Alita Battle Angel: An Unfortunate Cinematic Mistake

hello YouTube it's your boy Vito another one of my famous movie reviews now you're probably looking at me and thinking I'm gonna review the number one movie in America wrong wrong I'm gonna review a movie only I care about anime we've garbage made for little boys like me I'm going to review that alonzo Lolita is my favorite manga series of all time a dark cyberpunk universe filled with deadly cyborg bounty hunters intense martial arts battles and complicated psychological themes that I couldn't really find good footage of so let's just watch a guy explode that's why I was very excited when in 2004 James Cameron announced he was working on a film adaptation we're in pre-production right now on a project called battle angel which is something I've been working on for several years and we're just we're finishing up the the shooting draft right now we've been designing it it's a big science-fiction film I mean this was the man who made Terminator another legendary story about a dystopian techno future and the complex relationship between man and machine to have him directing Alita sounded like a slam dunk and if I know anything about sports ball slam dunks are good Cameron seemed enthusiastic and promised he would get to work on his adaptation just as soon as he was done with another project some weird nonsense about blue-skinned alien people on a magic Pocahontas adventure Oh oh god oh god what is this oh god make it stop now after the release of Avatar Aleta fans like me got some bad news see avatar was very successful like top grossing movie of all time successful avatar has done what no other film could do in the past 12 years topping 1.8 billion dollars worldwide so it turned out that rather than jump into directing Aleta Cameron was already hard at work on an avatar sequel okay we said well we've waited this long for a Nolita movie I guess we can wait a little bit longer oh okay he's also gonna make an avatar 3 though I okay well we can keep an in avatar 4 ok ok wait 5 they're making 5 avatar movies Cameron you said up now most of us Elina fans just assumed the movie adaptation was dead in the water until almost a decade later when we found out it was actually moving into production we found out that Cameron wouldn't be directing but he would be the executive producer well that could be fine as long as he lines up a solid sci-fi director someone like Joss Whedon Neill Blomkamp JJ Abrams just don't let him touch the script but Cameron said nah [ __ ] those guys let's get the director of Spy Kids 4d what the [ __ ] amarant you gave the movie to rob rod are you high look I know he directed Sin City which showed how to turn a black-and-white comic book into a movie but he also directed Sin City 2 which was [ __ ] terrible so whatever anyway I managed to stomach my fears about rob rod potentially steering this franchise off a cliff and got myself in full Elita hype mode i purchased my limited edition Elita ice-t I went to the Alita puzzle room experience with Jenny Nicholson who still refuses to talk to Jenny talk to me I'm not a bad person I swear whatever and I bought my ticket to the exclusive fan preview screening which was jam-packed with myself and about 8 other people this movie did not sell a lot of tickets and so what is my review of this movie that I have patiently waited over a decade for it's it's decent I'll give it a solid B B - OH thanks for watching my review don't forget to like and share on the blogosphere check out our exclusive webisodes from snap chick just kidding look there's a lot I like about this movie okay it's definitely the best anime adaptation Hollywood's ever given us though obviously that is a very low bar to clear I also have to give credit to rosa Salazar's fantastic performance as a leader and a special nod to Robert Rodriguez for finding a way for Alena to decapitate a woman and still get a pg-13 rating good work buddy and of course I have to be realistic obviously taking a thirty-year-old hyper-violent comic book written for Japanese businessmen and adapting it into an all-ages Hollywood blockbuster was going to result in some major creative changes that being said I can't help but feel a bit disappointed to see some of the strange creative decisions that were made transforming one of the greatest science fiction stories of all time into an above-average superhero movie there are so many reasons this movie stumbles for me but I'm gonna try and focus on what I think are the biggest and dumbest problems with Alita battle angel let's get into it number one iron city looks like Margaritaville a lead-up battle angel is set in iron city a harsh post-apocalyptic metropolis where the strong prey on the weak or at least that's how Hugo puts it it's a harsh world the strong prey on the weak down here yeah it's a harsh world all right that's why everybody spends their days rollerblading going to fun Street cafes playing steel guitar shopping for gourds these people are truly living in hell no they aren't this looks fun what this is the most fun place to live ever it's a vibrant colorful community in the manga iron city is a violent cyberpunk slum you get the feeling that every time you go outside there's a 20% chance some psychopath cyborg is gonna snatch you up and feed on your brains in the movie everybody looks like they're about to invite me to a fun dockside margarita party look at these outfits it's everything so clean it's a struggle to survive down here thank god we've got tide altra clean it's got to be tied now maybe this sounds like I'm nitpicking my longtime nemesis Tim Rogers from kotaku sure thinks so do you like Kotaku TOCOM I love it he writes one of my dumb friends that's me was saying on Facebook how he hated how happy everyone looked in the dystopia I just appreciated how different and colorful it was from others stereotypical dystopias it reminded