For some movies like ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ and ‘Captain Marvel‘, Super Bowl ads are just a splashy treat for fans. For others, a Super Bowl ad is a much-needed chance to market to as broad an audience as possible and ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is one of those. This manga/anime adaptation comes from mega-creators Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron, but is essentially a brand new property to the vast majority of American moviegoers. The extremely sci-fi vibe and the crazy large anime eyes might scare off the uninitiated, but the reviews for this movie are starting to trickle out and… well, critics are split, but some are calling this the best live-action anime flick ever, with praise largely heaped on the CGI, with many urging fans to see this one in 3D to really get the full impact.
If you want to get a taste of what to expect, here is the Super Bowl trailer:
Alita is a creation from an age of despair. Found by the mysterious Dr. Ido while trolling for cyborg parts, Alita becomes a lethal, dangerous being. She cannot remember who she is, or where she came from. But to Dr. Ido, the truth is all too clear. She is the one being who can break the cycle of death and destruction left behind from Tiphares. But to accomplish her true purpose, she must fight and kill. And that is where Alita’s true significance comes to bear. She is an angel from heaven. She is an angel of death.
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ stars Marhershala Ali who won an Academy Award for his work in ‘Moonlight’ and is quite likely to earn another one for ‘Green Book’ next month, after his win at the Golden Globes. He has also been recognized for his work in ‘Luke Cage’, ‘Free State of Jones’ and ‘Hidden Figures’. In “Alita’, he plays Vector, the film’s major villain.
Ali costars with Rosa Salazar as the titular cyborg, as well as Lana Condor, Jennifer Connelly, Eiza González, Jackie Earle Haley, Michelle Rodriguez, Ed Skrein, Casper Van Dien, and Christoph Waltz.
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ arrives in theaters on February 14.
