Hugo: Doc found you in the scrapyard, so you must be from up there.
Alita: And I’m just an insignificant girl.
Hugo: No, that’s what they want you to think.
The latest sci fi adventure produced and co written by James Cameron as well as Robert Rodriguez who directed the Anime inspired film, Alita: Battle Angel follows Dr. Dyson Ido, nearly 300 years after the fall, where he has now dedicated his new life to finding and restoring cyborgs from the wreckage of war. He discovers and remains of one who touches him in an emotional way and gives her the name Alita as he realizes she is more special than any other cyborg in existence now.
Ultimately the film contains elements of CGI and motion capture as Rodriguez and Cameron uses much of the same techniques used in their previous works including Avatar and Titanic. The detail that Cameron put in the design of all the cyborgs including Alita is comparative to that of the transformation one saw of Sam Worthington’s “Jake Sully” in the 2009 film Avatar.
Additionally, Rodriguez applied the same design to the set and location of Iron City as well as the city in the sky, Zalem. The set pieces used had a very futuristic feeling showing that this story was set way in the future.
The film also stars a stellar cast including “American Horror Story’s” Rosa Salazar as the revived young cyborg who’s ultimate mission is to discover who and what she is. Ultimately Salazar does an exceptional job of portraying a young girl who comes into her surroundings with brand new eyes. She has a keen knack for emotions which is conveyed onto the screen from the first moment on to the last screen shot where she finally realizes her purpose in this advanced futuristic world.
Similarly the way in which she interacts with her cast mates is also exceptional and different for each actor. The interaction between her and Dr. Dyson Ido (played by Christoph Waltz) shows how she has the skills to step into that of a daughter’s role as one sees a slight rebellious attitude as she wants to know who she is. Through this we also see the tragedy of why Dr. Ido is so connected to Alita, more than any other cyborg, he rescued as the body of his daughter is ultimately used to revive the young girl later in the movie.
The other interaction is that of a slight romance as Alita meets early on Hugo (played by Nashville’s Keean Johnson). The spark is almost instant as Alita sees the young boy who is her key to her knowledge of who she is and what she is meant to do, though one might call the ending a bit of a tragedy, it is one that has to be done to set Alita on her path of fighting the true enemy.
The film, based on the graphic novel “Manga” series “Gunnm” by Yukito Kishiro, the film does a great job of showcasing the heart of the story through the eyes of the camera and one can be certain, we have not seen the end of Alita yet.
Alita: Battle Angel came out in theaters February 14 and is currently playing in one near you.