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March 28, 2024, 11:17:53 AM

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Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

Started by Paaaaul, February 02, 2019, 04:00:53 PM

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Paaaaul

I saw a preview of this the other night.
I thought it was an excellent hero story that Joseph Campbell would have approved of.

No real spoilers below.

Going in, I knew next to nothing about it other than it was adapted from Manga, and that a girl on the poster had big eyes, but I was on board pretty early on.
It is violent. Really violent for a 12A, but the dismemberment of robot limbs is clearly more acceptable than blood and meat being sprayed around for the kids. The fight scenes are excellent and creative, with different characters having different sets of attacks, so it's not just boring gunfights.
It jumps about from subplot to subplot, but still manages to remain cohesive, and everything feeds into the main narrative somehow.
The CGI really is good. Everything looks real and sharp, and there is none of the cheap blurring that you get in many similar films where fight scenes will happen at night, or in arenas covered in dust or clouds so that the graphics can be less than perfect.

I'm really surprised that the Rotten Toms score is so low. The  last big budget fantasy thing I saw at the cinema was Ready Player One and I thought that was dreadful, but it received much better reviews.

Go and see it when it opens next week, and tell me how wrong I am below.

greenman

I have a feeling this is going to be the biggest bomb in cinema history.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Yeah - like this year's Valerian. Then again, I would never have predicted that Aquaman would have done as well as it has.

I had no interest in seeing it, but some favourable reviews have got me kind of curious. Whether I can convince anyone to see it is another matter.

Paaaaul

Quote from: greenman on February 02, 2019, 04:10:05 PM
I have a feeling this is going to be the biggest bomb in cinema history.
This modern fascination with receipts baffles me.

Mister Six

"Modern"? Have you just time-travelled from 1974?

Paaaaul

Nah. The last five years, or so, have seen a huge increase in people airing their views about box office performance as if they're really interested in production finances.

robotam

My dad told me they showed a clip of it on Graham Norton and it looks really good

greenman

Quote from: Paaaaul on February 02, 2019, 04:19:06 PM
This modern fascination with receipts baffles me.

I suspect its going to be what most of the talk around the film is though.

Honestly it looks a lot like Mortal Engines to me, some of the people involved interest me but the trailer looks very bland young adult fare.

bgmnts

I just saw a trailer for it, it looked cack.

I'm looking forward to this, but I find it curious that the buzz is almost non-existant.  I think the postsponing of the release date (it was susposed to come out during the Christmas holidays, but I guess they got nervous about Aquaman) suggests that the studio have lost faith in it for whatever reason... then again, you should never under estimate Cameron.  So many people have over the years, but he usually delivers in what he sets out to achieve, ego be damned...


although now that I think about it... his name didn't help Sanctum...

no, I don't remember it, either.

biggytitbo

It's the girl from the playstation adverts.

St_Eddie

Quote from: goinggoinggone on February 03, 2019, 08:27:21 PM
...you should never under estimate Cameron.  So many people have over the years, but he usually delivers in what he sets out to achieve, ego be damned...


although now that I think about it... his name didn't help Sanctum...

no, I don't remember it, either.

There's a pretty massive difference between a movie directed by James Cameron and a movie produced by James Cameron.

Custard

Yeah, this is directed by Robert Rodriguez, who hasn't made a good film in a long time

I can't get over how shit the big eyes and the CGI looks in the trailers, so I probably won't bother. Maybe when it comes out on video, as grandads say

Piggyoioi

Quote from: St_Eddie on February 03, 2019, 10:03:43 PM
There's a pretty massive difference between a movie directed by James Cameron and a movie produced by James Cameron.

terminator genyshite, amiright?

St_Eddie

Quote from: Piggyoioi on February 04, 2019, 02:20:08 AM
terminator genyshite, amiright?

