Produced by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez, Alita Battle Angel was released in cinemas earlier this year after much anticipation. The story is based on the Japanese manga and anime series created by Yukito Kishiro. Set in a post apocalyptic city (called Iron City), it revolves around Alita, a cyborg who awakes in a new body and suffers from amnesia. She is found in a scrapyard by a caring doctor named Ido, who assembles a new body for her and takes her under his care. Ido tries to stop Alita from recalling her memories; however, she makes a new friend called Hugo, who instead tries to help her remember. As she discovers clues to her past and unlocks her special inner abilities, she becomes a target of the dangers of Iron City and those who are desperate to control and take advantage of her.

Within the course of just one movie, we see Alita investigate a serial killer, become a bounty hunter, take part in a deadly professional sporting league, make enemies and friends, and find out the truth about who she truly is. The film is packed with action scenes and they are all presented quite skilfully—enough to not become too overwhelming, yet plenty to not leave you bored. Nevertheless, considering the fact that a serialized manga was turned into a two-hour movie and its most crucial information needed to be included, at times the story all felt a little rushed. For example, Alita’s existential crisis was resolved quite quickly, in order for the story to proceed to the next important part. This resulted in an over-crowded narrative that introduced all of the major themes, but didn’t address them significantly enough. While the movie may have lacked in presenting an in-depth plot, one thing is for sure: the film did justice to the manga and successfully stayed true to its story, making it easily the best Hollywood anime/manga adaptation yet.

However, Alita Battle Angel’s most striking feature has to be its CGI. James Cameron did not fail to impress once again with the visual effects he implemented in the movie. The intricate details of Iron City were simply mesmerizing, and it felt as though you had actually been transported to the world of Alita. The setting looked futuristic, yet at the same time, it offered an authentic feel too. Another feature that stood out were Alita’s large, anime-like eyes, intended to reflect the character’s original manga design. At first, they might have appeared daunting to some, but characteristics such as the amber specs and large irises added a natural touch to them. These help you to easily adjust to the eyes and realize that they are simply oversized, not unworldly. Furthermore, all of the characters’ cyborg bodies were really well-developed and, overall, fit perfectly with the “cyberpunk” theme (especially Grewinshka’s). They each had their own unique style that set them apart from each other.

Everything looked so real that sometimes you would forget that they were special effects and that you were watching a movie. The film offered indeed a unique cinematic experience, and showed to be one of the more thrilling blockbusters released in recent years. It’s ending, which introduces a greater villain named Nova, leaves you in anticipation to see his inevitable faceoff with Alita. Alita Battle Angel is definitely a film worth watching and let’s hope that James Cameron will not take another 10 years to release a sequel (as he did with Avatar) in which the answers to all the questions that arose in the first installment are revealed.