Summary
5 tech score
“Alita: Battle Angel” (Fox)
Hollywood seems to think they have to release a hero fantasy film at least once a month. That is why here in the winter of our discontent they haver foisted “Alita: Battle Angel” upon us. This feature has a young woman as the heroine and a world of amazing special effects for her to inhabit. To add class to the project it is written by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It doesn’t get much higher calibre than that. But put it all together, shake it up, andall that falls out is an average action movie.
The movie starts with a doctor (Christoph Waltz) finding a cyborg head and shoulders in a junk heap. He takes it home to his laboratory and attaches a body to it. When it awakes it is a young girl cyborg who the good doctor names Alita (Rosa Salazar). Alita has eyes like the kids in those Keane paintings and no knowledge of her prior life, but in moments of stress she does get some flashbacks. And she encounters a lot of stress.
On the streets surrounding the doctors office are many shops and inhabitants. This is life in the future where it is not constantly dark and rainy (a la “Blade Runner” and a million other dystopian movies). It is here she meets Hugo (Keean Johnson). He is a good guy but he encourages Alita to break some of the rules Dr. Ido has placed on her. He also recognizes the amazing strength and stamina Alita possesses.
The film is basically Alita’s story, and for me it was just not very exciting. She is a super warrior and she displays this from time to time, but as a character she was not anything special. I never really felt anything for the character and her supposed love story with Hugo did not have the sparks necessary to bring the audience into their relationship. Salazar’s acting and Johnson’s was bland meets bland.
Just to make sure the audience did get some high grade star power acting the makers of the film relied on Waltz along with Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali. Still their roles are so negligible they probably didn’t have to turn up on set for more than a few days maximum.
Then right in the middle of everything somebody had a flashback to the old James Caan movie “Rollerball” and decided to take a sequence from it and stick it into the movie. Again it adds some excitement but why is it there? I never got the point of why Alita had to compete in this destruction derby.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
“Alita: Battle Angel” is flashy and bright with battle after battle taking place on the big screen. But its effort at creating lasting characters sinks as the screen fades to black
I scored “Alita: Battle Angel” a warring 5 out of 10,.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
So this is more of a, ‘wait until Netflix’ movie? Still weighing up whether to see it on the big screen.
For me the movie was just average, but if you have a desire to watch it you should see it on the big screen. It has some good special effects tied in with the action sequences.
Personally,i really enjoyed the movie in general.Very captivating,and filled to the brim with action.The movie may not be the BEST.But i still enjoyed it none the less!
Keep up the good work Jackie!!
I am glad you liked it. I liked it but didn’t love it.
It is the best manga adaptation ever made for sure. Not a masterpiece but thrilling anf fun, the action was refreshing and not predictable. I hope there will be a sequel. 7/10
I love your dedication to these reviews on YouTube and your website. Keep it up.
I absolutely adored the move, but I can see why others may not like it so much! It was very faithful to manga, which means it contains all of the manga flaws as well. Great review : D