Off Topic: Alita: Battle Ange…
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Off Topic: Alita: Battle Angel and CGI
Greymom
Posts: 1,124
in The Commons
As a fan of this manga series for 20 years, I thought the IMAX movie was awesome! IMHO the best adaptation of a classic manga to film so far. The CGI was amazing, particularly for the Motorball sequences.
I will be seeing this multiple times. : )
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I haven't seen it yet but the trailer hit me with the uncanny valley really hard. I really love CG content in movies - Ready Player One was AWESOME! But the CGI beside the shots of real people in the Battle Angel trailer, just didn't mesh well, imo. It was a bit unsettling -and this coming from someone who's a huge fan of 3D and CGI content. I don't think CGI is quite "there" yet to be completely seamless alongside real actors.
I watched the trailer several times, hoping that it would "grow on me" - but the real actors next to the CGI doesn't quite fit, imo. I'm sure I'll see the movie eventually (probably put it on my Netflix queue when it's out), but I hope that after a few minutes of watching it the real people next to the CGI won't feel so jarring. ...and those eyes. I want to like them, they're meant to be super cute or pretty, I'm sure ...but they're just too much uncanny or something - I find them unsettling personally.
I find the reaction to the treatment of the character in the movie to be rather curious. I have not seen the movie itself, either, but I have seen the trailers and stills. I suppose I must admit to a momentary episode of the "uncanny valley" when I first saw the character, but that was relatively quickly and easily overridden by the realization of the fact that she was deliberately not-quite-human. I have seen a lot of negative comments varying from repulsion to disappointment and even anger over the representation. Heck, its a movie, guys! Lighten up. Also interesting is the fact that on this site and elsewhere there are a multitude of representations of humans in almost every conceivable way that are not rigidly realistic, but you don't often hear people objecting to that. Maybe its the juxtaposition of humans and the near human that unsettles people. But people seemed to have no big issue with Jessica Rabbit. Go figure. My advice would be, for the time watching the movie, to suspend disbelief, which is kind of necessary anyway given the subject matter.
Oh they reworked the eyes and did a different trailer? I'll have to check it out. It was likely the original trailer that I saw. If they redid it and it's less jarring, that would be great! I really wanted to like it, so hopefully the rework on the eyes helps. :)
Well it looks pretty good to me as far as the CGI is concerned. Alita is not sopposed to human anyway and it a fantasy manga story so 100% live action isn't to be expected. Movies like this require a willing suspension of disbelief to be enjoyed.
Yep, they made the eyes somewhat smaller. Still large, but that was an aspect of the original manga, "Gunnm" (A Gun's Dream). I found them a lot less jarring than the original trailer. I thought Rosa Salazar did a wonderful job capturing the essense of the character. To me, the fight scene in the Bounty Hunter's bar, and the Motorball test match were worth the price of admission by themselves. I also thought that Christopher Waltz (Dr. Ido) and Mahershala Ali (Vector) were ideal for their characters. After waiting almost 20 years for the movie, I was not disappointed!
I did watch the movie, and after just a few minutes I was taking the Alita character's differences for granted. Probably because I've been a fan since shortly after the manga was first available, and to my exposure to similar characters in the Poser/Studio world.As for the movie adaption, it's not bad, and better than I expected, after all the early criticism. There are some deviations from the original story, but nothing that detracts from the experience.
It's not in the Academy Award class, but it is enjoyable. I'll probably get it on disk, when that's released.
The movie has the best CG to date. It should get an award for visual effects. It's definitely not going to get any of the top awards (eg. director, cinematography, script, etc.), though.
..my issue was an anglo actress for the main role.
..and way too much CG-eyecandy.
From a Spanish (Yanks say "Hispanic") perspective, she is NOT Anglo, and the original character was of no specified ethnicity.
Love it 10/10, I didn't mind the deviations, the original left too many questions. but they left an opening for a 2nd movie.
Sadly they tried to assassinate it with paid critics and fake comment and this is getting to be the norm now.
But would recommend it to anyone !
Agree on Ready Player One; with Akita, I too haven't seen the film (trailer only, but I will), but I was able to ignore the issues largely because of Akita herself; she so obviously (isn't real) to me that it wasn't an issue.
With Manga, I generally find it doesn't translate to 3D well, especially if they're trying to replicate some (and more so with all) of the anime look. Large eyes always kill believability. I love the art style - I was an adult before I saw any; perhaps that is why (Manga, Anime, or 3D variants)?
I hope to see the movie today, so I've yet to have any opinions at the time I'm posting this comment.
But I will note I have been anticipating this movie for well over a decade, since I read James Cameron had acquired the rights to produce a film, a few years before he made "Avatar".
Alita (aka "Gally") has long been a favorite subject of mine to depict in polygonal form.and Lokai2000's "berserker" body texture (a layered .PSD files) allowed me to achieve a major breakthrough.