James Cameron didn't produce Terminator Genisys.  He did however, film a shameless plug for it.  Sometime after the movie's release, he admitted that he only filmed that advert as a favour to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

AsparagusTrevor

Quote from: Shameless Custard on February 03, 2019, 11:46:59 PMYeah, this is directed by Robert Rodriguez, who hasn't made a good film in a long time
I had no idea Rodriguez was even involved, let alone directing, until seeing an interview with him on some film site a few days ago. The adverts I've seen all big-up Cameron's involvement, i.e. "from the director of Blue Ferngully" Surely Rodriguez has enough clout to include in the hype also, despite his recent shitness?
"From the director of Sin City"
"From the director of From Dusk Til Dawn"
"From the director of The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl"

Mister Six

Rodriguez might be all right with it. He must know that he's spent most of the past 15 years doing straight-to-video kids' fare, and before that he was a director of popular B-movies. At best he's Robert "Desperado/Sin City" Rodriguez, compared with James "Aliens/The Terminator/Titanic/Avatar" Cameron.

I imagine he's happier at the thought of Alita doing well than some PR bloke wanking him of.

madhair60

I have no interest in watching Alita: Battle Angel but I did once watch a VHS tape called Anal Batter Eater.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Paaaaul on February 02, 2019, 10:26:52 PM
Nah. The last five years, or so, have seen a huge increase in people airing their views about box office performance as if they're really interested in production finances.
It's not finance that interests me, as such. It's more to do with whether a film will find an audience and what that means for the filmmakers et al. When it comes to someone like Rodriguez, whose films I have enjoyed in the (increasingly distant) past, it's a little sad to see them make a series of turkeys.

Also, I like being right with predictions. It makes me feel like a clever clogs.

greenman

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 04, 2019, 02:52:52 PM
It's not finance that interests me, as such. It's more to do with whether a film will find an audience and what that means for the filmmakers et al. When it comes to someone like Rodriguez, whose films I have enjoyed in the (increasingly distant) past, it's a little sad to see them make a series of turkeys.

Also, I like being right with predictions. It makes me feel like a clever clogs.

Its also a little supprising to see him suddenly helming a $200 million mega blockbuster, I spose the result of his relationship with Cameron.  If this does bomb I wonder whether it might have some impact on the Avatar sequels? Cameron will arguably for the first time be dealing with a very serious failure.

I'd say its main hope is that it somehow taps into that seemingly massive unknown Avatar audience, I can't imagine anime fans will make it a success given the failure of the much better known Ghost in the Shell. Also along those lines you could argue as well the Akira adaptation might also be at risk if it flops

St_Eddie

Quote from: greenman on February 04, 2019, 05:07:18 PM
If this does bomb I wonder whether it might have some impact on the Avatar sequels?

No.  The first two Avatar sequels are currently in post-production.  Whether James Cameron gets to make the following two sequels will depend entirely on the box office performance of the first two.  Alita: Battle Angel doesn't factor into it at all.  Also, if Alita: Battle Angel bombs, it won't have any kind of effect on a studio's willingness to fund more Cameron directed movies.  It would, however, have an effect on whether a studio would be willing to fund any more big budget Robert Rodriguez directed movies.

Alberon

I've read a lot of the manga years ago and watched the two part anime series.

I suspect (just like Ghost in the Shell) that the Japanese originals will piss all over the Western adaptation. The look is surprisingly faithful, but from the first trailer it's apparent that the large eyes just don't work in live action.

hedgehog90

Quote from: St_Eddie on February 04, 2019, 05:58:03 PM
Whether James Cameron gets to make the following two sequels will depend entirely on the box office performance of the first two.

I'm looking forward to Avatar n-1.

St_Eddie

Quote from: hedgehog90 on February 05, 2019, 02:16:18 AM
I'm looking forward to Avatar n-1.

Cameron's planning on making four sequels in total.  Hence me saying that production of the latter two sequels (Avatar 4 and Avatar 5) are dependent on the success of the first two sequels (Avatar 2 and Avatar 3), which have been filmed back to back and are already in post-production.

a duncandisorderly


greenman

I quite liked the first half of Lucy before it turned into a more standard Matrix like action film in Paris.

