Alita: Battle Angel (C or 2/4 stars)
Based on a Japanese post-apocalyptic, sci-fi graphic novel, 'Alita: Battle Angel' (directed by Robert Rodriguez & co-produced/written by James Cameron) takes place in the 26th century, 300 yrs. after 'The Fall' - when Mars decimated Earth. A cyber-surgeon, Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz), finds the remains of a cybernetic warrior {with 'her' human brain still intact & functioning} in a scrap yard {reminding me of Thor: Ragnarok; just one of MANY visual or thematic references to other superior films of this ilk}. Dr. Ido brings the core back to his shop & installs her into a body he created for his murdered teen daughter & gives this cyborg the same name: Alita (Rosa Salazar). Alita wakes up with amnesia and, over several days, becomes familiar with her new body & the feelings that come with.
She becomes love-struck with Dr. Ido's associate, Hugo (teen heart-throbby Keean Johnson), but others in Ido's circle are not as kind - notably Ido's ex, Chiren (Jennifer Connelly). Over time, Alita recovers a lost memory and realizes that when placed in a danger, her instincts take over & she becomes a fighting/killing machine; defeating skilled assassins using techniques from a lost age. Alita's mastery attracts the attention of Vector (Mahershala Ali), the criminal tycoon who runs the gladiatorial Motorball contest {an underdeveloped element}, as well as Nova (Edward Norton), the god-like ruler of the great sky-city, Zalem {where EVERYONE wants to ascend to}. Vector & Nova {who controls his mind} deduce that Alita represents a danger to their empires and, they dispatch henchmen {or Centurion robots or half human-half robots} to kill her & her beloved, if enigmatic Hugo.
Eh. I mostly found this sci-fi actioner to be silly, confusing & depressing {that ENDING}. Granted, the film starts strong. I enjoyed the initial world-building. The visuals - a combo of production design & CGI – enticed early on. I was digging the score. And I was intrigued by Alita, both in concept & execution. In the beginning, I found her human-like creation (by the effects team) to be convincing. So I was good with this film for a half hour or so. Howwwever, I started losing interest as it went and, not unlike Aquaman, started getting annoyed by a continuous pile-up of things that bugged me. The film rehashes a vast collection of genre cliches while crashing its way through an onslaught of CGI {that become inconsistent as it goes ... so many sequences made me think I was watching a video game and not an intended epic sci-fi flick).
Perhaps worse than that, the dialogue is poor throughout (thanks, James Cameron) and, aside from Alita {sort of}, the characters are fairly dull & lifeless. This film feels lost in a cinematic/video game-like milieu of its own, where nothing felt remotely realistic about the world {even though it is 300 yrs. from now), I didn't feel real emotions {wasn't moved, at all}, and to say that this movie reminded me too much of, well, Ragnarok, City of Ember, Elysium, Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets, Ghost in the Shell, Ready Player One, among others ... is an understatement. The characters feel like they're being stamped out of a machine that has been tweaked from other sci-fi works instead of watching them SAY and DO original things.
Rosa Salazar lends a relatable, appealing {through motion-capture} Emma Stone-like presence as Alita; though, I found it a little disconcerting how the filmmakers sexualized this teen late in the proceedings after a certain something happens to her. Her Alita is visually interesting, but her synthetic look might put some people off and, as I said before, I thought so much emphasis was put on her introduction that the effects team didn't care so much about getting it AS "right" for the rest of the film. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly & Mahershala Ali have all seen better days on a movie set. So I'm kinda bummed. Sure, there are plenty of aspects that I liked. But 'Alita: Battle Angel' is a rushed, noisy, overstuffed, soulless CGI extravaganza. It doesn't say much about humanity in the future that we haven't heard before. And it is apparent in the final moments that a sequel is planned ... meh.
She becomes love-struck with Dr. Ido's associate, Hugo (teen heart-throbby Keean Johnson), but others in Ido's circle are not as kind - notably Ido's ex, Chiren (Jennifer Connelly). Over time, Alita recovers a lost memory and realizes that when placed in a danger, her instincts take over & she becomes a fighting/killing machine; defeating skilled assassins using techniques from a lost age. Alita's mastery attracts the attention of Vector (Mahershala Ali), the criminal tycoon who runs the gladiatorial Motorball contest {an underdeveloped element}, as well as Nova (Edward Norton), the god-like ruler of the great sky-city, Zalem {where EVERYONE wants to ascend to}. Vector & Nova {who controls his mind} deduce that Alita represents a danger to their empires and, they dispatch henchmen {or Centurion robots or half human-half robots} to kill her & her beloved, if enigmatic Hugo.
Eh. I mostly found this sci-fi actioner to be silly, confusing & depressing {that ENDING}. Granted, the film starts strong. I enjoyed the initial world-building. The visuals - a combo of production design & CGI – enticed early on. I was digging the score. And I was intrigued by Alita, both in concept & execution. In the beginning, I found her human-like creation (by the effects team) to be convincing. So I was good with this film for a half hour or so. Howwwever, I started losing interest as it went and, not unlike Aquaman, started getting annoyed by a continuous pile-up of things that bugged me. The film rehashes a vast collection of genre cliches while crashing its way through an onslaught of CGI {that become inconsistent as it goes ... so many sequences made me think I was watching a video game and not an intended epic sci-fi flick).
Perhaps worse than that, the dialogue is poor throughout (thanks, James Cameron) and, aside from Alita {sort of}, the characters are fairly dull & lifeless. This film feels lost in a cinematic/video game-like milieu of its own, where nothing felt remotely realistic about the world {even though it is 300 yrs. from now), I didn't feel real emotions {wasn't moved, at all}, and to say that this movie reminded me too much of, well, Ragnarok, City of Ember, Elysium, Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets, Ghost in the Shell, Ready Player One, among others ... is an understatement. The characters feel like they're being stamped out of a machine that has been tweaked from other sci-fi works instead of watching them SAY and DO original things.
Rosa Salazar lends a relatable, appealing {through motion-capture} Emma Stone-like presence as Alita; though, I found it a little disconcerting how the filmmakers sexualized this teen late in the proceedings after a certain something happens to her. Her Alita is visually interesting, but her synthetic look might put some people off and, as I said before, I thought so much emphasis was put on her introduction that the effects team didn't care so much about getting it AS "right" for the rest of the film. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly & Mahershala Ali have all seen better days on a movie set. So I'm kinda bummed. Sure, there are plenty of aspects that I liked. But 'Alita: Battle Angel' is a rushed, noisy, overstuffed, soulless CGI extravaganza. It doesn't say much about humanity in the future that we haven't heard before. And it is apparent in the final moments that a sequel is planned ... meh.