Connolly was another interesting character, Dr. Chiren, who had a transition during the storyline from what she was to what she became. But to me the best parts were the flashbacks to Alita's past as a member of the URM, the 'enemy'. Its interesting that the enemy are always seen as the bad guys, but they are not necessarily so. We have a juxtaposition here in this story, as the good guys, Earth's side, is certainly not good. It run by the evil Nova and his world in the sky city. Alita's mission as part of the URM was to destroy the sky city but she clearly failed, and her being found on the scrapheap showed that she had been destroyed in the last fight, but it wasn't clear why she was there if she still had a powerful heart which Nova wanted. The motorball sequences were great, a kind of cross between rollerball and Mayan ball games, and they were brutal and full of adrenaline. It has been left for a sequel to be made but now with 20th Century Fox being bought out by Disney, that future looks uncertain. We can only hope Disney gives the green light to let it happen and not interfere with the gritty scriptwriting, directing and production. This is not Bambi. This is Alita.

Film companies seem to enjoy ripping off the consumer over formats... EITHER 4K or 3D... but this time t really is all in one package which is a nice change I hope they stay with... it is actually worth the extra cash over the DVD or BD or streaming versions. The film itself is just very good. A lot of negative comments over the fact it is derivative over so many other films... but I think many of those viewers fail to realise that the manga (1990)/anime(1993) appeared WAY before all those other films and in fact they nicked ideas off this; eg: rich in a city above the clouds in Elysium (2013) or Altered Carbon (2018). The strong female lead was always compared to Captain Marvel which appeared at the same time in cinemas. The necessary "identity" plot threads work well, but again feel a little dated due to so many similar films that have copied the ideas since it's inception. These constant comparisons did it no favours in the official reviews, but it stands on it's own two feet just fine. The alternative was that they "brought it up to date" and tried to be too smart and therefore lost what made Alita cool... and that is Alita herself. Yes, she is the classic manga female badass , but it is not done badly and she was pretty much one of the originals that the tropes later followed. And yeah, if you read the manga there are some "Japan type issues" in the later books, but that is Japan for you! To me the film itself does feel like a slice of late '80's/early 90's action flick which I actually like - it is a nice change and the retro feel fits the manga well. The action sequences are pretty damn amazing - especially the Motorball scenes. The Alita eyes take a little bit of getting used to but work brilliantly once you are 10 minutes in. Hugo is not "the best", but then he is not really meant to be. I would urge people to buy it/rent it/see it.. in a hopes that the sequels get green lit, it REALLY needs those to finish the story to a reasonable conclusion. To be fair it is NOT a perfect film in the world and it has it's minor faults, but it IS worth a watch if you like action or science fiction movies! So, 4/5 for the film itself + 1 bonus star for the excellent quality 4K presentation & not ripping us off for the 3D copy. included.

