Alita: Battle Angel

Alita: Battle Angel which is co-produced and co-written by visionary James Cameroon is based on the Japanese Manga series Gunnm. While the roughly two-hour-long film is totally engaging, there is a kind of familiarity and predictability in the screenplay that it tries to cover up that flaw with its slick attire. With visuals and scene choreography giving you the value for money visual grandeur, Alita: Battle Angel is a really nice popcorn entertainer.

So in the 26th century, the world is in an entirely different scenario. After “The Fall”, life is very difficult on earth and everyone living on earth is pretty much a slave to those living in the sky city Zalem. In that premise, we have a scientist named Dr. Dyson Ido who finds a cyborg from the junkyard of Zalem and he gives that Cyborg a body and name; Alita. But Alita had lost her memory and the movie shows us how she rediscovers about herself through the events of the film.

Now don’t blame me for revealing too much; the trailers had all these plot points in them. The visual language and the color palette and a nicely paced narration do make Alita: Battle Angel an engaging entertainer. Where it becomes a bit of a disappointment is when the plot tends to follow a template. Movies like Elysium have previously addressed similar conflict about the rise of an underestimated seemingly powerless person to end a particular monopoly. The script following that trajectory makes it slightly underwhelming. But like I said, the visuals are stunning and the way they have shown the rise of Alita makes it a really good popcorn entertainer.

Sin City director Robert Rodriguez hasn’t tried to make the movie too gray considering the setting of the story. There is a visual style element which has some uniqueness that makes Alita: Battle Angel a pleasant watch. James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis swiftly and effectively establish all the characters of the movie within a span of under 30 minutes. The cyberpunk film enters the familiar zone in the midway point and post that the makers are mostly playing with the visual quality and the set-piece choreography. The usual all is well agenda is not there for the script and that harshness is an appreciable positive. The visual effects are stunning.

Rosa Salazar has done the motion capture acting for the titular character Alita and she has done an impressive job in capturing the innocent and gritty shades of the character. Veteran Christoph Waltz as Dr. Dyson Ido is pretty convincing as someone who has the baggage of good and bad experiences. Jennifer Connolly has a brief role as a doctor who works for Vector. Keean Johnson as Hugo makes a likable presence in the film. Ed Skrein as Zapan and Maharshala Ali as Vector are the other major characters who have done a fairly good job within the limited screen time.

Alita: Battle Angel is not precisely something you can look at as a film with layers and nuances. It is a slightly refreshing take within the genre. With someone like Edward Norton playing the nemesis of Alita in the planned sequel, I hope something more original will unfold in it.

Rating: 3/5

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By Aswin Bharadwaj

Founder and editor of Lensmen Reviews.

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