Quote from: St_Eddie on February 04, 2019, 05:58:03 PM
No.  The first two Avatar sequels are currently in post-production.  Whether James Cameron gets to make the following two sequels will depend entirely on the box office performance of the first two.  Alita: Battle Angel doesn't factor into it at all.  Also, if Alita: Battle Angel bombs, it won't have any kind of effect on a studio's willingness to fund more Cameron directed movies.  It would, however, have an effect on whether a studio would be willing to fund any more big budget Robert Rodriguez directed movies.

Yeah I know but if this flops and then the two Avatar sequels do then I'd guess that's an extra black mark against him for further films, indeed I wonder whether even the 3rd film could be in jeopardy if post production costs are as high as you'd think with mostly CGI films should this and Avatar 2 bomb.

biggytitbo

Two middle aged man create a fake girl to perve over.

St_Eddie

#27
Quote from: greenman on February 06, 2019, 08:41:15 AM
Yeah I know but if this flops and then the two Avatar sequels do then I'd guess that's an extra black mark against him for further films, indeed I wonder whether even the 3rd film could be in jeopardy if post production costs are as high as you'd think with mostly CGI films should this and Avatar 2 bomb.

The box office performance of Alita: Battle Angel won't even factor into it.  It just won't.  The production of further Avatar sequels will be entirely dependent on the performance of the initial sequels.  Again, studios aren't going to lay the blame of a flop at the feet of the producer, especially if that producer is James Cameron; the guy who holds the record for making the highest grossing movies in the history of cinema.

Famous directors often act as a producer for a film that they want to see get made; to help secure funding and to help attract a wider audience, through name recognition.  They do so because they like the premise of the film and in the hope that it will be a hit because their name will be on all of the advertising.  They're not in fear, that should it fail, they'll have trouble securing funding for their own future directorial pursuits.  Quentin Tarantino wasn't shitting bricks, worrying about the future of his career, should Eli Roth's Hostel bomb at the box office.

No studio is going to say "hmm, this Avatar sequel underperformed but perhaps we'll forge ahead with the other sequels regardless.  Oh no, hold on!  That Alita: Battle Angel movie that Cameron produced was a flop!  Cancel all Avatar sequels immediately.  We would have made the sequels but because a movie he produced also flopped, everything is now null and void".  That's not how it works.

If Cameron had directed, instead of produced, Alita: Battle Angel and it flopped, then I could see that potentially factoring in to a decision regarding the future of Avatar (although, it would be a minuscule factor, compared to the performance of the Avatar sequel itself).

This is all rather a moot point of course because the Avatar sequels are going to do absolute gangbusters at the box office.  I wish that they wouldn't; I'd like nothing more than to see them crash and burn because I'm a miser and I fucking hated the first one but I don't represent the majority of the cinema going public.  However, I do suspect that the sequels won't come close to achieving the box office phenomenon of the first movie (with diminishing returns for each subsequent sequel) but I severely doubt that they'll outright bomb.  I think they'll be big hits and even if they do underperform in America and other parts of the world, then China will surely be there to pick up the slack.


kidsick5000

Saw it last night.

It is a mess plotwise.
The lead, Rosa Salazar is full of charm, though I don't know if that's just to do with humans being predisposed to like large eyes.

It's borderline disturbing that Nickelodeon non-threatening bad boy meets world is in Robert Rodriguez cosplay.

Like Ghost in the Shell, it thinks it's futurescapes are a wonder to behold. But in reality it's all been done before.
Also, is the city that bad a place to live. It looks more like a tourist destination for hipster backpackers - of which there appear to be many.
Plus, there's easy access to what looks like lovely countryside.

The plot is all over the place. Her mission of vengeance seems to be suddenly derailed in order to play rollerball.

The worst thing: It's dull. Just far too dull.