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Before I go into my thoughts on the film, I want to just ask that folks who enjoy anime, especially sci-fi anime, go see this movie even if you have trepidations on it. It's the first live-action anime that is almost to a fault faithful to the original, has a staggering budget, and somehow managed to pull it all off despite its setbacks. If you want more direct adaptations like this and not "reimaginings" like Dragon Ball Evolution, it would be good if this movie was a success. Not only that, but the visuals in this film are just top loving notch, seriously, and deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible. I've been a huge fan of Battle Angel Alita(GUNNM in Japan) for decades now, ever since it was first brought to the US in the mid-90's. It's one of my favorite cyberpunk series and when david cameron announced he wanted to make a movie version of it like 50 years ago, I was excited as hell. Then things kept delaying it and then Avatar stymied any potential development for it. But he handed off the reigns to Robert Rodriguez in order to ensure it got made, wrote the story himself, and now here we are with it actually in theaters! I saw it yesterday, and it was an absolute joy, a blitzkrieg-paced movie that stumbled in a few places but overall maintained people's interest throughout. The characters were memorable, the visuals were some of the best I've seen in a movie, and the story, while so rapid-fire that some parts didn't get fleshed out as much as they needed to, was fantastic. It has Alita, awakening with amnesia in Doctor Ido's cyborg clinic, and slowly growing from an unsure, cautious girl into a confident, determined warrior. Hugo is probably the weakest part of the film to me, I didn't particularly like his acting much, but it wasn't disastrously bad or anything. The way the movie remixes the storylines in the first three volumes of the manga felt natural and while it does reimagine some aspects of the plot such as the origins of Zalem and such, it maintains a lot to such a rigid degree that some thought it a bit awkward, such as direct line reads of dialogue from the english translation of the manga, but those felt endearing to me. Hell, the way the villains said some things that were just so hammy, gave them a lot more character than most disposable thugs in movies. Alita's eyes were a huge sticking point for a lot of people, but it largely became invisible within about 20ish minutes of the movie, it just became an aspect of how different she was from the regular flesh-and-blood humans in Iron City. Zapan was probably my favorite character in the film, not only was his CGI so convincing it was legitimately hard not to see him as an actual cyborg on the set, but his depiction was stellar, the acting was flawless, and he's just as much of a bastard as he was in the original manga. If you saw this movie and enjoyed it, it only covers about ~1/3 of the original manga, which ended at 9 volumes before continuing into two sequels, BAA: Last Order and BAA: Martian Chronicles. Comixology as of right now has the entire 9 volumes available in their Unlimited subscription, and I highly suggest giving it a read after seeing the movie if you've never experienced it. The original manga was an incredible cyberpunk tale and some of the dystopian things it does(Deckmen in particular) were super hosed up but totally made sense in the setting. Last Order and Martian Chronicles continue the story and take it in some really goddamn wild directions, as well as having some of the best artwork in any manga I've read, up there with One Punch Man and similar. The depictions of transhumanism in Last Order are some of my favorites in any fiction. Please go see the movie. Take friends, just get the word out.
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Feb 18, 2019 03:59
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Seconding this because I really had a good time watching this movie. Watch it in theaters with friends, even if they don't know anything about the OG Manga.
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Feb 18, 2019 04:17
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It was the best adaptation I think anyone could have pulled off. It's nowhere near perfect, but I didn't walk out of the movie upset. That's a pretty big deal considering how nervous I was for this one.
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Feb 18, 2019 05:59
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I think the one thing fans of alita complained about the most is desty nova not eating flan in his first appearance, honestly
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Feb 18, 2019 06:26
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Saw the movie, had opinions about it. The big thing that I wasn't expecting to blow me away was the city itself. Everything about Iron City was gobsmacking. You get a ton of close up looks at the architecture, the vehicles, and the people that live there. There are also some big overhead shots that I couldn't get enough of. I usually wasn't sure if I was looking at a practical effect or cgi. Seriously amazing work there. The big letdown, for me, was the soundtrack. It's all just generic classical 'movie music'. I've seen people saying that this movie really gets the anime vibe and translated that to the big screen, but without a stylish soundtrack, I'm not feeling it. I wish they had taken some inspiration from The Matrix and given this movie some sick beats with choreographed action. Alita herself was cool. If I had to describe the work done on her animation, I'd call it 'deliberately perfect'. They completely sold the idea that she was a superhuman character just with the way she moved around. It was very faithful to the source material, maybe to a fault. I sounded dumb as hell every time someone said 'Hunter Warrior', and they said it a lot. The supporting cast sucked. Dr. Igo in particular. It seemed like they were trying to do their best by delivering their cheesy lines as earnestly as possible. That one cyborg guy made it work by just being a huge prick all the time, he was cool. A pretty good movie overall, but it must have cost a butt-ton of money to make. I get the feeling they won't get the sequel they set themselves up for.
