JEROME DONATO SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY BSCPE 1-A

MOVIE REVIEW

FILM TITLE: ALITA BATTLE ANGEL

RELEASE DATE: 2019

GENRE: ACTION, ADVENTURE, AND SCIENCE FICTION

LEAD ACTORS: CRISTOPH WALTZ, ED SKREIN, EIZA GONZALEZ, JAACKIE

EARLE HALEY, JENNIFER CONNELLY, JORGE LENDEBORG JR, KEEAN
JOHNSON, LANA CONDOR, MAHERSHALA ALI, ROSA SALAZAR.

MAIN CHARACTERS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES;

Protagonist

Gally/Alita

Alita is the main character of the manga series Battle Angel Alita and its sequel,
Last Order, both written by Yukito Kishiro. She is known for her fighting prowess as a
practitioner of the powerful cyborg martial art Panzer Kunst and skill at motorball. The
original Alita was Ido's black cat, Gally, who died a month before he found the remains
of cyborg Gally/Alita in the Tiphares junkyard and is her namesake. Alita's background
and history were briefly hinted at in earlier chapters, but were not fully explored until
Last Order.

Daisuke Ido

Daisuke Ido is a fictional character in Yukito Kishiro's manga Battle Angel Alita and its
anime adaptation. He is a cyberphysician who specializes in operations on The
Scrapyard's cyborgs. Ido also works as a hunter-warrior in his spare time. In the manga,
he is in charge of restoring Alita after she is discovered in a dump heap.
Desty Nova

Desty Nova is a former citizen of Tiphares who has used his extensive scientific
knowledge and expertise in nanotechnology to save Makaku and Jashugan, as well as
resurrect Ido and Alita. He has injected himself with nanomachines that can repair
dismemberment and give him pseudo-immortality. His name is a reference to the song
"Astronomy" by Blue Öyster Cult.

Barzarld

Nova's assistant Barzarld was almost killed along with Nova when the Den aspect of
Kaos' personality took control of him when he was 15. He has been injected with
restorer nano machines, making him near immortal, and has come back to life after
being killed by Alita a few times. His name is a reference to the song "Imaginos" by Blue
Öyster Cult.

Eelai

Eelai is Nova’s second assistant and is shown taking a reformation bath in the Granite
Inn that adds organs, tissues and flesh onto her skeleton, making her feel restored. She
feels that only by having a real body as opposed to a cyborg body can one fully
experience life's joys and pain, and prefers her men to be of flesh and blood. She is
somewhat morbid, delighting in Alita's grief when she sees Ido's remains in a box after
he is killed by Zapan.

Kaos

Kaos is Desty Nova's son and a popular late-night radio host. He has a unique talent to
read the memories of inanimate objects. Kaos also has a dark side in the form of Den, a
manifestation of uncontrollable rage. Although Den exists in a physical form, he and
Kaos are linked by an EPR transmitter.

Antagonists

Jashugan

Jashugan's unnamed master is an old cyborg who resides in an automobile junkyard.

Jashugan visits him before his challenge race with Alita, and faces his master in a test
of his ability to manipulate chi. The old cyborg succumbs to Jashugan's mastery of
reflective resonance, an ability to match an opponent's chi and inflict a destructive
 vibratory feedback upon them, that leaves him mortally wounded. He views cyborgs as
more machines than human, believing that they do not need love, nor should they fear
death, advising Jashugan to kill Shumira as she is the cause of his self-doubt.

Makaku

Originally born as a human, Makaku spent his entire life in the sewers of the Scrapyard.
He was able to take over powerful cyborg bodies and use their strength to acquire
brains (preferably human, but even dog) in order to eat them. Makaku justified his
existence in destruction, and despite a bounty being placed on him, no hunter-warrior
dared go after him for years. Makaku is the first major adversary that Alita faces. In their
first fight she succeeds in crippling the body he is then possessing as well as blinding
him in his left eye.

However, her first cyborg body is destroyed in the process. Makaku survives the fight
and almost kills Ido by impaling him with his head spike, swearing vengeance on both
him and Alita before escaping.