me of Final Fantasy 15 well Tim Final Fantasy 15 fun sucks as does the set and costume design of this movie because here's the thing one of the major plot elements of the movie is this idea that iron City is so [ __ ] awful that you'd resort to kidnapping and dismembering people just to escape Hugo's desperate struggle to make it to zalem makes a lot more sense in the original where we see that he lives in squalor in this horrible hobo Shack surrounded by old crippled alcoholics but in the movie he's got a six studio apartment at the heart of a vibrant city center I've lived in shittier apartments than this why does Hugo want to leave iron City he's got a sick place a cool motorcycle and a hot robot girlfriend you're living the dream buddy I'd say you're trying to follow in the footsteps of your deceased brother but oh [ __ ] they deleted that entire plot point from your character you have no motivation to want to leave call me old-fashioned but I went into this movie hoping for a classic blade runner style future dystopia what I got was a bunch of cargo shorts and flip-flops no sir I don't like it number two doc Ito is a weird dead Ito is one of my favorite characters from the original manga a troubled man torn between two lives that of a benevolent doctor and that of a ruthless hunter warrior that's why I thought Christoph Waltz was a perfect casting choice a man known for his masterful for trails of charismatic men hiding a strange darkness within them unfortunately the movie version of Ito is completely missing that darkness in fact he's more like a stereotypical sitcom dad one who just happens to kill people with a giant rocket hammer if you Rick this body I can't fix it this is technology see in the manga we learned that edo hunts for mostly selfish reasons not for money or honor but because he craves the thrill of the hunt the ecstasy of a good kill honestly he's not exactly right in the head he just loves killing but the movie gives him an alternate reason for becoming a hunter-warrior a slightly too convenient story about him getting revenge on the drug-crazed motor Balder who killed his adorable crippled daughter it's never an ugly kid in the backstory is it it's always some perfect little white girl with her broken legs Danny I can't wait to have legs I love you daddy Oh No oh I'm dead oh now well this might give the audience a more clear explanation for exactly why ito became a hunter it's far less compelling like most of the other creative changes in the film it feels like Cameron and Rodriguez are trying to strip away anything even slightly resembling moral ambiguity so they can present us with a clean and simple tale of good guys fighting bad guys since ito is supposed to be one of the good guys I guess it's too complicated to also have him be a bloodthirsty weirdo James Cameron has actually said many times that he thinks the mangas most intriguing theme is the father-daughter relationship between ito and Lita which which is an interesting part of the series sure but I think he didn't pay close attention to or purposefully ignored the many complexities of that relationship in the manga ito is not some perfect magic dad there's shades of grey yes he's a loving father figure but he's also a weirdly obsessive creep Boyd who had to learn that Aleta was not his doll to control I think what's most hilarious about all this though is that though the movie tries to get rid of all of Ito's creepiness it then has him do what is probably the creepiest thing ever by giving Ally to his dead daughter's name and leftover body parts you built this body for her her name was Aleta the movie tries to make this seem sentimental it's not it's insane who does this okay if your kid dies you don't adopt a new kid and treat them like a replacement for the dead one hello new parents my name is Jimmy no it is it your name is Bradley too and time will tell if you are able to live up to the spirit of Bradley one now go put on this wig we made out of his hair I'm sorry man but naming alena after his dead kid is way creepier than anything Ito ever did in the manga what on earth were you thinking number three too much motor ball alright now it honestly feels like sacrilege to say this but I really don't think motor ball should have been in this movie as you can't do a little about multiple it's just a law against a state law yes motor ball is awesome and it makes for some very cool action sequences but unfortunately it doesn't really add anything to the plot and the huge chunks of movie time devoted to exploring this futuristic roller derby would have been much better spent fleshing out the world of iron city most specifically the world of the hunter warriors now it's supposed to be a major storyline moment when Aleta makes the decision to register as a hunter warrior [Music] state your business I'm here to register as a hunter-warrior but in the movie this scene seems almost pointless considering Aleta never once goes bounty hunting after she registers like why did she even sign up just so she could go to the bar seriously there is no bounty hunting in this movie about cyborg bounty hunters and then they [ __ ] tease us with this little part where you think she's gonna go bounty hunting to raise money for her stupid boyfriend how much more do you need before you can go 9 UK I can make that in bounties I'll just figure out who has the highest prices on their heads and then I'll take them out no I can't ask you to do that for me no it's her job she wants to go kill people let her do it why you have a better solution for how to raise money vector wants you to try out for secondly oh good she's gonna play motor ball I'm so glad that there will be a third motor ball sequence in this movie thank God now I hate to play armchair scriptwriter but let's imagine there was a scene in the movie where Aleta and Edo go bounty hunting together and to add some drama to it let's