BESM Battle Angel

After ‘Avatar,’ there were rumors circulating among various publications and other media about James Cameron’s next big movie project, an adaptation of the popular Japanese manga ‘Battle Angel Alita.’ That was nearly 10 years ago, and I’ve all but given up because, well, James Cameron movies nowadays are few and far in between (‘Avatar 2’ is taking foreveeeer).  He just won’t make a movie for its own sake anymore, preferring to wait until CGI technology advances and catches up to his visionary genius.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing him at all.  Good things come to those who wait.

 

‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is finally here!  For those unfamiliar with its source material, A:BA is cyberpunk sci-fi about a cyborg girl in the 26th Century who was discarded as trash and recovered by a tinkerer who became a father figure to her.  Slowly regaining her memories, she discovered that she is a bad-ass “Berserker” well versed in the ultimate form of martial arts called “Panzer Kunst” (I know, it makes no sense but it sounds sooooo cool doesn’t it?).  Aside from battling evil cyborg monstrosities as a Hunter-Warrior (bounty hunter) and competing in an arena-style bloodsport called "Motorball" (think Rollerball on steroids played by cyborgs) for entertainment, Alita is just a typical big-eyed teenage girl resembling Christina Ricci.  In a nutshell A:BA is a coming-of-age story about innocence, self-discovery, young love and profound loss.

 

Directed by genre veteran Robert Rodriguez (alas, JC only produced this one), whose past works I greatly admired, A:BA is at its heart a B-movie with the bells and whistles of a blockbuster tent-pole A-movie (reportedly it had a budget of over $200 million).  The cutting-edge CGI is sheer eye-candy (as it should be given its budget), even if the storyline is a deeply familiar one.  I would suggest watching it in IMAX 3D as I did to get the most out of the experience.  Here’s hoping its last scene truly hints at a sequel. 

Grade: A-