Alita: Battle Angel

Aside from The Lego Movie 2, 2019 has been a year of drought when it comes to quality movies, even on streaming platforms. That makes the box office bomb of The Lego Movie all that more depressing, but in general 2019 hasn't delivered the goods. 

Sure, I certainly haven't seen everything, but of the films I've checked out, it's weird to realize that the second half of Polar has been my favorite stuff outside of the aforementioned animated delight. So yeah, not a ringing endorsement for the year thus far even if there's a handful of "better" stuff I've missed out on. 

I was hoping Alita: Battle Angel would change that. Even though it's had several delays - usually not a good sign - I've been eager to see it for the pretty damn awesome first trailers and the CGI elements. Cameron being "involved" wasn't a big selling point for me and Robert Rodriguez isn't a director I get excited for either. But I love me some great sci-fi and this film looked to pack in a lot of it. 

Unfortunately, 2019 continues with yet another "yeah, sure it's 'good' " to add to its resume. Alita: Battle Angel is enjoyable in the sense that it offers some fresh ideas and incredible visuals, but it also feels incredibly by the numbers, as if it's trying to check as many boxes as it can before the credits roll. There isn't a stand-out element and the result is a film with a lot of big names behind the scenes attached, that feels like it was somewhat phoning it in on the actual storytelling, world-building, etc. 

Essentially anything and everything outside of the special effects gets the B-level treatment. 

I should start that Alita is definitely worth the price of admission if you're looking for some awesome, fairly striking, film technology. With Cameron's involvement, I imagine some of this is a "testing ground" of sorts for future Avatar films, and that level of quality shows. In a future where cyborgs are a common occurrence, with usually their faces being the only human element about them, there was a lot of room for stuff to look fake or poorly spliced together. As a whole, Alita looks incredible from start to finish and it's a testament to the various tech that was used to capture it. At times it looks maybe too much like a videogame cut scene as opposed to a real movie, but that line is pretty blurred. Similar to Ready Player One from last year, it intentionally aims for some "uncanny valley" because that's the way its characters are designed. Alita herself looks fantastic with scenes where her skin, pores, hairs, etc. all look so real that you're trying to determine which part is the actress, Rosa Salazar, and which is the added CGI (outside of the obvious eyes). 

When you name your bar "Kansas", you're gonna have a bad time

"Wait, this is NOT Avatar 2?"

In action, the film looks great too and there are some awesome beats of fighting and competition with the in-film sport. The fights have moments of strong choreography and slow-motion, though the film basically gives all these best parts away in the trailers, which is unfortunate. There's enough action here to almost flat out call it an action film and these are the scenes where it shines the brightest. Surprisingly too, Battle Angel is a quite hard PG-13. Given that everyone is cyborg, there's a considerable amount of dismembering, decapitation, face slicing, etc. None of it is coupled with any real blood, but it would probably be somewhat traumatic for younger children/early teens and the film may come across in the marketing as more appropriate for those age groups. 

Outside of those elements, Alita struggles to be anything special however. Much like Mortal Engines from a few months ago, it's no longer "enough" to have a new world or vision of the future. It's what you do with it that's what counts. Where shows like Netflix's Altered Carbon take a ton of advantage of their tech, their world, and how it all connects, Alita simply feels like it's just in the future, but not all that different from stuff we've seen before. Its attempts at world building in the form of flashbacks immediately piqued my interest and were generally awesome, but short scenes. This film is setup to have a sequel though and a lot is left hanging in the balance where I wish we would have spent more time in the mystery. Given that it hasn't exactly lit the box office on fire (though it also hasn't outright bombed), that sequel may not actually happen. 

Additionally, Alita tries to pack a ton into its 2 hour runtime and it moves along at a brisk pace. Not always a bad thing, but the sacrificial lamb to achieve this was the script and dialogue that, more often than not, are cringe-worthy. The moments this is at its worst comes during the shoehorned romance that seemingly comes out of nowhere (and where Alita comes across as borderline desperate) and when the film tries to be epic. The dialogue is filled with cliches and bits of character communication designed to sound EPIC vs. really actually having normal conversation. Given the talent within the film - which does fine but mostly is phoning it in - the poor script and rushed screenplay is a shame. 

Well that's just damn cool

Alita: Battle Angel is a disappointment in the sense that I thought there would be an awesome movie to couple the outstanding visuals. While the visuals didn't let me down, I was probably aiming too high for my expectations of the other aspects and thus 2019 continues on with a [mostly] weak opening.

CONS

• Attempts at world building fall flat and in general this feels like uninspired sci-fi
• Film rushes along and accomplishes a lot but certain elements suffer because of it (e.g. romance)
• Ends on a cliffhanger without a sequel confirmed
• Pretty awful dialogue throughout
• Several underused actors/actresses but Mahershala Ali is probably the worst offense
• Generic original score; could have helped this film considerably

PROS

• Stunning visuals throughout and Alita herself looks detailed and unique
• Story is fine but the flashbacks left me wanting to learn more about the mystery of what came before
• Solid action throughout with some occasionally good choreography and use of slow-mo
• Is a decently hard PG-13 rating -- makes the action sometimes shocking given the end result to those being injured
• Entertaining during its numerous action scenes and a tech geek's dream to see the newest motion capture technology

Rath's Review Score | 7/10