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Feb 18, 2019 11:10
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I thought Ido was good enough. I wasn't a big fan of his ex-wife though, or Hugo. Zapan, Vector, and Grewishka were great, though, so basically, most of the good guys weren't great and most of the bad guys were fantastic. Nova was basically a non-entity, which is disappointing, but I understand why. I was a bit worried he wouldn't be his eccentric self but the comment he made after vector gets stabbed gave me a lot more hope if a sequel gets made that he'd be portrayed well. Just needs the flan, though. Also, they explicitly moved the appearance of the old man hunter warrior who has a pack of cyborg dogs up to the beginning arcs so they could put him in the first movie, which I heartily approve. Good puppers.
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Feb 18, 2019 12:25
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I haven't had a chance to go see it yet but I had to share this https://twitter.com/vintagecoats/status/1097508484155928576?s=19
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Feb 18, 2019 16:20
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no
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Feb 18, 2019 19:28
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This movie sucked because 1) William Dafoe did not play Desty Nova and 2) Desty Nova did not eat flan at the last second. Otherwise it was a solid movie, probably worth seeing if you can stomach that it’s not William Dafoe as Desty and that there is no flan in this movie. 1/5 stars try harder next time, James Cameron. Go see the movie.
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Feb 18, 2019 21:15
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The film rules.Maxwell Adams posted:The supporting cast sucked. Dr. Igo in particular. It seemed like they were trying to do their best by delivering their cheesy lines as earnestly as possible. Gonna disagree with this. The movie being earnestly cheesy was one of the best things about it. Dr. Igo was great. Soundtrack was definitely "meh," though. Anyway, if Robocop is a 5, this film is a high 4.5.
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Feb 18, 2019 21:38
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I went with a friend on Tuesday, expecting to be entertained and there was like 8 of us in the theater. I'm very worried about how this movie will perform, because it exceeded my expectations, despite a few flaws. Like, the whole romance bit was bad, but I watched the original and uh, yeah, they actually kinda improved on the source material. A bit. Sitting in the window staring at your sleeping boy/girl-friend is still really creepy.
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Feb 18, 2019 21:44
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Mordaedil posted:Sitting in the window staring at your sleeping boy/girl-friend is still really creepy. Oh come on that was loving hilarious in the movie, Hugo's reaction is what makes it
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Feb 18, 2019 22:39
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I liked the movie quite a bit. Don't know if I'll still be thinking about it a year from now or anything, but probably a B+ effort at worst. Alita herself was really well portrayed and compelling, and as much as I laughed it off when shots of her big eyes first started making the rounds on twitter they actually worked really well at making her more expressive and emphasizing her ever-so-slightly alien nature. Movie as a whole had great choreography and staging and an earnest nature that combined to more than carry it for me.
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Feb 18, 2019 23:56
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My Boomer parents went out to watch it before I did and apparently they liked it alot
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Feb 19, 2019 00:29
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Keean Johnson and Rosa Salazar have zero chemistry. huge waste of Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly, too i will Die Mad About It
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Feb 19, 2019 05:09
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Spoilers, obviouslyTekne posted:I can't believe this wasn't the post credits scene.
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Feb 20, 2019 05:14
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I just...I'm sorry, I can't get over the eyes.
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Feb 22, 2019 12:55
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Pollyanna posted:I just...I'm sorry, I can't get over the eyes. The uncanny effect made it a fairly good reminder through the movie that she was not a human, to me.
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Feb 22, 2019 13:07
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The eyes never bothered my and I didn't even notice until other people mentioned it lol
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Feb 22, 2019 13:14
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Pollyanna posted:I just...I'm sorry, I can't get over the eyes. Deal with it, you babyanna
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Feb 22, 2019 14:02
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I know I should get over it but goddamn. I kinda wish she was just CG at this point, no halfway-between.
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Feb 22, 2019 14:47
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Pollyanna posted:I know I should get over it but goddamn. I kinda wish she was just CG at this point, no halfway-between.
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Feb 22, 2019 15:26
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Pollyanna posted:I know I should get over it but goddamn. I kinda wish she was just CG at this point, no halfway-between. Literally her whole body was CG, but animated with motion capture.
