Technology moves so fast. Trends evolve so quickly. I indulge in any opportunity I have to bring up what a huge fan I am of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy. I really am. The second decade of the new millennium was the end of 35mm being the dominant format to shoot mainstream motion pictures on². And Lucas shot a big studio movie on HD video before anyone else when he captured Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002, Lucas) on the CineAlta³. Then Charlie captured Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003, Rodriguez) on the CineAlta too.
I’m leaving Michael Mann out of this conversation because Lucas and Rodriguez used HD video as a rival to film, but Mann obviously shot on HD exploring some gritty grainy digital noise aesthetic—nothing against him, I love the look of Collateral (2004, Mann), Miami Vice (2006, Mann), and Public Enemies (2009, Mann).
So not only do I love Attack of the Clones and Sin City as movies, but in another way they’re historically groundbreaking CineAlta-shot VFX worlds of escapism that foreshadow the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I’m a big fan of George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez going all in with the CineAlta at a time when everyone was saying video would never replace film.
Oh yeah and there’s Weta Digital—Peter Jackson’s VFX co. that sometime around Gollum became the foremost technical leaders in MoCap. Weta is responsible for Avatar (2009, James Cameron) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018, Anthony Russo & Joe Russo) among others.
Like Sin City, Charlie has adapted a graphic novel into something his own with Alita: Battle Angel (2019, Rodriguez); although Alita is a different kind of graphic novel—a manga. And it works. Also how characteristically manga is the premise of a middle-aged man finding a teenage cyborg girl in a garbage pile and restoring her back to life? DR. IDO (Christoph Waltz) is noble though. He wears glasses, repairs cyborgs, and matches meekness with altruism.
Alita gave me goosebumps and had me crying empathizing with the innocent girl born again, operating on my emotions and moving me with its fairytale of discarded humanity moral social class-conscious underdog journey all the way up unitl…
…that’s right, I forgot: hi-tech VFX action, battles, weapons, berserker suits, motorball, bountyhunters, and umm, a little parkour.
The plot weaves together an arc encompassing several of the supporting cast and their backstories wonderfully: Ido’s ex-wife CHIREN (Jennifer Connelly), her partner VECTOR (Mahershala Ali), and ALITA’s love interest, HUGO (Keean Johnson). And because Alita takes place in Iron City—much like Sin City—everyone is scheming, the streets are populated with criminals and lowlifes, and is “no place for innocent people.” You know like Neuromancer (thanks, Fat) or another James Cameron script he produced but didn’t direct, Strange Days (1995, Kathryn Bigelow), which was also produced by 20th Century Fox. Strange Days is so rad. The VFX world of Iron City is spectacular and mainly why I chose to see Alita in 3-D, but also because it was shot in 3-D and not post converted. Charlie had his directors monitors playback in 3-D on set. Iron City is the trash infested type of dystopia depicted in Idiocracy (2006, Mike Judge), Thor: Ragnarok (2017, Taika Waititi), and Ready Player One (2018, Steven Spielberg), but so much more detailed, imaginative, elaborate, and fun.
Also thanks to Weta, the VFX of inside Alita’s shell is so cool, especially her heart.
And man Jennifer Connelly is stunning, so gorgeous, serious Hollywood glamour and Nina Proctor’s costumes on her are sci-fi chic mostly monochromatic, her presence really elevates the whole thing.
I could go on praising Alita: Bill Pope’s camera moves, Charlie’s casting of his stock company of cool Mexicans like Eiza González and Michelle Rodriguez. But I have a few minor gripes. Like the deep voiced Centurions just reminded me too much of Idiocracy, I kept waiting for them to add after “wanted for the crime of murder,” “brought to you by Carl’s Jr.” I mean, yeah I realize from Forbidden Planet (1956, Fred M. Wilcox) to Lost in Space robots talk in that kind of deep voice though.
The motorball sequences didn’t really engage me with their action like the other fights did. Maybe because there were just too many different characters and I’d just never thought Rollerball was cool. Also with the cheesy sports announcer it felt basically like the podrace from The Phantom Menace.
And most of the time I was really into Alita, but times like the moment after she shows Hugo her heart and says, “that was intense, right?” with that childish laugh felt off—like NOMI from Showgirls (1995, Paul Verhoeven).
However, major gripes start with the Alita having a main character wail "nooooo" at the film's climax. That's the worst thing a movie can do, see Spider-Man 2 (2004, Sam Raimi) or Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005, Lucas) for other examples. And in addition, the film's ending is setup to launch the franchise built around a serialized cliffhanger. Another thing I love about the Star Wars prequel trilogy is that even though we know it's a trilogy, its installments are self contained and clearly resolved at their respective finales.
¹Robert Rodriguez’s nickname, I have no idea why.
²Since Skyfall (2012, Sam Mendes) most movies shoot on the Arri Alexa HD video camera.
³Sony’s HD cinema-quality motion picture camera.
Trivia:
- Hugo's custom leather jacket and black bandanna/dewrag bear strong resemblance to what Charlie wears in real life.
- The bartender with the eyepatch is the film's stunt coordinator, Garret Warren, who was shot four times, including in his right eye, by a man hired by Warren's ex-wife in real life.
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