say they they find the target and learn that the target has a family he has a young son this would be the moment our idealistic young heroine learns the reality of being a hunter warrior Edo could explain to her the hunter's code and as she makes the kill she would finally begin to understand the cold reality of her new profession okay wait okay that's a scene from Django Unchained oh it's the same actor also okay so not exactly that but imagine a scene where they do explore what it means to be a hunter-warrior this idea of this hunters code putting aside your emotions and coldly performing your duty no matter what because without that scene this later moment with Hugo it makes no sense interference between a licensed hunter warrior in his as a violation of factory law and hunters : he's mine that make the kill not once has she shown any sort of allegiance to this supposed code and we're supposed to believe there's a chance she's gonna kill her boyfriend because of some code for hunters which she barely is you know there's no room for love will Massey announce his cold she doesn't hunt why does she care again this is Cameron and Rob rod trying to strip all the moral ambiguity out of this movie they want a leader to be a stock inspirational female character she represents I think a certain kind of female empowerment that we need and that can be a messy thing to communicate when that same character lops people's heads off for money I get it but I really still wish they had found a way to make it work to show Aleta as a hunter warrior instead of just taking the lazy way out in focusing almost entirely on motor ball yes those scenes were really cool but if you were planning on this being a franchise you could have saved it for the sequel number four the final champion now in the manga the rules about zalem are very clear nobody goes there except as a pile of body parts and the movie has the same rule if you're born on the ground you stay on the ground and no amount of money can change that except for one insanely stupid exception the only one way to get from the lower world dissolvent is to become final champion what the heck why so I'm supposed to be a cold dictatorship which barely considers the surface dwellers anything more than slave labour but in this movie they're apparently super interested in people with the ability to race really quickly around a track on laser skates and jam a ball and a hoop I mean really it just doesn't make any sense this is like if you ran a totalitarian state completely cut off from the rest of the world but then started letting in random basketball stars Shh that actually happened okay maybe it does make perfect sense whatever point is this seems like a really lazy way to try and set up the sequel where I assume a lead is gonna get really good at motor ball defeat Jai Courtney in the big motor ball race and winter self a golden ticket to zalem you know because we didn't get enough otter ball in this first movie but seriously don't you think you'd change up the rules if the final champion was a dangerous cyborg terrorists basically sworn to destroy your leader uh sir it looks like Aleta is competing in the motor ball championship if she wins she's gonna come here and kill everybody so maybe maybe we could change the rules so the final champion doesn't get to come to zalem I'm sorry those are the rules final champion gets to come to zalem doesn't do that you can't change it now okay sure but maybe we could come up with a different way to prevent this Frances didn't she destroy like a dozen of our law enforcement robots and the hunter warrior registry building it isn't gross destruction of government property a capital offense like why don't we just put a bounty on her head why are we shut up you shut up right now okay final champion gets to go to zalem those are the rules okay prepare the turbolift and god help us all number five Nova in the machine now while there's a couple different people I could blame for this movie's various shortcomings there's one name I keep coming back to Edward Norton I mean I mean dusty Nova it's not Edward Norton's fault it's his character now the movie version of Nova is wildly different from his manga counterpart and the manga Nova is actually an outcast from zalem similar to Edo and in fact an entire arc of the manga involves a leader working for zalem to hunt Nova down but in the movie Nova is not only still living in zalem but there are strong suggestions that he's actually its leader or at least someone high enough up the food chain that he was the primary target of the invading Martian armies Nova he's the dragon that must be slave that's okay why again it's dumbed down screenwriting the audience is too dumb to understand that the evil city and the evil scientist might be operating independently of each other so we better make the evil scientist the leader of the evil city so the soft brains in the audience don't get confused and pee their pants also the stupid-ass audience I get confused about who's working for who so let's just make it so that all the other villains in the movie are Nova's puppet slaves that's a good way to establish meaningful villains let me know that they don't have free will this is such a bizarrely stupid plot device and I have no idea what purpose it serves other than to ruin the character of vector marsala I can't pronounce his name this guy is a good actor okay and he should have been allowed to shine as the ruthless king of iron City he should have been the main villain of the movie factor you prick I should have known well you should have known my friend is that no one is greater than the game but making him into a weird brain slave completely stripped some of his agency it it makes me feel bad for him like I don't know if he's actually evil or he's just evil because he has a [ __ ] ship in his brain for all I know he's only doing this because he knows if