CONFLICTS: A deactivated cyborg's revived but can't remember anything of her past and
goes on a quest to find out who she is.

RESOLUTION:
Alita: Battle Angel doesn't have a proper ending. Sure, the movie fades to black and the
credits play, yet there's no real resolution to the primary goal of its main character, with a lot
more conflict teased in a sequel that nobody is expecting to ever get made.

James Cameron has been fighting for decadesto bring his ambitious vision of a Battle
Angel Alita to life. The project has transformed through the years and while some believed
that it would never actually come to fruition, with the help of Robert Rodriguez, Alita: Battle
Angel is now an eye-popping reality. It’s an absolute delight to get thrown into the year
2563 and navigate through the devastated Iron City via Alita’s fresh eyes, but between the
class systems, the order of the Hunter-Warrior cyborg assassins, and the rules of
Motorball, there’s a lot to get lost in. Hence, we’ll break down here the seismic events
of Alita: Battle Angel’s ending and what’s next for the cyborg.

Much of Alita: Battle Angel focuses on Alita (Rosa Salazar) coming to terms with and
understanding her very existence. In a junkyard, cyborg scientist Dyson Ido (Christoph
Waltz) finds the husk of Alita’s cyborg body and brings her back to life. Ido becomes a
surrogate father figure for Alita and as she lives her life, she falls in love with a boy
 named Hugo (Keean Johnson), slowly recalls memories of her past, and further gains
humanity.

Alita finds herself in combat with a Hunter-Warrior assassin, Grewishka (Jackie Earle
Haley) who overwhelms her and destroys her body in combat. This leads to Ido
apprehensively installing Alita in the powerful, but dangerous, Berserker body. Alita
uses her new strength to excel in Motorball, Iron City’s murder-iffic sanctioned sport, but
she doesn’t realize that Vector (Mahershala Ali) is pulling the strings and has turned the
game into a convenient means to eliminate her.

The film’s tailend pulls the rug out from under the audience and reveals that Desty Nova
is actually the film’s major antagonist. Nova is a powerful scientist from Zalem who’s
been the major puppet master through all of Alita’s trial and tribulations. He’s also able
to transfer his consciousness into other bodies, which allows him to temporarily threaten
Alita through Vector and Grewishka’s bodies. Alita eventually loses Hugo (twice) and
vows revenge on Nova. Nova is a major presence in the original Battle Angel Alita text,
although he doesn’t appear until much later. The decision to include Nova at all clearly
shows that Alita: Battle Angel is already looking at the bigger picture with the story that
they’re telling.

Alita: Battle Angel depicts the full story of Alita’s “awakening,” her discovery of her
humanity and mission, and her plight through Iron City, but it does in many ways feel
like a setup for Alita’s showdown with Nova and her mission to ascend from Iron City
and reach Zalem (which she now has two reasons to accomplish, since it was also
Hugo’s dying wish). This feeling would be less egregious if Nova just didn’t appear, but
his inclusion is a fun addition for fans, as it provides the audience with something more
and a direction for the next film; it also teases a much larger role for Nova’s super-
secret guest star (Edward Norton, in what’s a very Kingdom of Heaven kind of last-
minute cameo). That being said, it’s also an incredibly risky gamble because if Alita:
Battle Angel flops and there is no sequel, all of this postulating about the future
becomes a waste of time that could have better fleshed out the film’s core story.

THEMES: It is all about revenge and love story between a cyborg and human.
PLOT SUMMARRY:In 2563, planet Earth has survived a war known as "The Fall." There is
a city floating above the earth in the sky, called Zalem, suspended by advanced
engineering. Beneath this is a city called Iron City. There is a tube from Iron City's Factory
connected to Zalem. In the junkyard, Dr. Dyson Ido discovers a core of female cyborg that
has brain and core heart, but without body nor limbs. Together with a nurse assistant, Ido
rebuilds the cyborg with a spare robotic body in his cyborg clinic. She wakes up with no
recollection of any memories. Ido names her "Alita," as she didn't know her own name. He
finds out that the new cyborg body integrates well with Alita's original brain as she can
control her fingers. Her sensory taste is also proven working when she likes orange fruit
when she tried it for the first time.

