Alita: Battle Angel!

Cafe Society
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<<<THERE WILL BE OPEN SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!!!>>>

Alita: Battle Angel is set to be released mid-February (I’'ve seen both the 13th and the 14th listed), after an incredibly long production.

“How long?”, you may be asking. Well, we’ve had threads about it before, but they were brief and have prolly been forgotten.

James Cameron -> Battle Angel Alita is a thread from 2005 that Sage Rat started.
James Cameron to make “Battle Angel” trilogy is from 2008, courtesy of Sattua.

I thought we had another one just this past year, but for some reason I didn’t find it in my search.

Anyway, it’s here! I started this thread now because there is a sneak preview in over 30 cities in a few days and I thought people might want to know about that and might want to discuss the film.

Tickets for the sneak preview are available free except for providing a valid email address. Yes, I’m sure this gets you in a bunch of data sets; sorry, but that’s modern life. :stuck_out_tongue:

Okay, now: the movie!

I have not read the manga at all. I know nothing about this story other than what the movie previews have shown me and frankly may not read much of this thread until after I see the film on Thursday night. But what I do know and see is knocking my fucking socks off.

So far the hype is low level unless you’re paying attention; but if you’re paying attention, it’s starting to go thru the roof. Mr. Cameron made a video for Instagram and Facebook to personally announce the sneak preview, for instance.

I have really high hopes for this film. It looks exciting, action-packed and thoughtful, with an emphasis on the characters and their emotional bonds; I hope it really is like that and not just a stupid CGI-fest (like Avatar).

Who’s with me?

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Yeah, I remember James Cameron saying this movie was his next…unless he got that Avatar movie going.

I hope it works out to be a good movie.

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You know Cameron didn’t direct this right? It was by Robert Rodriguez, who kind of sucks.

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Those eyes! And they get a pass because the character is supposed to be genetically/cybernetically enhanced.

Re. free tickets: “Seating is on a first-come first-served basis” “theater is overbooked to ensure full house”. I may just wait until the regular release.

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Yes, I am aware. The screenplay is by James Cameron and he remains a producer. It’s the same project as he was working on a long time ago; he just isn’t directing it. Laeta Kalogridis co-wrote the script back in 2005-2007 with him and that script is the one in use.

So, he didn’t direct, but it is the same movie.

Robert Rodriguez, if controlled and monitored, could do a great job.

This could be a disaster or a great thing. Or nothing much at all.

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I know that, but I’m glad: I’ve enjoyed far more of Mr. Rodriguez’s films than I have Mr. Cameron’s.

I seem to be nearly alone in finding the eyes interesting and attractive and not at all creepy.

Aye. There’s the possibility that I’ll have to wait until the actual release to see it, too. But I figure I’ll show up early (rather than pass out) and hope for the best.

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Agreed. I hope it’s an amazing, fun and exciting movie. But it could be another Mortal Engines (although A:BA cost more: $200M is what I’ve seen).

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I had a WTH moment when I saw the eyes, then I laughed. It’s kind of creepy to tell the truth, but I’ll watch it out of curiosity.

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The eyes definitely put her into the Uncanny Valley, but then, this is a character who should be in the Uncanny Valley. That’s part of the point: That she’s not exactly human.

I’ve never read the manga, but I did see the anime, way back in the day. The ending was a major downer-- I have to wonder if this version will keep that, or give her a happy ending. And I’m honestly not sure which I’d prefer.

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Colour me surprised that they are actually offering tickets to showings in Canada for this. However, not surprisingly, the show is already at capacity.

Fingers crossed for stand by.

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Huh, this could be fun. I’m getting a kind of unselfconsciously campy wibe from the trailer. I really liked last year’s Ready Player One (and the book, natch) so this might be for me. Thanks for the tip!

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I did not get in to the sneak preview. I got to the theatre about 35 minutes early and there were already about 300 people in line. I was maybe 50 or 60 back when they told us it was full and there were at least 100 people behind me.

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Did anyone get to see it? Toronto showing was full as well.

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I got in last night here in New Orleans. I got in line 1.5 hours early.

The showing was on the Dolby Screen, and they had some brand new (at least I had never seen them around here) Dolby 3D glasses that we were told can not leave the auditorium under any circumstances (leave them on your seat if you go to the bathroom!).

The movie wasn’t bad but I did have problems with the the main character and her eyes. The behind the scenes showed how they did some of the “performance capture” stuff for her, and I wonder if the way they animated the character was still a problem for me or if the performance capture did it’s job well and it was just that the actress was bad. Hard to say.

The Q&A at the end was OK, Robert Rodriguez always impresses me and Christoph Waltz had some particularly good insights I thought.

I’m not familiar with the anime or manga, but it definitely set things up for a sequel so I’m not sure if the story was complete or not.

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One of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes from the sneak preview said that they condensed more than one book for this movie (I think I read that there are 3).

Would you give the movie a thumbs up or thumbs down? Wanna go further and rate it 1-10?

The RT entries are all over the place, from “boring” to “awesome!” but there aren’t many reviews posted yet so it’s hard to tell if the 37% Fresh is a reliable indicator.

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Aren’t Alita/Gally’s head and face biological? I don’t understand the huge eyes, which are off-putting and must have required considerable effort/budget in postproduction.

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Well, I’m less optimistic now than I was in 2005. I had some hope that Cameron would preserve the philosophy and gloom from the comic, but the trailers have given zero sense of that. If it’s just “cute robot beats people up” for two hours, it’s really not Alita. It’s just “Alita themed action movie”.

I expect to still like it, but I’ll go into it expecting an action flick, not an a genuine Alita movie - similar to going in to one of the new Star Trek films.

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I think (but am not certain) that the only biological part of her is the brain and spine. The head and torso are from before she was almost-deaded, but like I think I remember that she had cracks in her face when Ido first found her.

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I would not call it boring, so there’s that. I actually have a hard time seeing as anyone would think it was. It kept me interested and involved throughout.

I think I would probably give it a 7, and actually I am looking forward to seeing it again in theatres (I have AMC A-list, so that’s not THAT big of a commitment though lol).

I’m not sure if I would’ve liked it as much not on the big screen though, so much like Avatar I doubt I will seek it out once it has left theatres.

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I don’t think they mentioned this, I was under the impression that her face was supposed to be biological as well. I don’t think she had cracks in her face in the movie.