Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 film based on Yukito Kishiro’s 1990s manga Battle Angel Alita. The film follows Alita, an amnesiac cyborg whose remains were found in the junkyards of Iron City. After realizing that she’s actually from the floating utopia known as Zalem, she strives to earn a one-way ticket to Zalem in order to discover the truth behind her existence.
Being that it is a story of self-discovery, fans knew to expect a few unforgettable quotes sprinkled in between some of the best action sequences we’ve seen in a film all year. Here are 10 quotes from the film that we don’t think we’ll be forgetting anytime soon, and we better not, considering it might take a while for us to get a sequel.
“The strong prey on the weak down here. You gotta stay focused on your dream.” - Hugo
After meeting Alita, Hugo takes the time to show her the ropes of Iron City. While we saw time and time again how the strong take advantage of the weak in this world, Hugo was able to look towards Zalem as a way to remain sane. Although he never did make it to Zalem, this is a quote that we can all apply to our lives in a world that can feel just as cruel as Iron City.
“Don’t just do things for people. No matter how good you think they are, or how deserving they are.” - Hugo
After realizing that Hugo was working for Vector in order to save up enough money to buy his way into Zalem, Alita offered to give him her mechanical heart that would probably sell on the black market for a huge sum of money. Hugo declined her offer, telling her never to do things like that for people that she barely knew. We’d already seen Hugo at “work,” so it wasn’t difficult to agree with him for once. Perhaps more people would be willing to give selflessly like Alita if there were fewer people like Hugo waiting to exploit that kindness.
“I’m going to get back to Zalem somehow. I’ll claw my way there with my bare hands if I have to.” - Chiren
While Dr. Ido and Chiren were born in Zalem, both were exiled to Iron City after the birth of their daughter. While Dr. Ido accepted his fate, Chiren could only think about getting back to Zalem one day. Seeing just how dedicated she was to get back to Zalem made us all wonder from the start just what exactly is up there that she believes is waiting for her.
The irony is that while she did manage to guarantee a one-way trip back to Zalem for herself, something tells us that her experience in the city just won’t be the same.
“Because I am a doctor. And… I’m a mother. And somehow I forgot that.” - Chiren
In helping Vector and Grewishka, Chiren’s actions have indirectly led to the deaths and suffering of several Iron City inhabitants. Before her own organs were harvested, she renounced her allegiance to Vector after assisting Alita and Hugo the night before. Although she chose to abandon her evil ways a little too late, we completely understand how tempting the promise of Zalem must be. It has something that everyone wants: money, resources, safety, food, answers, or anything else they can’t get from Iron City. Though these things aren’t even guaranteed up in Zalem, it’s this fantasy that forces these characters to go against their moral code and launch themselves headfirst into the line of fire to get what they seek.
“I’d rather rule in hell than serve in heaven. We’d be at the bottom of the food chain up there but down here we can live like kings.” - Vector
From the minute we saw Vector, we could tell that he was shady, and not just because Mahershala Ali has a habit of playing some of the most conniving villains out there (take Luke Cage’s Cottonmouth or the Prowler in Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse). He’s fine staying in Iron City because he knows that there, he can remain unchallenged and at the top. By refusing to pursue a higher standard of living, he not only helps Nova maintain the status quo, but also remained unchallenged until Alita showed up. One thing’s for certain, if he had been allowed to go to Zalem, Alita wouldn’t have been able to kill him as easily as she did.
“But that’s just a shell. It’s not bad or good. That part’s up to you.” - Dr. Ido
After Alita found a cyborg body made with the same technology from her lost civilization, Dr. Ido refused to install it, knowing full well what it was capable of. After her original body was sliced up in battle, he was left with no choice but to give her this new body, and we couldn’t agree more with his quote. In a world of cyborgs and weapons, we’ve seen firsthand how cyborgs can use their gifts to either help others or wreak havoc.
While it seems like Iron City has more people who’d rather use their gifts for their own selfish interests, Alita has shown us all that using our gifts to help others is actually far more rewarding.
“I do not stand by in the presence of evil.” - Alita
After Grewishka murdered an innocent dog, these words echoed through Alita’s mind. Although the people of Zalem and Iron City refer to the United Republics of Mars as “evil” and “the enemy,” somehow we don’t think Alita’s side was in the wrong during the Great War. Somewhere in her subconsciousness, she’s already pledged to stand against tyranny in all its forms, which only makes us wonder who she is and what she and her comrades were fighting for when they attempted to storm Zalem.
“If you’re born on the ground you stay on the ground and no amount of money can change that… You can’t buy your way up there.” - Dr. Ido
While many of us were rooting for Hugo to eventually earn his way to Zalem, Dr. Ido deduced that Vector was running a scam, and basically claimed that the only way someone could get to Zalem is if they were born up there in the first place or they became a Motorball champion. While Dr. Ido’s defeatist attitude was often frustrating at times, he is right on this one. Powerful cyborgs like Alita are the only ones who have a shot at making it up to Zalem to a better existence, which makes this quote one of the most depressing, but also one of the most accurate, in the entire film.
“F*** your mercy.” - Alita
While we don’t know much about Grewishka’s background and how he got connected with Nova in the first place, after he received his cable claws, even Alita had trouble keeping up with him. He was able to break her body into pieces, and even threatened to make her head into a necklace so that he could hear her screams for mercy every day, to which Alita responded by ripping out one of his eyes.
Not only was this moment one of Alita’s finest, showing just how much of a danger she could be even in such a sorry state. She’s really lucky the others came when they did. We would’ve hated to see Grewishka actually go through with his morbid jewelry ideas.
“I’ve found the only way to enjoy immortality is to watch others die.” - Nova
While we know a little about almost every other character, Nova remains a complete enigma. We know he’s the ruler of Zalem and Iron City, but that’s about it. He casually drops a line about his immortality when Alita confronts him after he’s taken over Vector’s body, and we’ve been left scratching our heads ever since. He’s definitely let all that power get to his head, and if anyone’s playing god, it’s him. Hopefully we get a sequel to see Alita finally deprive him of the life he thought he’d have forever.
