Film Review: Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel has everything. A exquisitely detailed dystopian future. Robots. Crazy action. A romance. Intrigue. And a whole plot thread devoted to a big rollerball game! Everything ultimately proves to be a bit too much for writers, James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, but that doesn’t stop them from putting together a story that’s as entertaining as possible, especially with Robert Rodriguez at the helm, handling a budget that is larger than the budgets of his last ten films combined.

Based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga, Gunnm, the film is about a cyborg, Alita (Rosa Salazar), who was recently stitched together by Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) after he found her core still alive in a junk pile. Once she comes to, she doesn’t recall who she was, but she eventually discovers incredible reflexes and fighting capabilities. She goes on a journey of discovery, both for herself, and the hostile world around her.

That’s about all I can say without diving into all the details. Not because I don’t want to spoil anything, but simply because there’s just so much going on. It’s strange because the plot is fairly simple and easy to follow in the moment, but when you add on the mysteries of secretive supporting characters, the generic terminology, and the various ways some of the plot threads intersect, it becomes a bit difficult to describe. The writing is definitely on the clunky side of things for a large portion of the film, and the storytelling lacks the grace necessary to move from one beat to the next.

However, like the recent Mortal Engines, it ultimately comes together because it combines mind-blowing spectacle, kinetic action, and a style of storytelling that a forgiving type like me would refer to as “classical.” The film clearly has a lot of money put into it, and you can see it in every frame. There aren’t just CG backgrounds, there are some intricate sets, wonderful costumes, interesting details about their history, everything that good worldbuilding needs. It lends itself to being seen on the biggest screen possible, especially once the action kicks into gear. Rodriguez knows how to stage action, and specifically the kind that embraces a certain artifice and style, which he implements here very well.

One thing that that pretty much everyone can agree on is that the filmmakers absolutely do not shy away from the anime/manga roots of the source material. It doesn’t go full Speed Racer, but it’s close. It embraces the melodrama usually associated with that form, characters speak in broad, but high emotions, there’s over-the-top gestures, Alita literally slices a single tear of hers in half with a sword at one point. It’s operating on such a committed level to its influences that I simply can’t help but admire it.

It also helps that the title character is super compelling. Rosa Salazar adds a lot of personality and drive to this character. She’s likable, she’s determined, she doesn’t let anyone get in the way of what she wants. It doesn’t take long before you really start rooting for her. Having such a solidly constructed character at the center of some occasionally convoluted plotting does go a long way.

Christoph Waltz is also really good, bringing a soft-spoken warmth to a character that also gets to wield a giant battle-axe with a rocket-powered engine thing on it. The only other character that gets to make an impression is Mahershala Ali, surprising absolutely no one. He plays an odd villainous character that has two operate on two levels on certain moments, and the way he changes his physicality depending on who is in control is really cool to see. This will make more sense when you see the movie. While the cast is rather stacked with the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Keean Johnson, Lana Candor, and many others, they don’t get the screen time necessary to inject some personality, which is a shame.

Then there’s the one big problem I have with the movie, which ultimately soured my taste on an otherwise enjoyable experience. Unlike Mortal Engines, Alita: Battle Angel seems more interested in setting the stage for a more compelling sequel than it is in telling a complete story. This film shares some similar flaws to Mortal Engines, but that film at least has an ending while still leaving certain things open that could be explored if sequels were to ever get made. This film, on the other hand, leaves multiple threads hanging, with so many questions left unresolved, characters left unexplored, it doesn’t even have much of an ending, it simply stops. The filmmakers have announced plans for sequels, but the final decision has yet to be made. And given this is likely to bomb at the box office, and will also meet some complications once Fox completes its merge with Disney, the chance of getting a sequel to this is that answers all these questions is really slim. I honestly expected better from the likes of Cameron, who is usually great at getting all the nuts and bolts of storytelling down, even if he gets sloppy with dialogue and exposition.

The ending of Alita: Battle Angel may have left me with a bit of an empty and frustrated feeling, but for the previous couple hours, I was actually having a really good time with the film. Not only is the world visually arresting and stunningly realized, but the main character at the center of all the action is a hero that is worth following and rooting for. I was giddy with joy watching so many weird and fun moments like the intense rollerball game, or this big bar fight that Alita causes, or her final encounter with this giant cyborg bounty hunter. It’s not great by any means, but it’s solid spectacle. It’s nice to see something from Rodriguez that didn’t look like it was shot in his garage over the weekend, and I suppose this will be a serviceable enough serving of Cameron goodness before we get whatever the hell those Avatar sequels end up being.