Roses Have Thoughts

Set in the post-apocalyptic year 2563 the film focuses on Alita, a female cyborg who has lost all memories and is discovered amongst the rubbish in a junkyard below the last sky city of Zalem by cybernetics doctor Dyson Ido, Only able to remember her fighting style she becomes a bounty hunter in the rundown Iron City whilst attempting to find out just who she was, what happened to her and where it is that she fits in this world, all whilst the rulers of both Zalem and Iron City conspire to stop Alita living up to her true potential.

Firstly, I must admit that I’ve never read any of the manga that inspired the film and didn’t do any research into it before going to see it. Although there are a few parts where some background lore might have helped further my understanding, I don’t believe that you must do to enjoy the film.

The first thing you will notice about the movie is just how good it looks, the CGI is top-notch and it helps to create a world that not only feels lived in but also feels believable that a world like this would exist, just how good Salazar is in the title role, her natural charisma carries some slower parts of the film and really endears you to the character of Alita. In fact, all the cast gave great performances, Waltz especially, though I do feel that Connelly and Ali could have easily done with more screen time as both are excellent actors and were hardly seen apart from a few fleeting moments.

Alita: Battle Angel is very action-heavy but Rodriguez has a history of directing great action pieces and this film is no exception, even the motor ball (Think Rollerball but with robots) scenes are exciting and easy to understand what is going on, avoiding the pitfalls that the Transformers films have fallen into where it all becomes a CGI blur and you can’t really tell what’s going on.

There were however a couple of minor issues with the film, firstly that there were a lot of themes, subjects and subplots squeezed into the movie, this might be because the manga source material has them, but in the film, less is more and a more streamlined film might have given more time for secondary character development.

Another issue affecting the film was that it was setting up a lot of themes to be explored in a sequel which depending on overseas sales we might not get, meaning that although the ending wraps up a lot and is pretty much a complete film, you don’t get that big payoff.

Finally, the only other aspect that reduced the quality of the film was the romance side subplot, with Hugo the love interest, not the most likeable or interesting character, with his motives never really hitting home, meaning that certain scenes didn’t emotionally impact enough and sometimes felt a little forced.

Overall Alita: Battle Angel was well-directed, well-acted and enjoyable from start to finish, although it has a few issues that you might expect from a film based on Japanese Manga, now begins the waiting game to see if the long-rumoured sequel will materialise, as I for one would like to see more of Rosa Salazar as Alita. Fingers crossed for Alita Battle Angel 2.

IMDB