Many of my manga firsts happened in my middle school library. I think the strangest aspect of their selection, looking back, is how adult some of it was. I can’t recall if there was a rating system to them, but it seemed as though there might have been a list of approved novels, but not a list of approved comics, especially foreign comics. This is how I encountered Battle Angel Alita. The misinformed education system’s ignorance was my bliss. Either that, or some crafty librarian wasn’t afraid to get fired. And in their defense, it wasn’t like the translated manga had a wide breadth of work to offer. Possibly inspired by the success of Akira in the late 80’s, the spectrum of shipped anime was limited to teen serials like Ranma, re-imagined after school shows like Robotech, hard shonen like Dragon Ball Z, and finally violent sci-fi like Sin or Kite. The 90’s American anime scene was dominated by the hyper violent, cyber punk, dystopian scene. Sometimes this would include giant robots or maybe super huge or powerful guns. But the one thing they all had in common was a connection to the fragility of life and the strength of will to sustain that life. Better than most anime of its era, Alita taps into the indomitable human spirit by taking the broken shell of a conscious being cobbled back together by goodwill and an undying belief in the power of life.

How does Battle Angel Alita stand up after being in Hollywood limbo for over 20 years? The first thing I noticed was the bones of a film that could have been made all those years ago. Despite being a computer generated tour de force, you can almost taste the practical effects they would have used all those years ago. In fact, when it comes to the character models, most of whom are computer generated to one degree or another, they so completely clear the uncanny valley, you’d think Evil Kenevil himself made the jump. Even more impressive is that many set pieces are real, tangible objects with a clarity that surpass CG juggernaut films coming from the Marvel camp. Robert Rodriguez has accumulated a talent for directing green screen reliant films from his time with the Spy Kids franchise and fine tuned the perfect mixture of real and fantasy with films like Predators and Planet Terror, both on completely different ends of the spectrum. I can’t think of the last time I was this impressed, but I had mixed to low expectations going in, just to give you a balance.

While the backdrop helped drive the film, the acting really took it home. Rosa Salazar as Alita really drew me in. She was able to balance amnesia, innocence, anger, suspicion, strength, weakness and hope all while standing in the front of this incredible graphic space that wanted to pull your eyes in a million directions. It should go without saying that Christoph Waltz pulled his weight. An empathic delight in any role, even when he takes his turn as a villain in other films. His natural gravity lends strength to his other cast members. Jennifer Connelly’s character Chiren is a little more subdued than her story should allow for, but she still stands out with her signature calmness. The story doesn’t do Mahershala Ali any favors, but he still breaks through and pierces the screen with an icy, villainous stare, though he doesn’t get as much screen time as I would have liked. Keean Johnson does a fine job, but he comes off as pretty boy generic, which is really just a problem with his place in the story more than anything. Lastly, Ed Skrein as Zappa almost feels effortlessly entertaining. He really just chews up his role and plays a line between dangerous and clownish perfectly. I will be coming back to this movie for many reasons, but he is going to make it fun all on his own.

Where the movie becomes a bit muddled is in its tone. But, all good cocktails have “muddle” right in the recipe. And that is exactly what Battle Angel Alita is, a mix of Rodriguez movie making mentality. Its cheeky, gorey, funny, dark, and and totally for and not for kids. This was one of the hardest PG-13 ratings I had seen in years. Decades. I had to double check the rating when I left the theater. Back in the 80’s, the heyday of the blockbuster action-adventure film, they didn’t always have the 13 an older marker. Not necessarily because of that, but nonetheless, films that weren’t intended for children were adopted largely by them. Good examples include Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, and even Aliens (seriously click that link, it’s a 1992 Aliens toy commercial). Battle Angel fills a very similar place, although with a specific misalignment. In Jones and Busters, there is no sense of catering to younger viewers, but possibly in capturing the spirit of Japanese culture and ignoring the western barrier between adult and child, the film adopts a childlike nature in some scenes, and a literal deadly focus in others. This jarring presentation is a unlike anything I have seen in the recent past. It was like they took Terminator 2 and mixed in the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer with a hint of Spy Kids and a dash of From Dusk Till Dawn. Alita is an unbalanced cocktail of childlike wonder and violence that goes down hard, but delicious regardless. 

In a time of transition, where people are unsure of their next paycheck or where they will be in 5 years, Alita’s story offers us a beacon of light. It shows us we can be broken, changed, unable to produce in the way we used to. We can evolve, find our passage, and make change in the spirit of good. Robert Rodriguez also creates a new space for Anime fans. That Anime can be translated to the big screen, altered, and still entertaining and insightful across the border of both time and country. If you have read any of my work, you know I have a special place in my heart for the translation of video games and anime, so this really hit home for me. Like El Mariachi, From Dusk Till Dawn, and The Faculty, I will be re-watching this movie for years because of the ingenuity of everyone involved in all of these films.

~* 9/10 *~