“I do not stand by in the presence of evil.” - Alita
Alita: Battle Angel is the new film by director Robert Rodriguez. It is a cyberpunk sci-fi action movie starring Rosa Salazar as the title character. Also starring are Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jennifer Connelly, and Jackie Earle Haley. The film is about Alita, a young cyborg girl rebuilt by Dr. Dyson Ido (Waltz), who just wants to know more about her past, and where she came from. Ido is very protective of her, as there is a lot of crime happening in the streets. Nonetheless, the curious Alita goes out exploring every day, and meets a boy named Hugo who she falls in love with. Meanwhile, there is some villainous activity going on involving a man named Vector, and a mysterious figure called Nova who lives in Zalem, a giant floating city where all the upper-class people live that hovers above the city below that is home to all the lower-class citizens.
Alita: Battle Angel is a very inventive film that really understands the source material, which in this case is a manga called Battle Angel Alita, or as it’s known in Japan, Gunnm. You could tell that Robert Rodriguez really cared about making a good film when he made this movie. It is evident that Rodriguez knew what he was doing with Alita.
The acting in this film is overall pretty good, but the standout performance here is most definitely Christoph Waltz as Dyson Ido. His character is really well developed, and his line delivery is fantastic. Rosa Salazar is also great as Alita, and you could really see that she was committed to the role she played.
One thing I have to mention when talking about Alita is the visual effects. They are honestly spectacular. Everything just pops out at you, and the colors are all so beautiful and bright. The visuals reminded me very much of the Blade Runner films. I really liked the futuristic setting, and found the locations very interesting. Probably my favorite aspect of this film was the excellent Motorball sequences. I thought that the sport was really thrilling to watch. It obviously drew heavy, heavy influence from the little-known 1975 sci-fi sports film Rollerball, starring James Caan. Watching Alita play this game was riveting.
Some of the things that I disliked about the film had a lot to to do with the acting. There were some supporting roles whose performances were a bit lacking. Some of the line delivery was very flat, and some scenes just could’ve been acted better, to put it bluntly. Overall though, Alita: Battle Angel is a very enjoyable film that I found myself having a good time with.
Rating: PG-13
Grade: B
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