Alita: Battle Angel Review
- Half Glass Guy
- Mar 3, 2019
- 5 min read
Alita: Battle Angel Review:
Alita: “Does it bother you that I’m not completely human?”
Hugo: “You are the most human person I have ever met.”
Those quotes are actual pieces of dialogue in this film. Based on a 1990s manga genre, cyberpunk, comes “Alita: Battle Angel,” a film that is produced and written by yours truly, James Cameron. And directed by Robert Rodriguez, who did do “Sin City,” which is seen as a cult favorite. I am not going to be easy in this review because I could not stand this film as I was watching it. There were so many problems with it that it is hard to fathom why this was pushed to get made. I have been informed as well that this anime genre, cyberpunk, only lasted for a brief period of time. A time where the original “Ghost in the Shell” was up against “Alita”? It is not extremely popular and for good reason. It is a genre that was never truly popular, hence, it died out quicker than it started. Recently, studios around Hollywood think adapting cyberpunk anime is the best route to go. Especially since “Alita: Battle Angel” budget is $170 million dollars, or even more than that. Why? Because James Cameron that is why.
“Alita: Battle Angel” is about Alita (aka Rosa Salazar), a scrap yard robot/cyborg that is pieced together by Dr. Dyson Ido (aka Christoph Waltz). After Alita awakes, she becomes aware of who she is, but does not have any memories of her past life. After being rebellious against Ido’s strict rules, Alita finds out that bounty hunters are amongst the environment she lives in. I should mention that there is two types of society’s, the upper and lower. Alita is in the lower. Then after finding out about bounty hunters and how she “harnesses” amazing-badass-f**king-awesome fighting skills, she takes out some of the hunters and beats them easily. She then finds out the leader, Vector (aka Mahershla Ali) is out for her and will stop at no cost to get her since she “harnesses” something truly special, a heart. Alita must face some difficult decisions, especially since she falls in love with Hugo (aka Keean Johnson), a boy just looking for a way up to the upper society. Alita wants to rebel and show what is right and what is wrong, but in a world of corruption (that never gets old) and the poor, Alita will rise as the warrior (god) for the lower society.
As you can tell, explaining the story is hard enough, try sitting through this film and tell me there are no problems. However, I do not want to completely shut down the film for being convoluted and messy. For $170 million being put into a project, I sure hope there is something decent. Visually speaking, the effects are extremely well. The designs of some of the cyborgs are fine in detail, especially with some of the sound effects as well. The other aspect I found decent is the action. Joking aside, I think the action is entertaining and electrifying. Thankfully Rodriguez shot the film with not too many cuts when it came to the action so the viewer can actually witness what Alita is doing. Believe it or not I thought Christoph Waltz did the best he could with the material he was given and so do some of the other actors like Mahershla Ali and Jennifer Connolly. And this film portraying a strong female protagonist is abundant, in fact I like that approach to “Alita,” but that is where the problems begin to add up.
Alita does not lose in this film. In every fight she is apart of, she just kicks complete ass and does not lose. The “god” joke from earlier, she basically becomes one as time goes onward as one watches. What is one of the most human elements we all have to endure? Failure. If she is, and I quote this, “the most human person I’ve ever met,” it is just a cop out. In a cyberpunk genre, a good example to look at is “Ghost in the Shell,” a story that pushes the character in multiple directions and questioning reality itself. Then there is “Alita: Battle Angel” who is essentially a naïve ass kicker. And not to say “Alita” cannot be entertaining, that is about as much a viewer will get.
I think there are countless issues with “Alita” that is hard to understand why they chose this as the final product. I paid $12 dollars for a ticket, I am using my time to sit and watch a film, and what this film decides to do is basically rush through important aspects of Alita as a character or I don’t know, aspects of all of the characters or even letting the audience know information that could be seen as valuable. Not to mention this film is kind of ugly to look at. The primary color is dusty light brown and then the second most frequent used color is silver or “steel colors”. It is just not fun to look at much of the time and that is incredibly unacceptable since again, it is a $170 million dollar project.
Fun fact, Robert Rodriguez stated that the original script was much bigger and kept cutting stuff as time went on. And quite frankly, that is noticed as one will watch this film. There is stuff clearly missing that could have been benefiting for its story and plotline. That was another aspect that is an issue with “Alita,” it is structurally not sound. Creating unnecessary side plots that end up serving no purpose to anything when the film ends. And that gets me to the ending or the “conclusion.” If one has seen “Catching Fire” or “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smoug” they will have the same feeling, which is “Alita” ends with no clear resolution (again $170 million dollars) and sets up the future of “Alita” films, and that is just upsetting. One of the best analogies I got for “Alita” is being a wannabe “Blade Runner”. Except it cannot execute its narrative the way the “Blade Runner” films could.
There is a lot to be said with “Alita: Battle Angel” and I know I am missing some key arguments, but I would be writing a book on “Alita: Battle Angel” and I do not want to do that. I can understand if one enjoys this film, there is plenty to enjoy from an entertaining perspective or just a simple popcorn flick. But one of my biggest issues with this film is it wants to be taken seriously, but also does not, and that is exasperating in the long run. I wanted to like “Alita” and there are points in the film that are sensational to watch, however I want more than just mindless entertainment if there is, again, $170 million dollars being put into it. There are expectations at that point and if one did not have expectations for this film, they most likely just wanted entertainment, and that is what they got.
As I learn more about anime and films, I slowly have realized that these adaptations are just an embarrassment to the creators of the original content. Just like any book adaptation, pay respect to the content at least, and while “Alita” may do that with its world building and central character, there is definitely too many Hollywood elements infused in it. “Alita: Battle Angel” is a huge disappointment considering the source material and the ungodly budget these filmmakers were given. Audiences are smarter than tedious action, they like depth and human elements that “Alita” does not withhold. “Alita” is like a cheater, she wins all the time and we never understand her backstory and anything about her overall, and no one likes a cheater, especially if they win all the time.
Rating: D+ to C-
Run Time: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
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