'Alita: Battle Angel' Super Bowl Trailer: The Cyberpunk Anime Blockbuster You've Been Waiting For

We were skeptical about Alita: Battle Angel for some time, but we've really turned around on this Robert Rodriguez-directed, James Cameron-produced science fiction film. Based on the popular Japanese manga Battle Angel Alita, this looks like a faithful (and therefore, odd and crazy) adaptation that really understands the appeal of the source material. And the new Super Bowl trailer promises even more cyborg action.

We're even more interested in this movie because our own Hoai-Tran Bui saw the film and truly enjoyed it, calling it Hollywood's first great manga adaptation:

Perhaps the success of Alita: Battle Angel comes from the lack of expectations surrounding a property not especially well-known to western audiences. Rodriguez can craft his vivid and visceral world and take as much creative license as he pleases, without the pressure to please fans. But more than benefiting from the lowest of expectations when it comes to anime adaptations, Alita: Battle Angel is a solid, visually stunning blockbuster that doesn't pretend to be something it's not.

Alita: Battle Angel opens on February 14, 2019. Here's the official synopsis:

From visionary filmmakers James Cameron (AVATAR) and Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY), comes ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, an epic adventure of hope and empowerment. When Alita (Rosa Salazar) awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious history while her street-smart new friend Hugo (Keean Johnson) offers instead to help trigger her memories. But it is only when the deadly and corrupt forces that run the city come after Alita that she discovers a clue to her past – she has unique fighting abilities that those in power will stop at nothing to control. If she can stay out of their grasp, she could be the key to saving her friends, her family and the world she's grown to love.