Alita: Battle Angel- Film Review

29 years after the source material first came out, Alita: Battle Angel has finally hit the theatres. I’ve been a HUGE fan of the series since its release in 1990 and over time have waited with bated breath for James Cameron, Mr Terminator/ Aliens/ Titanic/ Avatar to release the film he had optioned for sooo very long. With the success of Avatar, Cameron became too busy and passed the task onto Robert Rodriguez, a great/ good director with a variable success rate. I was concerned when the film was pushed back from its December release date and the trailers, while exciting, had me concerned. The online backlash *sigh* against the size of Alita’s eyes had me concerned that people were sharpening their knives for the film… so with some trepidation I kept away from all review, reports and social media on the film to see it fresh and uninfluenced, and I’m glad I did.

For those not in the know Battle Angel Alita is an ongoing manga comic book series that is a masterful piece of sci-fi. The story tells the dark tale of Alita, a young cyborg girl who is discovered broken but with her brain intact by Dr Daisuke Ido. Ido is delighted with his find and takes Alita to his home and repairs her. Over time there develops a father-daughter bond but Alita has amnesia and is unhappy as she wants to find out more about her mysterious past. Over time she learns that she knows the powerful 'Panzer Kurst' fighting technique and enters the Motorball Tournament, a Running Man/ Rollerball style gauntlet filled with cyborgs and other hideous mechanical marvels.

Over the course of the first 4 graphic novels Alita enters and becomes the champion of Motorball. The other 5 graphic novels see Alita try to live a ‘normal’ civilian life but life has other plans and there are plots to overthrow the floating city and bring equity to the Scrapyard… all pretty heady stuff!

Trying to fit over 1000 pages of comics into 2 hours would not be possible or advisable and so the film covers the first 3 graphic novels. The first 5 minutes of the movie whizz along at a cracking pace and the whole film moves from set-piece to set-piece effortlessly.

The first two series of Alita… clocking in at over 2000 pages easily!

The first two series of Alita… clocking in at over 2000 pages easily!

My heart soared with joy at seeing the scenes I'd imagined in my head for many years play out so spectacularly on the big screen. The scrapyard was bathed in a dirty golden glow as Ido finds Alita's broken body, her head and chest intact. The world of the scrapyard and the mysterious floating city of Zalem is beautifully realised, being one of the best cityscapes since Valarian, Blade Runner 2049 or Ghost in the Shell. The enlarges eyes of Alita drew initial criticism but within the first minute or so they just... blend in. When you have people with cyborg bodies roaming around slightly enlarges eyes on a robot girl seem less jarring, there isn't the uncanny valley that I and many others were worried about.

The fact that the United Republics of Mars - Earth conflict from much of Last Order and Mars Chronicle (the second and third Alita series) is mentioned is a nice inclusion for longtime fans as that’s a pretty deep cut, however it is covered well, as is the Panzer Kunst and Berserker Body. Without heavy exposition the concepts and background are explained, this is good work indeed, especially from a writing team not known for good scripting.

The love story doesn't always work as Rosa Salazar (Alita) is a much stronger actor that Keean Johnson (love interest, Hugo) in this film but the film works for me, not as an apologist for bad manga and anime conversions but generally as a bold sci-fi film. It is the best manga conversion so far and granted the bar was low but as a long time Alita fan (29 years) I was extremely happy with the end result.

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 2- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 1- Comic Review

LINK- Battle Angel Alita: And So It Ends

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Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 5- Comic Review

With volume 5 we are given more insight into Baron Muster, a true comic book villain; all twirling moustache and cackling but in the very best sense. The previous volume had us judge him as a power crazy monster, however a flashback to his youth shows his motivation and brings a bit of humanity into the proceedings. His descent into madness and mania is operatic and tragic but is interspersed with the darkest of humour that Kishiro does so well. He goes full Cronenberg and the body horror is truly grotesque.

We get a little more information on Alita’s origins but yet again, they remain shrouded in mystery as her ‘birth’ is anything but normal. I won’t spoil it here but it Kishiro sure knows how to keep people on tenter hooks.

Vol. 5 goes into deep Martian lore.

Vol. 5 goes into deep Martian lore.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3- Comic Review

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle has shown great promise with volume 1 taking us back to Alita's origin as a young orphaned 80% cyborg child named Yoko living on the war-torn surface of Mars with her friend Erica. Volume 2 returned to the present and had Yoko and Erica fighting after 200 years spent apart. Volume 3 returns us to the past to flesh out the storyline of Yoko and Erica in more detail. Yukito Kishiro has always had a bleak view of the world and here it gets incredibly dark as we find out about Erica's family, the tragedy of her past and maybe her descent to the dark side. We find out how the pair were separated yet their destinies forever entwined.

After she is separated from Yoko, who finds her birth mother, Erica no longer has the positive balance in her life and so when the new big bad- Baron Muster, who sports a horrendous deformity which Kishiro seems to revel in drawing, is revealed it is quite simple to work out why Erica would turn on her friend and become a mercenary.

So overall, this volume introduces yet more characters and more sub-plots but doesn't bring a sense of closure to all the other plot threads, however we now know why Erica turned to the dark side after Yoko left.

This series is setting things up but I hope that it doesn't become like Last Order and drag for too long with incidental characters that go nowhere. At the moment though it succeeds in drawing me in and keeping me invested in this dystopian world.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle Vol. 3 continues the journey of Yoko/ Alita on.

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle- Comic Review

So, after 28 years we have reached the final arc of Alita’s story in Mars Chronicle but has it been worth the wait? I've spoken at length about how the initial 9 graphic novel run of Battle Angel Alita was one of the finest sci-fi tales of all time but the sequel, Last Order, was meandering and overlong at 19 graphic novels. So, does Mars Chronicle return the series to greatness or does it end on a whimper, continuing the downward trajectory with a creator past his best and out of cohesive ideas?
Well, we will have to wait a while to find out but I've read the first graphic novel of the Mars Chronicle, which has been finally translated from the Japanese some 3 years after its initial release, and based on this novel the last arc shows signs of promise.

The novel begins by taking us back to Alita's origin as a young orphaned 80% cyborg child named Yoko living on the war-torn surface of Mars. Yoko and firm friend Erica are brought to an orphanage and start to make friends after a hostile start with young Queen Ninon. The town comes under attack by an army and a battle ensues. All that Yoko and Erica know is destroyed and their friends are killed. It’s exquisitely paced and dramatic, as well as tragic and heartbreaking as the frequent deaths are accompanied by genuine pangs of loss and heartbreak. It’s a real skill for the author to have the reader empathise with some of the characters, who we may only have had the briefest of introductions to.
As this is a flashback to Alita’s origin, we know that she and Erica survive, which removes some of the tension, but Yukito Kishiro ensures that no-one else is safe so anyone can die. He also cranks up the mystery behind how Alita learnt her Panzer Kunst skillset and through the political intrigue on Mars, created an interesting multi-layered story.

The original run of Battle Angel Alita is one of my favorite manga ever. Last Order was a sprawling mess which lost its momentum but still had some great ideas. Mars Chronicle could be a return to form; the setup is all there, a child prophesied for greatness, an alien landscape which is hostile and strange, and the promise of closure at finally finding out who Alita/ Yoko actually is and why she fights in the legendary martial art style. The first volume of Mars Chronicle is good but not extraordinary but I am pleased to be back in the Battle Angel Alita universe, I just hope it keeps its focus and provides long term fans with the closure they want and need. After what will be probably over 30 years I so hope Kishiro sticks the landing of this often masterful series.