Yukito Kishiro’s manga “Battle Angel Alita” was published between 1990 and 1995 and earned a number of devoted fans — including film director James Cameron. Cameron spent more than a decade trying to adapt it for the big screen.

However, he finally moved on to his groundbreaking film franchise “Avatar,” and director Robert Rodriguez took over the task.

The film follows the titular cyborg*, Alita (Rosa Salazar), who’s found mostly disassembled* in the scrapyard* of Iron City by Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz). Ido takes her still living core and attaches it to the cyborg body he had created for his daughter before her death. When the cyborg awakens in Ido’s care, he names her Alita after his daughter. But, of course, Alita isn’t his daughter and wants to learn who she really is.

Discovering the world around her, Alita is fascinated by Iron City, the remnants* of society living beneath the last floating city of Zalem, and its inhabitants — particularly Hugo (Keean Johnson). And Alita is especially excited by the sport of “Motorball,” which Hugo teaches her to play with some local teenagers.

However, there is a danger lurking* just beneath the surface of Iron City. Vector (Mahershala Ali) and Dr. Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) sponsor some of the most successful Motorball players, but they have a side operation that gives them connections to powerful people in Zalem. As Alita discovers the darkness in Iron City and begins to learn about her history as a warrior, she decides to become a hunter-warrior (a bounty hunter) and fight against evil, especially the evil cyborg Grewishka (Jackie Earle Haley). As Alita gets closer to discovering who she truly is and her purpose, there are those in both Iron City and Zalem who conspire* to take the cyborg down and Alita finds herself in a battle not only for her life, but for the lives of those she loves.

Directed by Rodriguez from a script by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, it quickly becomes clear that “Alita: Battle Angel” benefits from the same technical advancements that made Cameron’s “Avatar” such a innovation in terms of 3-D filmmaking.

The film is nothing short of a mesmerizing* spectacle and is no doubt best experienced in the highest quality format possible.

(SD-Agencies)