When Alita awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido, a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell i...
Alita Battle Angel and Dragonball Evolution are both made by FOX. One of them has a huge change in enjoyability and rewatches,while the other is full-on Disgrace Mode. One of them felt like a movie they cared about at the time of making,while the other one was easily dead on arrival.
And that should already tell you how FOX changed every single card to try and make Alita Battle Angel a fantastic time at the movies. Because it is. (what a surprise!) It's also the kind of Set-Up Movie that movies like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 or (more recently) Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom wanted to be. But we'll talk about that later. For now,let's start with the positives.
As of every Blockbuster Set-Up movie,there are big chunks of exposition (oh hell…),but,not being one with the Manga it's based on,sometimes was on board with the explanation. Everyone lives in this futuristic albeit trashy city,full of people with robotic parts,bounty hunters,cyborg mercenaries,and there's a competition called Motorball,where it's Indy 500,Soccer and big battles to the last...wire?
Hey,having mentioned the Champions League in that scene,it made me excited for the future of Soccer. Just imagine…
Anywho,whoever wins many Motorball competitions will have the chance to go to Salem,which is described as a flawless city.
That alone,and the way the trashy city works makes up for enough detail (and Visuals) of its own to distract the movie from stuff like Blade Runner (which felt like a heavy inspiration).
And the Screenplay has enough meat to make us care about most of the characters,right down to the scientist Ido,who's played by Christoph Waltz.
And NO,Alita's big buggy eyes weren't a distraction in this movie. Consider those as more of an Anime-esque touch to the character.
The Visuals in this movie are indeed awesome and YES,the action scenes are enthralling,which is to be expected from Robert Rodriguez (director) and James Cameron (producer). All of it fueled with Adrenaline thanks to a fantastic score by Junkie XL (that makes up for the disaster of Mortal Engines,Tom…). And just like every James Cameron movie,the use of 3D is just as staggering as Avatar,and it totally helped the viewing experience. As always,please go see it in IMAX 3D.
If anything,it'll be the best 3D Experience of 2019 so far. The Motorball sequence is brutal,mean,fast,and it's easily one of my favourite Action sequences of all time. It's up there with the train sequence from Spider-Man 2.
Now with the Set-Up bit,what I was trying to say is that it's the closest thing to a great Set-Up movie of this caliber: one that narrates a pretty great story with,maybe,too much exposition,but at the same time makes us care for these characters. It's not lazily shown to us like Jurassic World 2 and it's not “in your face” at the end of it like The Amazing Spider-Man 2. (Don't count Spider-Verse,because that's a whole other story)
It's just sad to report that,after the Mototorball sequence,the movie goes overdrive and becomes seriously cheesy. “Seriously” because seeing the 3rd Act made me think of Rodriguez and Cameron having the time of their life writing the script until the Motorball scene,where they were like “Oh no,what are we gonna do now to burn some more meat?” Oh,I see. Try to bang our heads to the wall by making us care about the unnecessary romance relationship,which later on goes full YA Love Story,although it's kinda justified (?) because some of the reactions make it feel like an actual Anime (even if that means going full-on Mulan 2 in one scene).
The villains can also be “Unusual” at times,as Mahershala Ali clearly thinks he’s in another movie,and Jennifer Connelly channels some form of emotion in her trademark “franchise acting”,only this time no coffy voice from Hulk (2003).
Once in a while,there’s a bit too much exposition...Even the little things need the biggest of expositions,but it’s more likely you’ll remember the more important parts. Either the city or the bounty hunter plot you’ll most remember.
If you’ll forget the big 3rd Act mess,then you’ll have a great time at Alita Battle Angel.
Not knowing anything about the source material,I’m super excited to see where they’ll go next. Yes,James Cameron and Jon Landau are the better versions of Avi Arad and Alex Kurtzman,and I’m super shocked by it...But also fascinated...