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Feb 22, 2019 15:38
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This movie owned and one thing I thought was really cool was actually making Motorball fit better, like this is the best kind of adaptation, faithful but recognising the weaknesses in the original that can be changed and actually make it fit the themes/goals/pacing better. Theatre was pretty empty but it was a weekday matinee in the inner city so maybe not the best metric.
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Feb 22, 2019 15:43
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The eye thing was weird for maybe the first 5 minutes but the entire world is filled with such a eclectic mix of peoples and styles that she very quickly blends in.
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Feb 22, 2019 17:41
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I loved the movie and got others to watch it. I wish Mahershala Ali got used more, as he was wasted. The whole Norton reveal was funny because I didn't know about that prior. Seeing how far we have come with practical and CGI effects is crazy. After this, I feel they could do anything well.
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Feb 22, 2019 20:46
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i just got back from watching this. the first half of the movie isn't amazing, i was feeling really let down from how hyped i'd let myself get after reading people's opinions in here and the cined thread the second half of the movie was incredible. everything from the bar fight onward owned like hell. i'm gonna grab some friends and watch it again next week
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Feb 23, 2019 05:48
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i don't think i've had this much pure enjoyment of a film in a theater since mad max: fury road having this be the culmination of something i wrote off as a pipe dream 15 years ago is pretty cool
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Feb 23, 2019 07:32
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ninjewtsu posted:i just got back from watching this. the first half of the movie isn't amazing, i was feeling really let down from how hyped i'd let myself get after reading people's opinions in here and the cined thread It's worth noting that people had really low expectations just going in here. I had basically gone in with "well, I hope the action is good".
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Feb 23, 2019 19:13
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Honestly, I found Alita's razor-sharp brow ridge more distracting than her eyes.
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Feb 24, 2019 05:08
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I saw the movie last night and it was cool and good. Sucks that the trailers make her eyes look so off putting when they actually work pretty well in context. And this is coming from someone who almost passed on the movie because of the eyes
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Feb 24, 2019 19:48
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I gotta say it was strange when my dad was like "have you heard about this alita battle angel movie" and I was like "what the gently caress they actually made that movie and it's out already?" and then saw the thread where people said it was actually good.
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Feb 24, 2019 20:36
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I saw the movie at the behest of this thread and other places praising it, and I'd call it a solid 7.5/10, fun but nothing incredible. Though that's way better than a Hollywood adaptation of a manga has any right to be. The fight scenes were fantastic, the cyborg designs were great, but the dialogue was pretty bad throughout and was my biggest gripe throughout the movie. To it's credit, ending on a female protagonist's unambigous love-interest being killed off and being used as motivation going forward is something I've never seen before.
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Feb 24, 2019 20:58
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How much of the original story, in volumes, was that covering? The comment on the soundtrack is spot on. I had more of a negative opinion than most in here, coming off as something of a throwback, but still thought it a good enough movie I was glad to see it in the theater. It definitely pushed visuals in a very exciting way, especially the world building.
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Feb 25, 2019 00:41
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Spiderdrake posted:How much of the original story, in volumes, was that covering? The movie ends somewhere in 3 with a peek to 4 in the epilogue.
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Feb 25, 2019 03:04
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Saw it last Tuesday because I have $5 tickets courtesy of AMC Stubs. It was incredibly good in delivering entertainment, but really that was kind of it to me. Like, I legit laughed at the fact that you see a poster with "Death" written on it when Alita visits Hugo making it quite clear that he's not making it to the credits. The fights were always amazingly looking and entertaining though reading the manga yesterday, I kind of like Alita's attitude from the comic more and overall I think the thing might have worked better as a high end TV series. Overall though, REALLY good in terms of entertainment.
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Feb 25, 2019 03:46
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I saw it in 3D today and I really enjoyed it. I basically didn’t notice the eyes at all. Everything felt so dense I was amazed it was only 2 hours, but it worked well as an adaptation without relying on being a 1:1 retelling
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Mar 1, 2019 01:08
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When I first watched it, I was told "you stop noticing the eyes after like 5 minutes," when I went to watch my first reaction was "eugh, that looks awful, no way I'll stop noticing," and then I stopped noticing after like 15 minutes
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Mar 1, 2019 04:17
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Yeah 15 minutes was the amount of time I tell folks it takes to stop noticing the eyes (outside of extreme closeups of course) and that has held true for the most part
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Mar 1, 2019 05:01
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Honestly, even when I was still noticing them, I thought the movie did a good enough job using them to establish Alita's ever-so-slightly-off-ness and emphasize her facial expressions that I didn't really mind at all. I was expecting her to look super out-of-place, but in context with the rest of the movie she really doesn't. Not in any way that she's not supposed to, anyway.
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Mar 1, 2019 05:20
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