It turns out, the name of Ido's deceased daughter was Alita was (referred to as real Alita
on-wards). The robotic body was initially built for Ido's late daughter, real Alita because she
was wheelchair bound. Real Alita never had a chance to use it as she was killed by a
cyber-robber, who broke into Ido's clinic looking for drugs. Ido's partner was Chiren, who is
also real Alita's mother. Ido and Chiren separated after the real Alita died. Chiren and Ido
came from Zalem and was outcasted to come to Iron City. Chiren's goal after the death of
her daughter is to go back to Zalem. Chiren worked for Vector, as he promises to send her
back to Zalem. Vector is the boss who manages Iron City Motorball competition. He has
the authority from Zalem scientist Nova to send people to Zalem. The winner of Motorball
competition gets to be sent up to Zalem by Vector.

Alita befriends a boy named Hugo, who dreams of moving to the sky city of Zalem as well.
He also shows her that he wanted to be a Hunter-Warrior like Zapan, a bounty-hunter
warrior, with a long sword as his trademark weapon. Hunter-Warrior collects money by
killing criminals in Iron City. Hugo also introduces Alita to Motorball race in the
neighborhood. Alita tries to participate, falls down and is made fun in the beginning. After a
few times, her natural competitive streak shows up, and she is able to defeat everyone to
score a Motorball goal.

Alita discovers that Ido is a Hunter-Warrior when she follows him one night and they
encounter three deadly cyborgs. When Ido is injured, Alita tried to protect him, and finds
out that she is naturally skilled in an ancient martial art called "Panzer Kunst." While in
combat, Alita has memorywxx flashbacks of her earlier life on Mars. She used to be a
warrior with code '99'. With her skill, she kills two of the cyborgs and severely damaging the
third one, called Grewishka, who retreats underground. Grewishka promises to come back
and hunt down Alita. Despite Alita's fighting skills, Ido discourages her from becoming a
Hunter-Warrior.

Once Vector and Chiren find out Alita's capability, they get an order from Nova to kill Alita.
Nova promises Chiren that she can go back to Zalem if she succeeds the mission. It turns
out, Grewishka works for Vector and Chiren. Vector orders Hugo and his friends to attack
cyborgs and steal their body parts for fixing and upgrading Grewishka. Vector promises to
send Hugo to Zalem once he gets enough credits doing his dirty work (important later). On
the next day, Hugo and his friends brought Alita to a forest area outside the city. Here, they
found an old abandoned spaceship from "the Fall" era. Alita went into the spacecraft
through an underwater door and brought back a Berserker warrior cyborg body with her.
Ido refuses to install her in the body, as he wants Alita to have a second chance in life
without being a warrior. Alita is disappointed and rebels by registering herself as a Hunter-
Warrior.

Alita and Hugo go to the Kansas Bar to ask other Hunter-Warriors to help her take down
Grewishka. They refuse to help as Grewishka is not in the wanted list, and there is no
benefit / bounty in killing him. Zapan tries to intimidate and embarrass Alita, but Alita easily
beat him in a fight and being humiliated in the process. Afterward, Alita challenges all the
other Hunter-Warriors and creates a massive battle in the bar. Ido comes in time to stop
the fight, as an upgraded Grewishka storms into the bar and challenges Alita to a rematch.
Despite her courage and martial arts skills, Alita's body is sliced up by Grewishka's bladed
fingers before Ido and another Hunter-Warrior force him to retreat again. Without any other
options, Ido places Alita in the Berserker body, which automatically integrates with her.

Vector realizes that he is not able to defeat Alita easily. He arranges for a Motorball match
where all the participants are instructed to kill Alita for a significant amount of credit. At the
same time, he urges Hugo to enter Alita in the Motorball competition. When Alita wins, both
Hugo and Alita can go to Zalem.

