Alita: Battle Angel - WARNING: Could get spoilery. Could get NSFW

[MontuckyFried]

Finally watched the Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron film last night.
It was entertaining, at least in terms of the visuals, which really reminded me of the Wachowski's Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending with a bit of Transformers tossed in for good measure (the way the cyborgs moved was similar to how the Autobots and Decepticons move in the those films).
While the film (and subsequently the manga upon which it is based) obviously jacked the concept of Motorball from the classic '70s film Rollerball (and probably Solarbabies, as well), I was surprised to learn that the manga is from the '90s, so the concept of the floating metropolis where rich people live could very easily have influenced more recent films like Elysium (and others). Then again the concept of a floating city dates back to Swift's Gulliver's Travels...and the concept of rich people living above the poor dates back to before medieval times, so it's really nothing terribly new.
The special effects were pretty stunning, especially all of the cyborgs (the final confrontation between Zapan was nuts).
I did find some of the plot and much of the dialogue (especially between Alita and Hugo) to be a bit dumbed down. I actually found the juxtaposition between the R-rated styled violence and the G-rated dialogue to be off-putting and I can see why it didn't fare too well at the Box Office.
Methinks that it would have benefited from being an ongoing series so that the story and characters could have been fleshed out a bit more.
I am intrigued about the manga now, though, and may try and track it down, as well as trying to watch the anima from the '90s.
Not sure if I'm that invested in a sequel or sequels, though.
Off of this said, I do wish I had seen it on the BIG screen with surround sound. That definitely would have made a difference, I believe.

Glad you checked it out! I think much of your analysis is spot on. Now IF we get a sequel, I'm hoping that they just go all in for a hard R on the next ones. You're right about the dialogue versus the action. It does seem a bit out of the ordinary, but now that I think about it, it's pretty similar to the source material in that regard. If they were just trying to spice up the dialogue unnecessarily, it would just be another Hollywood bastardization of a story. I always felt that too many movies who rely on that are just poorly written. Don't get me wrong. Tarantino makes an ART out of witty dialogue laced with heavy cursing. Many others try too hard though and it just comes across as cheesy.

I wonder if they'll ever go for the nudity in the sequels. Don't see why NOT since it'd be just CGI cyborg anatomy which would be artificial anyway, but you know how people are. There are a couple scenes from the books that I wouldn't mind seeing Rosa Salazar recreating. Haha. And it's not just because of her looks (which are CGI overlaid anyway) but her mannerisms. Her acting is what made the character so damn good. She's so lovely.

[Tippster]

Cool movie. I liked it.

[From_the_NEK]

I finally watched it and really liked it. As others of said, letting go and making the sequel(s) R rated would definitely benefit the story.
now to read the manga when I have some time

[MontuckyFried]

now to read the manga when I have some time

Do it! Stat! I'm about halfway through Last Order - Omnibus 1 and man the author switched gears big time. Whereas the primary series kind of sets the stage and leaves a LOT of the world a mystery, Last Order gets way more hard Sci-Fi. They get into what happened to Earth and why it's so crappy, they get into who's controlling everything, and then the scope gets even bigger, like interplanetary power struggles, wars and what not. I am seriously digging it.

Reading through the series, one of the biggest themes has to be existentialism. Like more hardcore on that than I've ever seen anyone attempt to do before. The author makes you REALLY ponder on what is it to be human. Oh, and kind of like Game of Thrones, NOBODY's safe from the author's wrath. Haha. It's a trip.

[From_the_NEK]

Do it! Stat! I'm about halfway through Last Order - Omnibus 1 and man the author switched gears big time. Whereas the primary series kind of sets the stage and leaves a LOT of the world a mystery, Last Order gets way more hard Sci-Fi. They get into what happened to Earth and why it's so crappy, they get into who's controlling everything, and then the scope gets even bigger, like interplanetary power struggles, wars and what not. I am seriously digging it.

Reading through the series, one of the biggest themes has to be existentialism. Like more hardcore on that than I've ever seen anyone attempt to do before. The author makes you REALLY ponder on what is it to be human. Oh, and kind of like Game of Thrones, NOBODY's safe from the author's wrath. Haha. It's a trip.

What is the best way to get it? Order the entire bundled set?

https://www.comixology.com/Battle-An...se/bundle/1775

[MontuckyFried]

What is the best way to get it? Order the entire bundled set?

https://www.comixology.com/Battle-An...se/bundle/1775

I'd say start with the free trial for the monthly subscription for Comixology Unlimited. I think I got like a month free then it's only $6/month after that. Then binge as much as you can. The entire original series is included in Unlimited as well as the first Omnibus and the first Martian Chronicle. That'll more than get you started. That's what I'm doing at least.

Thing that sucks is that when I started re-reading the series a few months back, ALL of it was included with Unlimited, but they scaled it back some. Pretty sure they carry physical versions at Barnes & Noble for a reasonable price too. Comixology's definitely the cheapest way to dive in though. Especially with the free trial.

[dookeyXXX]

Interesting aside (at least to me): Yesterday I started reading Burning Chrome, a 1986 short story collection of WIlliam Gibson's early work.
The first story in the tome is "Johnny Mnemonic" and the similarities between this story and elements of the Alita story (at least from the film as I still have not delved into the manga) is interesting. Gibson's characters are all "enhanced", much like the bounty hunters in the film. And "Johnny Mnemonic" was written in 1981, about 9 years prior to the emergence of the Alita manga stories.
I did a cursory search on the Webz to see if Gibson influenced Kushiro, but didn't turn up anything.
Not sure if other sci-fi authors delved into the cybernetic body manipulation angle prior to Gibson, but I don't recall reading any/hearing of any authors dipping into the cyberpunk arena prior to him (then again I'm not super well-versed in all things sci-fi, either).

At any rate, recommending Gibson for those that haven't read him yet.