Just in case you don't know: In Japan, people love manga. Which are comics. That tell all sorts of stories from all sorts of genres. Then there's Anime. Which they also love. Which are animated shows and films based on Manga. One Manga is Alita: Battle Angel. Set a long time after the fall of civilisation as we know it, in a ruined Earth where people get by. And those who live in a big city just off the ground that is firmly sealed off to those down below, get along very nicely. Scientist Dr. Ido [Christoph Waltz] finds damaged and forgotten about Battle Cyborg Alita. Fixes her. And brings her back to life. She has a lot to learn about life in the world she finds herself in. And her destiny awaits.. There's a long manga story involving Alita. And some Anime as well. The latter was something Titanic/Avatar director James Cameron discovered long ago, and bringing it to the screen in live action form was a passion project for him for a long time. Till he had to choose between it and Avatar. But Director Robert Rodriguez stepped in, and thus Alita finally gets her live action movie. It looks great. It does some great world building. Alita is brought to life using motion capture performance as used in Avatar and many other films since, and thus she looks like a computer animation brought to almost perfect life. Which rather works well enough, given that she's a cyborg. It has lots of plot strands, which are pretty easy to follow. And some good future sports stuff as well. And a love story. This is a slightly stronger film than the live action Ghost in the Shell film was, because whereas that never quite made me emotionally invest in the characters, this does manage to get you to like and feel for Ido and Alita from the off. Everything in it comes from the source material. How that works for hardcore fans of it will be a matter of opinion. It's a decent four star film all in all, given that it feels like a superhero origin movie. Given that it sets up the world and gives the character a story to deal with at the same time. But like such franchise starters, it leaves it hanging for more at the end. Franchise starters never quite manage to be five star films because of all that, which is where this falls into the same trap. And it probably won't get a sequel given how much it cost to make compared to what it has made. So this is probably all we will see of live action Alita. But it was just about worth the wait. And is pretty much worth the watch. Language and subtitles on the dvd are just listed as English on the box, but checking the menu of the disc I found it had more than that: Languages: English. Russian. Ukrainian. Subtitles: English. Danish. Finnish. Norwegian. Swedish. Estonian. Russian. Ukrainian. Latvian. The disc goes straight into the main menu when loaded, with just a quick logo bit to get through. Extraas: Alita's world. Four short features, each two to four minutes, giving details of aspects of her world. You can only watch them individually. The fall. Iron City. What it means to be a cyborg. Rules of the game. Each use still artwork and voiceover. They are interesting viewing. From manga to screen. A twenty min long look at the genesis of the film, from manga to anime to Cameron to Rodriguez. A detailed and interesting watch, and fans of the anime and manga will like it given how much the original creator of it features.

Alita Battle Angel is one of those movies that has a clear character arc for the protaganist. This is the discovery are. The best previous example of something similar in a Movie would be Jason Bourne from the Bourne identity. Alita has skills and is powerful but has no memeory of her pervious life. She has to learn the ways of the world from scratch encountering enemies along the way she must defeat. The world of Alita is well thought through and revealed visually in great detail. The history tends to be revealed by dialogue and I had to rewind once to hear something about the history of the universe which I thought was important. However this was a minor issue. There are some minor gripes: - Revealing the history by dialogue (only short amounts so not a major issue) - The love interest of Alita i.e. Hugo I felt the chemistry was not as good as it could be though it looked believable. - I felt the ending of the show didn't wrap up as neatly as it could though to be fair they were trying to set up a sequel. All in all an excellent show with thought through plot lines and character arcs. A sequel is being talked about however Disney bought out Fox so there may be studio influence of the kind that so marred the Star Wars franchise. Hopefully this will not be the case here.

Excellent film

What a Amazing Movie! I like the movie where the doctor brings back her daughter from the dead and put her mind in a robot body named Alita. and everyone wants her dead. So i think it was a great film to Watch in the evening times before bedtime with some popcorn and some of my favorite drinks of all time "Dr Pepper". My Score marks are - 10/10 {5 Stars Rating}

Alita: Battle Angel is a mesmerizing blend of cutting-edge visuals, captivating action, and a heartfelt story. From the opening scene, the world of Iron City is brought to life with incredible detail, immersing you in a dystopian yet vibrant future. Rosa Salazar delivers a phenomenal performance as Alita, capturing her journey from wide-eyed innocence to fierce determination. The motion capture technology used to bring her to life is breathtaking, and her expressive eyes make her instantly relatable. Christoph Waltz adds depth as Dr. Ido, and the supporting cast is solid, though some characters feel slightly underdeveloped. The action sequences are a standout—fast-paced, thrilling, and beautifully choreographed, especially the Motorball scenes, which are an absolute visual feast. The movie's blend of CGI and live-action is seamless, making every fight and emotional moment feel real. While the story does leave a few threads hanging (setting up for a sequel, hopefully), it still provides a satisfying narrative arc. The themes of identity, resilience, and humanity are explored in a way that resonates. Whether you're a fan of the manga or new to Alita's world, this movie is a must-watch for sci-fi and action lovers. It's a thrilling ride with heart and spectacle in equal measure.

I was expecting a little more considering the producer is James Cameron. It examines the life of an elite robot who doesn’t know she’s that very important to the function of a dictators society within the future. I enjoyed it but it could of been a little better is some areas