With her new body, Alita has higher power and enhanced flexibility. She enters her name in
a Motorball tryout race, as per Hugo's request. Ido discovers that the other contestants are
Hunter-Warriors and other cyborgs hired by Vector to kill her. Meanwhile, Zapan is plotting
his revenge against Hugo and Alita. Zapan caught Hugo and his friend Tanji while they are
stealing cyborg parts. Zapan kills Tanji and frames Hugo for murdering the cyborg they
were taking parts from.

Now Hugo has a bounty on his head, and all Hunter-Warriors are looking for him. While
Alita is in Motorball race, Hugo is trying to escape from Zapan. Hugo calls Alita and tells
her to meet him at the abandoned church. After Alita eliminates the other contestants, she
heads to the church to confront Zapan and learn the truth about Hugo's work before Zapan
mortally wounds him. Chiren was at the church, supposed to kill Alita, but instead, she
saves Hugo's life by having him decapitated and uses Alita's heart to keep his brain alive.
This angers Zapan, but Alita grabs his Damascus Blade sword and slices off his face.

Hugo's head is transplanted onto a cyborg body by Ido. He also tells Alita that Hugo's belief
of going to Zalem for one million credits was a lie fabricated by Vector, as citizens of Iron
City will never be able to enter Zalem. Alita storms through the Factory to confront Vector.
Vector reveals that Chiren has been murdered and her organs and body parts will be sent
to Zalem. This is the only way citizens of Iron City gets to go to Zalem.
Alita once again battles Grewishka in Vector's office and kills him before stabbing Vector,
who has been mentally controlled by Zalem scientist Nova. Alita promises Nova to get
revenge for Hugo, and he made the mistake of underestimating her. In the meantime,
Hugo has run away from the clinic. With his new cyborg body, he attempts to climb a
Factory tube towards Zalem. Alita pleads with Hugo to return with her, as a massive spiked
ring sent by Nova comes hurtling down the tube, shredding Hugo's body. Alita manages to
grab Hugo's remaining arm and use her sword to secure hold onto the tube. Hugo's elbow
joints cannot support him and break apart, but not before he can say goodbye, leaving Alita
on the tube clutching the remaining of his arm. Alita is devastated but determined to live on
Hugo's memory.

In the final scene, Alita is shown as the star athlete of the Motorball tournament. The crowd
cheers for her as she points her sword towards Zalem while Nova watches her from above.
ADAPTED FROM: Gunnm (or lit. 'gun dream'), also known as Battle Angel Alita in
English, is a Japanese cyberpunk manga series created by Yukito Kishiro and originally
published in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine from 1990 to 1995. The second of the
comic's nine volumes was adapted in 1993 into a two-part anime original video
animation titled Battle Angel for North American release by ADV Films and the UK and
Australian release by Manga Entertainment. Manga Entertainment also dubbed Battle
Angel Alita into English. A live-action film adaptation titled Alita: Battle Angel was released
on February 14, 2019.
The series is set in the post-apocalyptic future and focuses on Alita ("Gally" in the
original Japanese version, and several other countries), a female cyborg who has lost
all memories and is found in a junkyard by a cybernetics doctor who rebuilds and takes
care of her. She discovers that there is one thing she remembers, the legendary
cyborg martial art Panzer Kunst, which leads to her becoming a Hunter Warrior,
or bounty hunter. The story traces Alita's attempts to rediscover her past and the
characters whose lives she impacts on her journey. The manga series is continued
in Battle Angel Alita: Last Order and Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle.

DIRECTOR: ROBERT RODRIGUEZ

SETTING: Battle Angel Alita is set in the Earth of the 26th century. The primary location
for the early part of the series was the Scrapyard, a metropolis of unspecified size which
is beneath the massive aerial city of Tiphares. Tiphares itself is suspended from
an orbital ring which surrounds the Earth. After a ten year time skip, the story expands
past the Scrapyard to the desert areas surrounding it which are referred to as
the Badlands. The manga originally ended in Tiphares and in the space city of Ketheres
Elyion. The mangas Ashen Victor and Gunnm: Another Stories are set in the Scrapyard
and the Badlands. In terms of chronology, the story within these three mangas takes
place just over the span of 20 years.