First, a quick apology… I’ve been off the radar for a while, and not written many movie reviews (I wrote many for my old blog). It’s something I hope to rectify…
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ tells the story of a ‘young’ woman in the distant future. Her upper, part mechanical body is found in a garbage dump beneath the last floating, elitist human city, by a cyborg engineer, Dr Ido, who lives in the lower-class city formed on beneath it. Ido gives her a new body and name, and the story then proceeds show her awakening, both literally and metaphorically. She has no memory of who or what she was, but learns a little about her past, finds love, and struggles to fight for what she believes in, in a brutal and near-lawless world.
Since Titanic and Avatar, I had stopped expecting James Cameron movies to be great. Not that I hated those films, but they never really grabbed me the way the way previous films did. However, having recently watched ‘Alita’ in IMAX 3D… let’s just say James Cameron (and Robert Rodriguez) have won me over again! Alita is the best big sci-fi action movie I’ve seen in a long time. In an age where we’re just seeing the same plots recycled again and again with interchangeable, soulless super-heroes, I enjoyed the hell out of this. I’m not saying it was perfect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I could have sat in that cinema for another couple of hours, without any worry of boredom, and I can’t remember the last time I watched a big effects movie and felt so completely lost in it.
Although previously aware of Battle Angel Alita (The movie reversed the English-language version of the title), I have never read or watched the original source material, so I had no preconceptions going in. Many of the plot themes and ideas may have been done before, some obvious (**cough** Rollerball **cough**), and some less so, but you can say that about almost any movie. The real question is whether those ideas are packaged in a new, engrossing story with interesting characters. The answer, in Alita’s case, is a big ‘YES’.
(Warning, the rest of this review may contain spoilers)
Rosa Salazar, who plays Alita, is a revelation. The level of emotion she achieves through the motion-capture is astonishing and, quite honestly, puts many live action stars to shame. The large eyes may stem from honouring her anime origins, but you soon forget them, and only see the character. Not only that, but in the context of the story and her past, they feel quite logical and serve to visually amplify elements of her personality (Story-wise you can deduce, without being told, that they’re probably a genetic enhancement for living on Mars, with a low-light environment, or for low-light space combat).
Speaking of Alita’s large eyes, her existence as a totally CG character is one of the main elements of the film, and could have been an off-putting mistake. Luckily, the effects work by WETA (who created other well-known CG characters such as Gollum for the Lord of the Rings movies) is breath-taking. Seeing brief glimpses of Alita in the trailer may leave you on the fence but, rest assured, once you are engrossed in that world and story, you almost forget that she’s different. You simply accept her as the character and want to follow her story. The expressiveness of her face, helped in no small part by the actress, makes her beautiful to watch, whether she’s just gazing in wide-eyed fascination at something she’s never seen before (pun intended), or leaping around in battle.
I’ve read comments complaining that, being a cyborg, Alita should not have a ‘feminine’ form and has been overly ‘sexualised’. I can only presume the critics who’ve said such things haven’t got a clue about storytelling, cinema, or reality (or even sexuality, for that matter). When you’re telling a story about a young woman who is mostly mechanical, a large part of her story is visual. Cinema is a visual story-telling medium with limited time to create characters, situations and worlds. Having Alita look feminine is a clear and simple way to give you a sense of who she is, despite her ‘machine’ existence. She’s a young woman (psychologically, if not literally).
As her character grows throughout the story, it also serves as a wonderful echo of her emotional change. When she awakens, she is an innocent in so many ways, learning the ways of the world. She is emotionally akin to a teenager, and the body Dr Ido provides is a perfect reflection of this, both in shape and texture. Later, when she learns more of who she was, and what she can do, as well as suffering through the brutality and cruelty of this new world, she matures into a stronger character. She becomes a young woman, rather than an insecure teenager. Her new ‘warrior’ body in turn re-enforces this, and the story even explains that her form moulds itself to reflect her mental self-image. Her self-image at that point is more adult. Let’s not forget, that she still has a human brain in there, and presumably had a normal body before becoming a cyborg.
As for the romance in Alita, it’s touching and sweet. It is the epitome of innocent love, again enforced by her mechanical form, since anything more sordid appears impossible. I haven’t said much about the other characters up till now, but Keean Johnson as Hugo, the romantic interest, is himself an interesting character. He’s jaded, having grown up in a brutal and dangerous world, where every day is simply a struggle to survive. Whilst he shows Alita this new world, he also gets to see it through her more innocent and optimistic eyes.
Christoph Waltz as Dr Ido makes for an interesting father figure. His story beats aren’t going to shake the world with originality, but they serve as a foundation for Alita and explain why he brought her back to life and how they both form a father/daughter bond. Meanwhile, Jennifer Conolly as Chiren, an initial enemy of Alita, is a character who has a little more depth than you would expect.
There’s a hefty dose of Robocop to Alita’s story, but in a good way. Whilst Alita doesn’t quite have the same issues regaining her humanity, she has similar problems rediscovering who she was, and learning who and what she is now. Her character has a sincerity and (non-annoying) innocence that all combines to make her a sympathetic hero that you want to see succeed. Despite her strength and abilities, she is still brought low at one point, much the way Murphy was, so that you empathise and don’t feel she is indestructible or perfect.
I can’t say there are any real negatives in Alita, but there are one or two elements I might question. There is scene late in the movie, where Dr Ido helps Alita as she prepares for her first MotorBall competition. Up till that point he appeared to be against her entry, but then jumps to supporting her. The moment doesn’t feel inappropriate, so much as lacking a scene to explain his change of heart (it’s the kind of thing that you suspect may well turn up in a director’s cut or deleted scenes). It could be explained with a few simple lines in which he shows his disapproval, she explains why she feels she has to enter the games, and he then replies that if he can’t convince her otherwise, he will at least help her in what way he can.
Secondly, I did feel that Hugo’s conclusion came too quickly in relation to prior events. His final scene shows his character’s drive to escape the world below, but realising too-late that being with Alita on the ground is better than being alone in the dream of what-could-be above. The drawback is that it all happens too soon after his near death at the hands of another villain, and devalues Alita’s efforts at having saved him from that fate.
Lastly, the end feels a little abrupt. It’s perfectly fitting, and brilliantly leaves you wanting more, but you can’t help wishing you could sit there for another hour or two, to watch Alita’s battle against behind-the-scenes villain, Nova. Then again, it’s a testament to the film that, after two hours in a cinema, I would have happily sat for another two. A lot of movies these days are far longer than they need to be, whereas in Alita’s case, if anything, it’s the opposite. The character and the world are such that you are happy to lose yourself in them, from the quiet emotional moments through to the pulse-pounding action.
So any criticisms are stunningly minor for any movie, let along a modern blockbuster. They’re not really flaws, so much as story-telling beats that I felt could’ve been handled differently. So from my perspective, I can’t recommend Alita enough! This is the kind of blockbuster I hope is successful, because I truly want to watch the sequel.
I can’t wait for the 3D Blu Ray to enjoy this again, and especially watch how it was made. I may even have to see it again at the cinema, before it finishes its run… It’s been a while since I could say that about a big blockbuster!
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