Alita: Battle Angel

WORK – No, but say, is it good or not?

In the twenty-sixth century, a scientist saved Alita, a young inert cyborg abandoned in a landfill. Returned to life, she has to discover the mystery of her origins and the complex world in which she finds herself, in order to protect her new friends from the dark forces launched in pursuit of her.

Aesthetically ambitious (a real technical feat), this blockbuster from SF cyberpunk to the vertiginous universe, to the perfect casting (Rosa Salazar EST Alita), to the copious frame even if agreed upon, to the virevoltant action scenes, to the skin-flowering emotion and to the haunting rhythm, is an excellent adaptation of the eponymous manga that tells the search for identity of a young cyborg. Let's now cross our fingers for a sequel to see.

IMAGE – Everyone's beautiful, are you sure?

Hatted by James Cameron himself (who also took care of SDR 2D/3D transfers), HDR encoding (10, 10+ and Dolby Vision) is rather dark. Where, for example, certain titles can reach a maximum luminance of 992 nits for an average of 518 nits (i.e. Matrix with the same op leader), we find ourselves here with a maximum luminance of 737 nits (very rarely reached) for an average of 130 nits! So there's no need to doubt the abilities of the Dynamic Ton Mapping (for the HDR10) or the Dolby Vision rendering of your broadcaster, this film is dark and it's like that.

Moreover, if the SDR transfer is generally more luminous (it is far from being the only one and it is in no way a defect that the HDR encoding is less so), the shadows are much less well worked on and many details are lost in the high luminances (especially behind the sunny windows). If the result is therefore less demonstrative in HDR, it is above all much more natural and precise.

All the elements of the frame gain in precision (faces, urban landscapes), the light sources are much better composed (light of the day, reflections on metal surfaces, lighting of the bar, projectors in the arena of Motorball), the colorimetric palette to dominate orange (photography is very hot) is more beautifully saturated (cf. the primary), and the contrasts still as neat are much dense.

Undoubtedly, this ultra-abouti HDR UHD transfer is one of the most beautiful of the Ultra HD 4K support.

SON – He who has ears to hear, hear!

Equipped with a sound design of rare wealth, a spatialisation of madness and an impressive scale, the VO Dolby Atmos gives itself without counting. The flights of the dynamic are remarkable (the assault of the Centurions and the runs of Motorball deploy an incredible energy), the soundscape comes to life on all sides (the atmospheres overflow everywhere), the surrounding activity is constant, the aerial scene shows a real commitment (music, pyrotechnic effects, crowd noise, a presenter, etc.), the score of Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) is enveloping as possible, the bass express with force (from the beginning with the unloading of the waste from Zalem) and the dialogues (sometimes out of the field) are faithfully reproduced.

A little less immersive and striking, VF remains dreadfully effective.

In both cases, the soundtrack is thundering.

CONCLUSION – Every good thing has an end...

Essential to any good Ultra HD Blu-ray collection, this stunning disc allows you to enjoy this bluffing adaptation of manga Gunnm !