he doesn't know Bo's gonna fry his synapses hey this is a terrible terrible creative choice but that's not even the main issue I have with Nova what I really take issue with is that having him as this all-seeing puppet master kind of destroys the core theme of the original story see the original deals a lot with this idea of karma the question of whether your struggle to survive is truly Noble and good or whether it's ultimately pointless that no matter how much you struggle the universe really doesn't give it this theme plays out perfectly in the manga we see Hugo broken close to madness climbing the supply tubes towards zalem he's just learned that his years of struggle his desperate struggle to survive has all been pointless and so like a madman he yells at the city like he's yelling at God saying look at me look at what I've given up I've sacrificed everything why is my struggle not recognized and rewarded but then Aleta shows up and tells him Hugo your struggle is recognized by me I see how hard you have struggled and I am your reward your reward is love I can't tell you whether or not God or the universe recognizes what you've been through but I'm still here I'm here for you and I love you and that's what matters and in that brief moment he'll go and the reader are given a reprieve we believe that maybe there is such a thing as fate that maybe good things come to good people and then it's metal Frank must you go in half and he falls to his death and again were forced to wonder did the struggle truly matter was all of Hugo's pain and suffering worth that one brief moment of happiness and was all of this the result of fate or was it the work of an uncaring universe that takes and gives without rhyme or reason that's very poetic but you know it would be better if instead of posing a meaningful philosophical question for the audience let's just answer the question is there a god yes his name is Edward Norton and he has a cool shiny computer where he can press two buttons and personally summon a giant death ring and we know that God does this because he's a crazy scientist who thinks the only way to enjoy immortality is to watch others die but the [ __ ] what no seeing the original the giant death ring is an automated security system Hugo basically dies - bad luck not because of anyone's will making nova directly responsible for Hugo's death is its I can't get over how ridiculous it is I almost burst out laughing in the theater like why even make Aleta into a movie if you're gonna take the underpinning for morale of the whole thing and be like now just throw it out it's just about a girl who hates an evil man who lives in the sky rather than reflect on the cold dark nature of the infinite let's just watch this girl with a sword play future basketball so she can earn a golden ticket to go fight the evil sky man and why this one's beautiful and thought-provoking narrative has been reduced to action schlock and I love entertaining action schlock but it's still a bit disappointing anyway even despite my multiple criticisms I'm still happy we finally got a battle Angela Lita movie though it might not have been the movie I wanted it did help to introduce a leader to a whole new generation of fans and I'm insanely happy to see one of the greatest manga series of all time finally getting the recognition it deserves also they gave a kid new arms so really how mean can I be towards this movie like that kid she loves having arms again if you're a fan of comics or manga and you haven't read battle Angela Lita I I have to beg you please check it out there is a new deluxe box set which looks fantastic they rescanned the original manga all of the artwork looks incredible that being said the translation kind of leaves something to be desired it's just a very stiff translation very literal there's a couple grammar errors that I'm not a big fan of oh geez come on it's this is a simple thing with the apostrophe how did you screw that up that being said if you can only get the deluxe edition it's still good but if you can get your hand on the original vis release or if you're good at using Google hello archive.org why why do you have this are you allowed to have this whatever go go read it it's it's fantastic and maybe someday movie audiences will prove themselves ready for a full adaptation one that truly digs into the source material and presents a leader in all of her beautiful r-rated glory probably not I assume everyone will remain dumb and will keep making stupid movies but yeah I don't know I can dream right in conclusion much respect to everybody involved Robert Rodriguez James Cameron and of course battle Angelita creator Yuki toki Shiro all three of you guys kudos some of the greatest creators working today and thank you for entertaining me anyway I guess the only thing to do now is prepare for poor more avatar movies oh god I'm gonna tell you this right now I'm not seeing those movies sober I'm gonna show up to the theater absolutely avatar dude let's do this Cameron avatar so did you like my movie review ok I'm done with this character um thanks for watching this is this makeup is very hot and this wig is this is a nightmare I'm gonna go take all this off but I would really quick like to remind you guys that if you'd like to support my videos please check out my patreon there's a link below right now YouTube keeps you monetizing my videos because I make humour which is a little too edgy even videos what I try to make something that I think is all ages maybe pg-13 level of humor like my DC Cinematic Universe review it's demonetised so in order for me to afford to keep making funny content like this your guys you all my patrons you guys really help me out if you can kick me a doll or a month I really do appreciate it and it really does help me make more content anyway thanks for watching and maybe I'll do a joker review out on it I haven't seen it yet

