Alita Battle Angel trailer: James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez’s film look downright unsettling

Written by Kshitij Rawat | New Delhi | Published: December 9, 2017 1:17 pm Alita: Battle Angel will release on July 20, 2018.

Alita: Battle Angel is an upcoming film based on the manga series of the same name by Japanese artist Yukito Kishiro. The film is being produced by James Cameron and John Landau and written by James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis, and Robert Rodriguez. Rodriguez also directs. Rosa Salazar plays the titular role and Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earl Haley and Keean Johnson also star in Alita: Battle Angel.

The trailer for the film is out and you can watch it below. The setting is a post-apocalyptic city. The lead character Alita is a cyborg (no similarity to the DC character) that is brought back to life by Christopher Waltz’s Dr. Dyson Ido. The story is mainly about Alita’s journey towards self-discovery. Keean Johnson plays her love-interest and Ed Skrein is Zapan, a villain. Jennifer Connelly’s Chiren is likely to be the main villain.

First things first, I have no experience with the manga storyline, so this looks new to me. From what I can glean from the trailer, the makers have maintained the anime look of Alita, even though the rest of the characters have not been given the CGI treatment. The CGI looks perfect, though, and that is probably due to James Cameron being one of the producers. However, I have to say the eyes look unsettling.