Adapted from Yukito Kishiro 1990 manga comic series, Battle Angel Alita is finally getting a big screen adaptation from 20th Century Fox. In their latest trailer for Alita: Battle Angel, 20th Century unveils producer James Cameron and director’s Robert Rodriguez’s clear eye for a piece of visual provocative cinema, a similar level of cyberpunk to this year’s Ghost in a Shell (Rupert Sanders), and a central love story which will act as a refreshing cleanser to the cyborg-on-cyborg action.
Focusing on Alita (Rosa Salazar), a cyborg created by Ido (Christopher Waltz), who consequentially becomes a cyborg bounty hunter, Rodriquez’s new film is clearly seeking to play to the summer blockbuster crowd, as it is scheduled for a July 2018 Summer release. Still, in the trailer, Alita’s distinct aesthetics are brought to the forefront in numerous close-ups. Blurring the lines between performance and CGI, the facial features of the character can feel a little jarring in a frame filled with actual human faces, such as Waltz’s.
Featuring the likes of Keean Johnson, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali and Jackie Earle Haley, the cast of the film is not particularly bad, still it does feel as though this big budget sci-fi summer blockbuster will be a nice pay check for all those involved. One would expect its box office and public reception to that similar of Ghost in a Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017), with similar whitewashing claims.
Alita: Battle Angel will be released theatrically in July 2018.