Channel: Vito

Views: 55,913

Keywords: alita battle angel, alita battle angel trailer, alita battle angel review, alita fight scene, alita review, alita trailer, alita scene, alita ending, alita anime, alita manga, best anime movie, worst anime movie, anime adaptation, alita sequel, battle angel alita, alita: battle angel, battle angel review, battle angel alita review, alita movie review, alita box office, anime movie review, deleted scenes, everything wrong with

Id: 14ksSqcpCt8

Length: 26min 41sec (1601 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/GeassedbyLelouch]

Speaking as someone who's been a fan of Gally (Alita) for about 2 decades, I understand but disagree with his opinion that Iron City is too clean, pretty and safe.
Yes, it does look a whole lot friendlier than in the manga, ... but only if you stick to the first 2 volumes.
The first 2 volumes did their utmost best to show us what a bloody, dirty, degenerated mess the city was. But that was only one side of the city. It served to highlight Ido's need to protect and "prettify" Gally. Later chapters show us a whole other face of the place. Once Gally's turmoil settles down and she finds a place to live, we see a much happier place. In volume 5 Gally has built up a life in the city, a neighborhood she calls home, and people she calls her friends. Is the ugly side of the city still present? Yes, but no longer exclusively. It is here that we see that people can indeed life happy lives. This image is also shown in the side story "Supersonic Finger" which chronologically takes place between volumes 4 and 5. We see the same dirty and dangerous but livable and homely city. Clearly, the first 2 volumes did not show the whole picture, there's more to the city than the bloodshed, the puke, and the drugs.
So, did the movie represent the city as "too nice"? Yes, sure, but not to the extent as some claim. It's far less removed from the manga version than some like saying and it's definitely not that big of a problem. The streets being "too pretty" is a tiny price, and one I'm more than willing to pay, to aid the financial success of the movie and increase the odds of the movie getting a sequel.

I do agree with the moral ambiguity having been removed from Ido and Gally. Fortunately the characters are so good that even with that one aspect removed, they're still great.

I disagree that Vector should have been the main villain of the first movie. Vector's role is already too inflated. He really isn't some mastermind pulling strings, he's just the boss of the black market, he's a businessman unhindered by morals, but he's no ruler from the shadows. If they were to change Vector I would have preferred if they toned down his role and given more backstory and agency to Makaku (Grewishka). Perhaps keep Gally's final fight with him. Makaku's backstory is probably too gruesome, but show that he too, in the end, was just a human and was also a victim of society and perpetuated the violence he himself was subjugated to