Books
[Review] ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is a Stunning Showcase of Visual Storytelling
Live-action adaptations of anime and manga haven’t had the best of luck in Hollywood, at least if we’re looking at big theatrical attempts like Ghost in the Shell or Dragon Ball Evolution. And initial glimpses and teasers of Alita: Battle Angel, with the central character’s oversized eyes, seemed like a strange style choice that hinted Hollywood’s losing streak might continue.
Co-writer/producer James Cameron read and fell hard for Yukito Kishiro‘s manga Gunnm 20 years ago, and has been determined to bring it to the big screen ever since. And thanks to Cameron’s extensive experience in visual spectacle-based Blockbusters, combined with Peter Jackson’s visual effects company Weta Digital, and director Robert Rodriguez’s ability to craft fully immersive worlds with a sense of awe, Alita: Battle Angel shatters Hollywood’s bad luck streak.
Set in the 26th century, Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) finds the disembodied living core of a cybernetic teen girl in the dumping grounds of an upper-class floating city. Using the artificial body he once built for his now deceased daughter, he revives the cyborg, who he dubs Alita. Alita (Rosa Salazar) has no memory of who she once was, but her internal parts indicate her to be one very powerful weapon from the past. Alita: Battle Angel is Alita’s thrilling journey of self-discovery, love, and purpose in a sprawling new world.
From a pure entertainment perspective, Alita: Battle Angel is a stunning showcase of visual storytelling.
Rodriguez has crafted a soaring marvel that sucks you into Alita’s world as it zips through so many captivating set pieces. The fun but deadly sport Motorball, multiple battle sequences with vicious cyborg foes, and above all the richly rendered city where all of the action takes place. It’s so thoroughly crafted that there’s an insane amount of detail on screen at every level, from minute city background detail to Alita’s storyline at the forefront. The visual aspect alone conveys an uncanny level of world-building at play.
That feeling of awe and wonder is further propelled by a set of fantastic performances that grounds the fantastical with real emotion. Salazar is phenomenal as Alita. She imbues her large-eyed, not quite human character with such warmth, curiosity, and humanity that it’s easy to follow her no matter where her story goes and how weird it gets – and it does run quite the gamut. Waltz also brings warmth and morality to a less than moral world with his protective father figure Ido, and Jennifer Connelly is icy intelligence as the calculating Dr. Chiren, who desires nothing more than to return to the utopic floating city in the sky. Ed Skrein is clearly having a ball as the lethal but pretty-faced cyborg bounty hunter Zapan, and Mahershala Ali also enjoys some scene-chewing as the villainous Vector. There’s no shortage of smaller roles and cameos by some of Rodriguez’s regular roster of favorite actors, either.
For all that Alita: Battle Angel gets right, it’s marred a bit by a weaker script.
Cameron isn’t the strongest of writers, and it really shows in the dialogue. Poor Ali is forced to utter some really goofy lines, and there are questionable lines that would’ve been better off having been cut altogether – like when Alita gets upgraded to a better cyborg body, which also makes her look more feminine, Ido comments on her new womanly figure. It’s awkward. The romance subplot between Alita and Keean Johnson’s Hugo is the weakest aspect of the film, though. Against Salazar’s breathtaking performance, Johnson feels flat. That Hugo and Alita’s budding love feels contrived simply for emotional stakes doesn’t help. The writing also means that for all of the fun we have barreling through action set pieces, it can feel like too much is being crammed into the story.
Regardless, Alita: Battle Angel has enough fun, gore, and dizzying action sequences to make it an adventure worth experiencing on the big screen.
Rodriguez was the perfect director for handling such a unique story; his unique taste and rebellious attitude that gave us films like Sin City and From Dusk Till Dawn were a major asset here. The talented cast bolsters that in spades. It may not have the thematic depth of the manga, but for a great time at the movies, who really cares?
Books
Urban Legends, Serial Killers, and Space Epics: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read This June
We have entered summer reading season.
Schools are emptying, beaches are filling, and it’s a great time to pack a tote full of brand-new books and get some reading done in the shade. But even if the sun is bright, your fiction can still be dark, because June is absolutely packed with great new horror releases from rising stars and genre icons.
From a Psycho retelling to a dark twist on Peter Pan lore to a new book from a Pulitzer Prize winner, these are the horror titles we can’t wait to crack open this June.
The Children by Melissa Albert – June 2
A blend of dark fantasy, Gothic family saga, and horror novel that’s received rave reviews from Stephen King and more, The Children follows the adult children of a legendary fantasy author who died when a fire consumed their home. Now, living their own creative lives, Guinevere and Ennis must revisit the secrets from the night of the fire, the darkness surrounding Ennis’s new art installation, and the truth of their family legacy in both fact and fiction. It sounds like a wonderful twisted nest of secrets and magic, and I’m eager to dive in.
