Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga series Battle Angel Alita. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film stars Rosa Salazar as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. The film follows the story of Dr. Dyson Ido, who scavenges a disembodied female cyborg with an intact human brain in the Iron City scrapyard and unites it with a new cyborg body. Alita wakes with no memory and befriends Hugo, who dreams of moving to the wealthy sky city Zalem. Hugo introduces Alita to Motorball, a Rollerball-like sport played by cyborg gladiators. One night, Alita follows Ido and they are ambushed by killer cyborgs led by Grewishka. Ido is injured, and Alita uses “Panzer-Kunst” to fight. She kills two cyborgs and damages Grewishka, who retreats. Ido reveals that he is a Hunter-Warrior hired by the Factory. Grewishka seeks help from Dr. Chiren, who is working for Vector. Alita believes fighting will help her rediscover her past, but Ido discourages her from becoming a Hunter-Warrior. Alita finds an advanced cyborg body of a Berserker, shock troops of the enemy URM, but Ido refuses to install her.
Alita registers as a Hunter-Warrior and joins Hugo and Ido at the Kansas Bar to recruit other Hunter-Warriors to help take down Grewishka. They face off against Hunter-Warrior Zapan, who provokes Alita and she beats him in a fight. Grewishka, an upgraded version of Alita, challenges Alita to a duel, sent by Nova, Zalem’s overlord. Alita’s body is damaged, but Ido, Hugo, and McTeague force Grewishka to retreat. Ido apologizes and transplants Alita into the Berserker body.
Alita falls in love with Hugo and enters a Motorball tryout to send him to Zalem. Hugo quits his criminal job and confronts his partner Tanji, but Zapan kills Tanji and frames Hugo for murder. Alita saves Hugo by attaching his severed head to her life support system. Ido transplants Hugo’s head onto a cyborg body and reveals that citizens of Iron City can only enter Zalem by becoming a Motorball champion. Alita confronts Vector, who has been harvested for her organs, and summons Grewishka, which she easily destroys with her new body.
Ido informs Alita that Hugo is climbing a cargo tube towards Zalem, and she pleads with him to return with her. However, a serrated defense ring dropped by Nova shreds his body, and Alita cannot pull him up. Months later, Alita becomes a rising star in Motorball and swears revenge, pointing her sword towards Zalem.