Sincerely,
Bill
How ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ triumphed over the uncanny valley
From the Engadget article: Because Robert Rodriguez likes to put the camera directly into his actors' faces, the team at Weta had to make sure her eyes looked absolutely convincing. To do that they added an obscene amount of depth and detail to her eyes: about 8.5 million polygons in each one. That's way more than the 1.5 million that make up entire character models in Avatar. If you're thinking that those animation files must be huge, you're not wrong: The entire movie uses 3.5 petabytes of storage.
I liked but did not love this movie. I found the characters and plot to be somewhat lacking in depth. Visuals and effects are spectacular.
I've been a fan for 20 years or so and was in line for the IMAX friday after work. I loved the CG. The plot was a pretty basic retelling of the story, which was all they really could do in the time available.
One of the main criticisms that Kishiro received over the years from readers in Japan was that the main character was not clearly Asian, but she was not meant to be of any particular ethnicity. In the later series (Last Order, Mars Chronicles) she looks a bit more Asian. Her later love interest, Figure Four, is supposed to be Japanese.
This manga alone was the main reason that I became interested in doing graphic novels myself, and I am really happy that it finally made it to the big screen!
After a long hiatus, the third series "Mars Chronicle" is coming out. This is flashback to her childhood, and her training under Gerta, a High Warrior of the Panzer Kunst (Armored Art).
The original creator of the series has come out and fully supported all of the casting choices in the movie, and the original was set in Kansas.
Could you let me know where you found that texture - looks really good. Those are some outstanding renders!
I never heard of the Alita Manga until this Movie was announced
I will see it in home release.
In the last two years, My favorite CG heavy movies Are,
Ready Player One and Valerian.
I am heavily anticipating the upcoming GUNDAM movie by Sunrise!!!
https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/06/gundam-live-action-movie/
Lokai2000 is an artist at Deviant...
https://www.deviantart.com/lokai2000
...who used to work a lot with Aiko 3. It was this piece...
https://www.deviantart.com/lokai2000/art/Rusty-Angel-34043324
...that featured a texture he made which caught my attention. I contacted him and and we arranged a deal.
Mind you, this texture is for Aiko 3 (and due to their same UV layout, all other Mil' 3 figures) which most people upon these forums now consider archaic.
There was a product for the Genesis 2 female labeled "Battle Girl for Aiko 6" that had a plating design resembling Alita's cybernetic body, complete with the characteristic sickle shaped strips under her eyes, but that vendor is no only employed here and the product was "pulled".
Sincerely,
Bill
Thanks for the info, Bill! I have been meaning to work on one anyway. Also would like to do the Imaginos body texture from "Gunnm: Last Order".
I thought is was well worth seeing in IMAX - wow!
Both Ready Player One and Valerian were excellent, I thought. I guess it helped that I was familiar with the Classic French comic series for Valerian.
I am also looking forward to the Gundam movie!
Gundam as live action worries me. I'm concerned it will turn into some sort of Pacific Rim abomination or *shudder* Robotech.
I haven't seen it yet but I thought the trailers were awesome. so I tried to recreate scenes
another atempt
I have the same problem with Alita as I did with Mortal Engines.
I don't care about any of the characters. Mortal Engines looks like they grabbed a few extras from Pirates of the Matrix Caribbean and...
I spent my whole childhood reading about special cyborgs who spend the whole movie/book/series finding out who they are and unlocking their potential/destiny.
Seeing that same story in another format doesn't thrill me. Maybe I own too much from that big-anime-explosion-era.
And nothing about those trailers made me want to see it- not the CGI, fight scenes or her big rolling eyes.
---------------
The last two movies that gave me chills were Glass (which was okay to good - with some flaws) and I'm waiting on the new Godzilla.
That first King of Monsters trailer sold me. Oh, I also got fooled by Force Awakens.
I don't know. I thought Akita was a real dog.
Sincerely,
Bill
Wait a minute...there's a GUNDAM live-action coming out?!? WOOHOO!!!!
I only saw the second trailer, and thought it looked well-done. Haven't enjoyed a Cameron film since The Abyss, and burned out on the GIRLS-GUNS-TECHNOLOGY! school of anime a long time ago, so probably won't see this one.
Valerian was an amazing film if you could ignore the fact that the main leads couldn't act (or couldn't respond to the direction, or lack thereof, that Besson was giving them), didn't look anything like the characters in the source material, had all the chemistry of people who hated each others' guts, and were pretty mediocre eye candy even if you were willing to overlook all of that. I mean, I don't like Hayden Christiansen's and Natalie Portman's performances in the Star Wars prequels, but they were attractive, well-styled people with interesting, exotic clothes. Turn off the sound, or switch to a non-English dub with solid voice actors, and their scenes become fairly palatable. I can't say the same of the two losers in Valerian.