Alita: Battle Angel

It can't be denied how much of a busy filmmaker James Cameron is with numerous projects taking time to develop. While he has admitted his weaknesses with scripts in recent years, the production of his science fiction work is top notch. While he may not be relevant in the modern day like he was before, he's attempting to stay mainstream with his Avatar sequels that are in development. This brings us to Alita: Battle Angel, a new project he co-wrote/produced with Robert Rodriguez directing it and is based on the manga/anime of the same name. This was in development hell since 2003 since James wanted to test out the technology he intended for it on his first Avatar film. In addition to that, it was delayed to Valentines Day, which was a great decision considering how crowded December was and how large its budget was (notably big for Robert to direct as he's dealt with films of much lower budgets). The marketing campaign seemed familiar but still intriguing with its science fiction setting that appears to be using elements of Blade Runner and Elysium. I went into the auditorium ready to give it a chance and left liking it but recognizing how it hinders itself from being great.

What's it about? Taking place in the 26th century where the Earth has been ravaged by a past war, the story follows an amnesiac cyborg who learns about her past while encountering dangers in her surroundings. For those of you familiar with science fiction, this basically combines elements of Elysium and Blade Runner into the world building adventure that uses cliches aimed for a tween audience. There are enough story pieces that work well to pique interest in exploring more of their fascinating environment. It's fairly predictable in this familiar narrative of someone taking action towards remembering their past that coincidently contains vital information needed to challenge a dangerous force but that's not an issue given how intriguing the premise is.

However, the majority of the issues keeping the quality from being great is found in this crowded screenplay that's tackling more than it can chew. There are noticeable pacing issues where it's trying to navigate between important events that's more noticeable in the third act. Because this has been constructed towards younger audiences, some bad cliches find their way onto the screen such as patches of terrible dialogue and the biggest offender among them being a very weak romance arc. The script, unfortunately, is busy in the third act where it's more concerned using side characters to setup bread crumbs for a sequel, which is a problem is most modern young adult films attempt to do in trying to create a movie series.

How's the titular lead? In regards to the main protagonist, Alita (Rosa Salazar), she's definitely the bright spot holding this adventure together. The acting range Rosa has to muster through with the type of journey her character goes through delivers on the execution overall, despite bits of bad dialog. The kind of spunk, excitement, and curiosity this heroic cyborg has is not only watchable but makes her memorable in helping elevate this above a simple standard affair that most people would likely forget about. Just to get this cleared up, her slightly larger than average eyes disappear as the rest of the citizens pop-up and just feels like a part of their weird life where almost everybody has robotic attachments to their bodies (they didn't bother or annoy me like some audiences have had concerns with).

How violent is the action? Almost all of the battles occur between cyborgs and since their fluids are blue (not red blood), the film can get away with the brutality of the violence (for a PG-13 rating). The enhancements of these menacing foes certainly add to the tension. While a couple of them almost feel the same with the standard setting they're in, the budget was spent well on it (especially in the arena showdown, which is the best fight). If there's one drawback to the brawls, it's that Alita has capabilities in her systems that make it nearly impossible for her to lose (almost becomes a Mary Sue in the combat but thankfully one brawl kinda remedies that issue).

What about everyone else? Out of the important characters here, the best one is Dr Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz). Christoph's performance and chemistry with Rosa adds solid emotional investment for the father-daughter relationship arc that works to the story's benefit. Unfortunately, Vector (Mahershala Ali) and Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) are in situations where not only are these academy award winning actors being wasted in their respective roles but the purposes they serve in the story are rushed/incoherent. A dishonorable mention goes to Hugo (Keean Johnson) for being miscast in a weak romance arc and his acting faltering in comparison to the cast he's working with.

Overall Consensus: Alita Battle Angel succeeds in providing fascinating world building, a solid protagonist, and entertaining action but falters with a crowded and rushed screenplay. ⭑⭑⭑1/2🎟 Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors and/or director Robert Rodriguez. You are a fan of the source material this is adapting. You want to see how this stacks up against previous film adaptations of an anime/manga. You enjoy entertaining sci-fi with great sequences and predictable cliches. You want to see the computer effects James Cameron produced.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors and/or director Robert Rodriguez. You want to see how this stacks up against previous film adaptations of an anime/manga. You dislike entertaining sci-fi with great sequences and predictable cliches. You don't want to see the computer effects James Cameron produced.