Marion by Leah Rowan – June 2
Just when you thought we’d run out of interesting ways to riff on Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Leah Rowan comes along with Marion. As the title suggests, it’s the story of the Bates Motel’s most famous victim, but this time, she doesn’t die in the shower. She takes control of the knife and the narrative in this daring retelling of a proto-slasher classic. The story we know is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to find out the end.
Headlights by CJ Leede – June 9
Through her first two novels, Maeve Fly and American Rapture, CJ Leede emerged as one of the most exciting new horror voices of the 2020s, and she’s just getting warmed up. Leede’s third novel follows an FBI agent on the brink of retirement, running from his past and from the unsolved case that haunts him most, as he’s slowly pulled back into a gruesome serial killer narrative. Victims start turning up again, wearing someone else’s skin like a cape, with no memory of how they got that way, or how they got a lone strand of unidentified hair tied around their tongue. Both a riff on The Shining and a journey into the dark Colorado night, Headlights is one of the year’s most exciting horror lit events.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo – June 9
Cynthia Pelayo‘s novels have always felt like dark fairy tales, and with her latest, she’s taking things into the realm of one of the most famous children’s stories ever. It Came From Neverland follows a version of Wendy Darling who, while working as a schoolteacher and as an aid to rehabilitate World War I soldiers, finds old fears returning when a student goes missing. It seems that an entity Wendy knows only as “Peter Pan” is back on the prowl, and unlocking her memories might be the only way to stop it. That’s right, it’s a dark Peter Pan retelling as only Pelayo can do it, and you know you want a piece of that.
The Other by Annie Neugebauer – June 9
Annie Neugebauer’s The Extra ranks as one of the most clever and frightening horror novellas in recent memory, but that was only the beginning. This June, Neugebauer returns with the next book in what’s been dubbed “The Outsiders Sequence.” This time, Neugebauer’s strange world of doppelgangers and mimics turns to a couple on a hike who run into their exact duplicates, setting off a chain of events that will test their understanding of each other in terrifying ways. Neugebauer’s one of horror’s finest rising stars right now, so if you haven’t jumped on board The Outsiders Sequence yet, pick up The Extra and get ready for The Other.
Marla by Jonathan Janz – August 18 (Editor’s update: Release has now shifted from initial June 23 publication date)
Speaking of rising stars in the horror world, we’ve got Jonathan Janz, whose work has hit another level in recent years thanks to work like Children of the Dark and Veil. Now he’s back with Marla, the story of a local woman surrounded by urban legend, and her possible connection to a string of crimes in the community of King’s Branch. Is Marla a witch, a killer, a victim, a helpless child? We’ll have to read and find out in what feels like a perfect jumping-on point for new Janz readers.
The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus – June 23
Daniel Kraus has long been a favorite among genre readers, but thanks to his recent Pulitzer Prize win for his brilliant novel Angel Down, he’s more visible than ever, and all that visibility comes as he’s about to unleash a space epic with all the hallmarks of epic sci-fi and horror alike. The Sixth Nik promises everything from a sentient spaceship to a rogue planet full of plague to a nine-year-old “cultist” with an enhanced brain. This is Kraus playing in a brand-new sandbox, and genre readers everywhere won’t want to miss that.
Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen – June 23
E.L. Chen‘s latest novel is described as a love letter to ’80s slasher films, and anyone who’s taken a dive into the meta-horror of Scream or My Heart is a Chainsaw will want to sit up and take notice. The book follows a group of friends who grew up in a town famous as the location of a slasher movie, where they frequently played the characters during midnight shows. As adults, they return to their hometown, and to the location of the slasher movie, only to find that someone’s out to get them, someone wearing a very familiar mask. This sounds like a blast, and the latest in an ever-growing strand of slasher novels reinventing the genre on the page.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay – June 30
Modern horror master Paul Tremblay‘s latest novel sounds like his most ambitious yet, and that’s really saying something. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia, a former pro gamer who gets an offer she can’t refuse: For a hefty payday, she must pilot a man named “Bernie” across the country for her mother’s tech company. The catch? Bernie’s in a vegetative state, and his mobility comes from the AI chip in his head. As Julia moves Bernie’s body, Bernie’s mind moves through an unfathomable nightmare world, but where are they heading, and what’s Bernie really meant to find? Every new Paul Tremblay book is an event, and this one feels particularly special.
Red X by David Demchuk – June 30
This one’s technically a reprint, but David Demchuk’s Red X is so revered among the horror community, and particularly other horror authors, that it feels worth highlighting, especially during Pride Month. Complex and metatextual, Red X is about a series of disappearances and a demonic entity plaguing the gay community of Toronto, but it’s also an autobiographical sketch of an author navigating death, survival, queer culture, horror as a means of expression, and more. In short, it’s an essential, and this new edition, complete with fresh writing by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Anthony Oliveira, is a must-have.
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