Alita: Battle Angel

Starring: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keenan Johnson, Jeff Fahey, Eiza Gonzalez, Casper Van Dien, Jai Courtney (uncredited), Edward Norton (uncredited), Michelle Rodriguez (uncredited)
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A cyborg (Rosa Salazar) is resurrected with no memory of her past. As she learns about the world she inhabits, she yearns to uncover the mystery of who she is.

Review:

Tim: I'm really glad we got an Alita: Battle Angel movie. This is a film I first heard about years and years ago. I'm not familiar with the source material, but it seemed like it could be an incredibly cool film that could lead to a franchise. James Cameron's involvement certainly piqued my interest. While some excellent elements are included here, I felt torn about the final product. On the one hand, I was pleased to find that I enjoyed the movie. Alita: Battle Angel is an effective, entertaining, watchable movie. That was a big success. However, it also felt like the movie didn't get close to its full potential. It was a good movie, but so rarely elevated beyond that. That was so frustrating. If I'm being forthright, I have to place a ton of the blame on director Robert Rodriguez. Yes, he crafts a solid movie. And yet, Rodriguez is a director who is constantly overrated. I've seen 11 of his movies and believe he's made 1 great film (Desperado), 2 good movies (The Faculty and El Mariachi) and the rest haven't been good. That is a bad track record. The dude just doesn't deliver good films. So, on the one hand, I was ecstatic that he was able to make a good movie here, flipping the script on most of his career. On the other hand, it absolutely felt like this could have been a great movie. It felt like a movie James Cameron would have hit a home run with. I'm disappointed it wasn't better.

Still, I don't want to spend this whole review on what could have been. We do get a fairly exciting science fiction film here. We're brought into this futuristic world and the script does a solid job of world-building. It doesn't quite immerse us into this world (like an Avatar), but it was intriguing and I didn't mind the time here. It was fun learning about the world as we also learned about the characters. The Hunter-Warrior business was fairly interesting, and Motorball was definitely a high-visual, thrilling sport. The plot of the villain(s) felt a bit too convoluted and ultimately delivered an unsatisfying payoff, but there's enough mystery and intrigue to hold our attention throughout the 2 hour, 2 minute run time. The movie felt like it was the right length- it didn't doddle on, and it took the time it needed to tell the story. There's more positive elements here than negative ones.

The visual effects were impressive. They didn't quite feel cutting edge, but it certainly was one of the more visually impressive movies I've seen recently. We're living in an age where it's astonishing what can be created via the computer, so visual effects as a whole have felt less memorable, less impactful. When everything can be created, you lose a bit of awe. Even terrible movies with inadequate budgets can put together some solid visual effects. So, it was something special to see effects that felt like they at least attempted to push boundaries. The most apparent is the lead character of Alita. Her eyes are a bit off-putting at first, but you get used to them. In the end, I appreciated the unique visual style of her and its alignment with this story's manga roots.

Rosa Salazar does a good job as the titular hero. I loved that we got a strong woman as the protagonist and Salazar was effective at bringing her to life. A bit of her performance is lost in the visual effects, but there's no doubt she was the right choice for this character. I really enjoyed Christoph Waltz here. I always love when he's not immediately cast as the obvious villain and this role showed more of his range. Jennifer Connelly was fine. She might have been miscast, but she's such a strong actress that she overcomes early hesitation. I didn't love her, but she wasn't bad. It was great seeing Mahershala Ali here. It was a bit of a thankless role and it doesn't match up with his level of talent, but I'll take him in a supporting role any day, because he's going to immediately make the movie better (which he does). The supporting cast was absurdly strong- Jackie Earle Haley, Jeff Fahey, Jai Courtney, and Michelle Rodriguez all had smaller roles but contributed to the film. It was actually nice (and surprising) to see Edward Norton in his uncredited role. Although he doesn't have a ton to do, his presence was welcome.

Overall, Rodriguez delivers a solid sci fi action movie with impressive visuals. Alita: Battle Angel is a good movie, it introduces us to a new world and worthwhile characters. The script wasn't good enough, nor was the direction, but it did enough for me to have enjoyed the movie. I think the film about broke even at the box office in the end, so it's a question of whether we will ever get a sequel. I certainly hope we do- this movie feels incomplete (and a bit unsatisfying) at the end. A sequel is needed, and I'll take good sci fi movies any day.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



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