Alita Battle Angel Review

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Alita: Battle Angel has been James Cameron’s passion project for years. Since 2003, he has held the film rights and has claimed over and over again that he will be directing this adaptation of the Japanese manga, but dropped it to focus on his Avatar series. While still acting as a producer, he handed over the director’s chair to Robert Rodriguez, who you might remember from such film series as Spy Kids and Machete.

Hollywood’s history of adapting beloved Japanese manga and anime has been rough to say the least. From duds like Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, to the embarrassment/insult that is Dragonball: Evolution, it seems that North American studios don’t have the capacity to understand what makes the original stories so great, or the passion to see timeless characters brought to life. James Cameron definitely has passion to spare; it can’t be easy being a big name trying to get a movie made, but constantly being told no. But does the cast and crew have the ability to create life-like characters and an intriguing world? Or is this another nail in the coffin for Hollywood anime/manga adaptations?

In a dystopian future, the movie follows Alita (Rosa Salazar), an A.I found in a junkyard by Dr. Dyson Ido (Christopher Waltz). After the doctor puts her in an artificial body, Alita awakens with no memory of who she is. As she experiences the world anew, it’s revealed that Alita has combat experience that puts the murderous cyborgs of Iron City to shame. Alita is now being hunted by the mysterious Nova (Mahershala Ali, kind of), and must find more of her past and how she came to Iron City.

We should probably start with the best element, the action. As with any action/adventure film, action is one of the most important elements, second only the characters. It’s not often I say this, but the fights and chases in Alita Battle Angel are glorious. The characters are vibrant and dynamic as they beat the snot out of each other, and unlike some fight scenes in movies, it’s very easy to follow the action, never being too close or using too many cuts between hits. I was lucky enough to see this in 3D, and the effects looked wonderful. This isn’t like some cash grab, “oh, we’ll say it’s 3D, but hardly anything will stand out, and those fools will never notice”, post conversion crap, the action takes full effect of the 3D, with shards of metal, sprays of oil, and weapons going around everywhere. I honestly wish I had seen this in IMAX 3D, it would’ve looked even better.

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The cast do a good job as well. Rosa Salazar’s acting can seem dry at times, but to be fair, she’s playing a robot so I think that’s the point. The scenes of her experiencing new things after losing her memory are the best, kind of like Ariel exploring the city in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Christopher Waltz’s Dr. Ido is probably the best character, with a tragic past and a desire to do good.

The world building is also top notch. In many futuristic movies I watch, the worlds are dark, dirty, and have hardly any hope, but Alita: Battle Angel has a good mix of both. You see the hardships people must go through, and how they live off the scraps of those above them, but the environment is still bright, and people are still smiling and laughing. It’s one of the nicer futures I’ve seen in a while.

Nothing is without flaw though, and Alita: Battle Angel drags the story quite a bit. The biggest one is the villain, or villains I should say. Mahershala Ali plays Vector, an entrepreneur that runs the popular “Motorball” games and deals in black market cybernetic parts. But he also plays Nova, a scientist from the floating city of Zalem, by way of Nova taking control of Vector’s body and mind. I found this really cheapened the character, as one of the best actors in the film isn’t the Big Bad, but his puppet. Vector is still an interesting character, cold and manipulative, and has a group of lackeys to do his dirty work. It’s also shown that he knows that Nova takes control of his body, but nothing is done with this. We could’ve had a sympathetic villain that reviles being the plaything of another person, but this plot point is quickly dropped.

There’s another villain coming after Alita in the movie: Zapan (Ed Skrien), who is also disappointing. When you look at his motivation, it boils down to him being a sore loser. He’s not intimidating or interesting, he just acts like a arse while whining about losing a fight.

The action may look amazing, but Alita suffers from being overpowered. Right from the get go, Alita makes the robotic criminals and bounty hunters look incompetent by comparison. Apart from one fight in the middle, there’s never a sense of danger for Alita, nothing special to overcome. So they become a game of “how’s Alita going to beat this one?”, which again looks nice, but it does leave the action scenes a bit dry.

Finally, the ending is disappointing, which is probably the most important aspect to a movie when you want sequels. The climax is dull, considering Alita once again trashes the competition like nobody’s business, and the whole thing is over in a few short minutes. There is an emotional climax which, while effective, doesn’t feel earned through the movie. Nothing feels truly accomplished in this movie, no injustice was stopped, no big villain defeated, they just leave that to the possible sequel to deal with. My biggest pet peeve is when movies that plan for sequels just devote the last few minutes to set up the next one. The only time it can work is when it’s in a movie that’s already a sequel, because that way you already have a fanbase to work from, who liked the first film enough to want a second, and then the second can entice for a third. If they want to set up a quick plotline of what might happen if there’s a sequel, then fine, but Battle Angel Alita overdoes it, never a good sign for the first movie in a series that already has a high break-even point.

Overall, Alita: Battle Angel is energetic, but tasteless fun. If you suffer through my analogy, it’s like a cupcake. Sweet, pretty, definitely tasty, but it’s certainly not very filling. However, the world, the actors, and the action make Battle Angel Alita an entertaining watch, which gives it three out of five stars.


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