A new trailer just out.
I remember it was James Cameron's personal project that been mentioned lots since 2000, so it finally done and out, of course, James producing it. But leave it in Robert Rodriguez's hands. It does looks good, even the girl got manga eyes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=105&v=CqYfXOYqzy4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=105&v=CqYfXOYqzy4)
That looks creepy as shit, and not in a good way.
Urgh, looks terrible. Especially the lead character. Why in a live action film give the lead character manga features? Its just distracting & makes her look weird compared to all the other characters.
Yeah, really off-putting.
This has bomb written all over it.
It's a shame it looks like a retread of Astro Boy, as I'd like to be on board for it if only because the hipsters and their weeaboo evolutionary cousins will dogpile it.
Well that's an entirely pointless and nonsensical waste o' money design choice.
I must admit I'm a little surprised that sci-fi fans are struggling with the concept of making an actor playing a robot look non-human. I mean, even aside from the basic concept, her face is pretty much what will be in every scene, and it's not like there isn't a wealth of current interest in the uncanny valley - although admittedly most of that seems to be talk about sex robots. I've heard.
Here's the thing... I've read quite a bit of the original manga*. In that and the anime adaptation, everyone looks like a manga character, so yer brain automatically makes the leap to perceiving them all as human looking.
There's already an uncanniness in the source material, but it comes from seeing 'human' faces attached to broken mechanical bodies. In the case of Alita herself, the filmmakers have lessened any impact that could have had, by making her fizog look fake, ('cos a fake face on a fake body isn't as freaky as a real face on a fake body).
*Including the bit with the bloke who looks exactly like Horned God era Slaine, who gets his head ripped off so the baddie can steal his body, (which Rebellion'll probably have something to say about if it ends up in a film).
That looks like a shambles. And those eyes: I mean, seriously what the absolute fuck are they thinking with that? She looks like Gollum.
Whenever I heard Cameron was doing this a few years back, I couldn't help but allow my imagination to think that this would have a bit of balls about it. It'd be dark, adult themed. The design I had in mind would have been something similar to how Garland did the CGI in Ex Mechina. It's ridiculous why Hollywood has some kind of aversion of casting Asian actors for these types of films in obvious Japanese genre specific roles.
I don't know what I'll be doing in July but it won't be going to see this shit.
Quote from: Goaty on 08 December, 2017, 07:59:02 PMIt does looks good, even the girl got manga eyes!
I would venture to say you are alone in that opinion...
It doesn't look very good but the eyes are fine.
Quote from: Rusty on 09 December, 2017, 04:18:22 AM
It's ridiculous why Hollywood has some kind of aversion of casting Asian actors for these types of films in obvious Japanese genre specific roles.
You have a valid point about Hollywood casting Asians, but again, the character is a robot and can theoretically look like like any race, or - as is clearly the case with Alita - none of them. Unlike Motoko Kusanagi, Alita and her story, setting and premise are not really culturally proprietary.
Quote from: Professor Bear on 09 December, 2017, 11:42:19 AM
Quote from: Rusty on 09 December, 2017, 04:18:22 AM
It's ridiculous why Hollywood has some kind of aversion of casting Asian actors for these types of films in obvious Japanese genre specific roles.
You have a valid point about Hollywood casting Asians, but again, the character is a robot and can theoretically look like like any race, or - as is clearly the case with Alita - none of them. Unlike Motoko Kusanagi, Alita and her story, setting and premise are not really culturally proprietary.
True, though I think in this case, those eyes are only present because of the manga. I can't think of any other reason, and that reason alone is a stupid one, unless they add in some bullshit reasoning that she's a robot that has cats eyes because it gives her better reflexes or can see better in the dark or some shit. It's all too similar to what they did with Ghost in the Shell and the Major's casting. She was originally a Japanese woman who's brain got ported into a white woman because...er...some reason or another. If indeed Alita's story isn't really culturally centric, then there is no need to keep the manga aesthetic of those eyeballs. Must be James Cameron's cat eye fetish. After all, it's supposedly scientifically proven that big cute eyes on your characters makes them more appealing. Allegedly.
Anyway, I look forward to the live action Akira, where American boys and girls will have Japanese names. Can't wait to see how that one gets explained away.
They're mixed race? Of course the problem there is casting at least one Asian parent, so Hollywood is back to square one.
Actually, the way casting trends are going, the characters in Akira will likely be played by actors of Hispanic origin, potentially marking the first organic overlap between weeaboos and white supremacists. Social media really does bring everybody together.