Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Battle Angel Alita. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Using motion-capture and CGI animation, Rosa Salazar stars as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. Many of the supporting roles, played by Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson, used live-actors.

Announced in 2003, production was repeatedly delayed due to Cameron's work on Avatar (2009) and its sequels. After years of development hell, Rodriguez was announced as Alita's director in April 2016, with Salazar cast as the lead the following month. Principal photography began in October 2016 in Austin, Texas, mostly at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios, and lasted until February 2017.

Alita: Battle Angel had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on January 31, 2019, and was released in the United States on February 14, by 20th Century Fox. The film grossed $405 million, making it Rodriguez's highest-grossing film, and received mixed reviews from critics. In the years since its release, the film has garnered a cult following. A sequel is in development.

Plot

In the year 2563, 300 years after Earth was devastated in a catastrophic war against the United Republic of Mars (URM), scientist Dr. Dyson Ido scavenges a disembodied female cyborg with an intact human brain in the Iron City scrapyard. He unites it with a new cyborg body and names her "Alita" after his late daughter. Alita wakes with no memory and befriends Hugo, who dreams of moving to the wealthy sky city Zalem. She also meets Dr. Chiren, Ido's ex-wife. Hugo introduces Alita to Motorball, a Rollerball-like sport played by cyborg gladiators. Hugo secretly robs cyborgs of their parts for Vector, owner of the Motorball tournament and de facto ruler of the Factory, Iron City's governing authority.

One night, Alita follows Ido. They are ambushed by killer cyborgs led by Grewishka. Ido is injured and Alita instinctively fights using "Panzer-Kunst", a lost combat art for machine bodies. She kills two cyborgs and damages Grewishka who retreats. Ido reveals that he is a Hunter-Warrior, a bounty hunter hired by the Factory. Grewishka seeks help from Dr. Chiren, who is working for Vector. Alita believes fighting will help her rediscover her past but Ido discourages her from becoming a Hunter-Warrior. Alita finds an advanced cyborg body of a Berserker, shock troops of the enemy URM, of which Alita realizes she was a member. Ido refuses to install Alita in it, which upsets her.

Alita registers as a Hunter-Warrior. At the Kansas Bar, she and Hugo attempt to recruit other Hunter-Warriors to help take down Grewishka. Hunter-Warrior Zapan provokes Alita and she beats him in a fight, triggering a bar brawl until Ido arrives. An upgraded Grewishka appears and challenges Alita to a duel, having been sent by Zalem's overlord, Nova, to destroy her. Alita's body is damaged by Grewishka before Ido, Hugo, and Hunter-Warrior dogmaster McTeague force Grewishka to retreat. Ido apologizes and transplants Alita into the Berserker body.

Having fallen in love with Hugo, Alita enters a Motorball tryout for the prize money to send Hugo to Zalem. Hugo decides to quit his criminal job. He confronts his partner Tanji, but Zapan appears, kills Tanji and frames Hugo for the murder. Hugo escapes and calls Alita for help, she abandons the race and finds him just as Zapan mortally wounds Hugo. Dr. Chiren saves Hugo by attaching his severed head to Alita's life support system. When Zapan attempts to stop Alita, she seizes his Damascus blade and cuts off his face.

Ido transplants Hugo's head onto a cyborg body and tells Alita that Vector's offer to help Hugo reach Zalem was a lie, and that citizens of Iron City can only enter Zalem by becoming a Motorball champion. Alita confronts Vector, who reveals that Chiren has been harvested for her organs. Vector summons Grewishka whom Alita easily destroys with her new body. Nova speaks to her through Vector. When Nova threatens to harm her friends, Alita fatally impales Vector.

Ido contacts Alita to tell her that Hugo is climbing a cargo tube towards Zalem. Alita catches up to him and pleads with him to return with her. He agrees, but a serrated defense ring dropped by Nova shreds his body and throws him off the tube. Alita catches him but cannot pull him up. He thanks her for coming to save him, then falls.

Months later, Alita is a rising star in Motorball. She swears revenge, pointing her sword toward Zalem where a smirking Nova watches.

Cast

• Rosa Salazar as Alita, a revived cyborg suffering from amnesia.
• Christoph Waltz as Dr. Dyson Ido, a renowned cyborg scientist, part-time bounty hunter and Alita's father figure
• Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Chiren, Ido's estranged former wife, a masterful cyborg engineer who works for Vector
• Mahershala Ali as Vector, an influential entrepreneur at the Factory with criminal connections who also serves as Nova's proxy
• Ed Skrein as Zapan, an arrogant sword-wielding bounty-hunting cyborg, who embarks on an egotistic vendetta against Alita
• Jackie Earle Haley as Grewishka, a huge criminal cyborg who works for Nova as his personal assassin and enforcer.
• Keean Johnson as Hugo, Alita's love interest and a morally conflicted scrap dealer.
• Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Tanji, Hugo's scrap-dealing friend and accomplice in crime, who is more underhanded and does not share Hugo's ethics.
• Lana Condor as Koyomi, a teenager, who is friends, with Hugo and Tanji.
• Idara Victor as Nurse Gerhad, Ido's assistant.
• Jeff Fahey as McTeague, a Hunter-Warrior, who leads a pack of cyborg dogs.
• Eiza González as Nyssiana, a wanted criminal cyborg assassin and one of Grewishka's subordinates.
• Derek Mears as Romo, a wanted criminal cyborg assassin and one of Grewishka's subordinates.
• Leonard Wu as Kinuba, a top league Motorball player, whose limbs were cut off, by Hugo's jacking gang.
• Rick Yune as Master Clive Lee, a Hunter-Warrior, who claims a record of 207 kills.
• Casper Van Dien as Amok, a cyborg, who is responsible for the death of Ido's daughter.
• Elle LaMont as Screwhead, a cyborg, who is referred to as being one of the most lethal Hunter-Warriors hired, by the Factory.

Appearing in uncredited cameo appearances are Michelle Rodriguez as Alita's cyborg mentor Gelda, Jai Courtney as Motorball champion Jashugan, and Edward Norton as Nova.

Production

Development

Battle Angel Alita, an early-1990s Japanese cyberpunk manga series written by Yukito Kishiro, was originally brought to James Cameron's attention by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and Cameron immediately became enamored with the concept. The domain name "battleangelalita.com" was registered to James Cameron by 20th Century Fox around June 2000. Fox also registered the "battleangelmovie.com" domain. In April 2003, it was reported by Moviehole that Cameron had confirmed he would direct a Battle Angel film. Cameron confirmed that a script for the film was in production during an interview on the Tokudane! program on Fuji TV on May 4, 2003. It was originally scheduled to be his next production after the TV series Dark Angel, which was influenced by Battle Angel Alita. It was later scheduled to be his next film after Aliens of the Deep in January 2005.

In June 2005, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the film was being delayed while Cameron developed a film known as Project 880, which would later be renamed Avatar. Entertainment Weekly ran an interview in February 2006 in which Cameron stated that his deal with 20th Century Fox was that he produce both films. The article also claimed that Battle Angel was slated to be released in September 2009. In June 2006, Cameron commented that Battle Angel was the second of two planned film trilogies he was developing, with the first being Avatar. In May 2008, Cameron indicated he would be working on a film titled The Dive, a biography of freedivers Francisco Ferreras and Audrey Mestre, thus delaying the film again. That July, at San Diego Comic-Con, he reiterated that he was still committed to making the film. In December 2009, Cameron commented during an interview with MTV News that a script for Battle Angel had been completed.