“Alita: Battle Angel”
Release Date: February 14, 2019
Running Time: 122 mins
Directed by: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Rosa Salazar
Christoph Waltz
Jennifer Connelly
Mahershala Ali
“Alita: Battle Angel” is a movie which left me with conflicting feelings. On one hand, the two or three action scenes in the last half were brilliantly choreographed and exhilarating to watch. On the other hand, the writing was incredibly—almost comically—bad and lazy. Any scene of just straight dialogue was a slog to get through.
Director Robert Rodriguez (“Sin City,” “Spy Kids,” “El Mariachi”) has a filmography of incredibly varying quality. He is responsible for the beautifully stylized and one-of-a-kind “Sin City,” which is one of the best movies to come out in the first decade of this millennium. He is also responsible for overblown, incomprehensible messes like “Spy Kids 3.” I have never before had mixed feelings on one of his films—I have either loved them or hated them. He could fairly be described as a director of extremes.
Ever since he was able to secure fairly large budgets for his projects, he has infused them with state-of-the-art CGI effects. This is certainly the case for “Alita: Battle Angel.” The highly detailed androids, which populate this film’s world, obviously took endless hours of work from a team of designers to create. As good as they look, never once did any of it look real to me. There was just something missing. The main character’s overly large eyes provide a key example of what I am talking about. I have a feeling these effects will have aged dramatically in a few years. The roughly comparable science-fiction setting of 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” was much more convincing and engrossing.
To be fair, I am not entirely convinced the film was aiming for an altogether realistic look. “Alita” is based on an anime from the early 1990s, so I would buy Rodriguez was inspired by the look of the source material and decided to make his film look like a live-action cartoon. Even so, I do not believe he successfully pulled this off. The inclusion of human actors leads to visible contrast and an uncanny valley effect when shown alongside the motion-captured android characters.
The film would have been much more visually satisfying if it was completely computer animated. The parts of the film which work the best, the action scenes, are essentially already completely animated. It would have made the film much more consistent.
The film’s biggest problem by far, however, is its writing. Screenwriter James Cameron, (“Titanic,” “Aliens,” “Terminator,” “Avatar”), is not gifted at writing dialogue. Cameron is one of the best action directors in film history and has made some of the most widely loved and highest grossing films of all time. Despite this, almost no one enjoys the first two “Terminator” films or “Titanic” because of the writing and characters. At times, the script is even reminiscent of the 80s action movies which made Cameron famous. Lazy disclosure of exposition runs rampant in the first hour of the film.
Cameron is obsessed with state-of-the-art computer effects even more so than Rodriguez. I question why he would not choose to direct “Alita” himself. He may have been too busy helming the four planned “Avatar” sequels.
“Alita: Battle Angel” spends much of its time setting up potential sequels. It has me interested in what comes next, but I wish it was more dedicated to being more action-packed and entertaining instead of hinting at what is to come.
Drew Eckhart is a sophomore history and pre-law major from Edmond, OK. He has loved movies for as long as he can remember but thinks his passion really began when he watched “The Dark Knight” for the first time in theaters. His favorite type of movie blends comedy and drama seamlessly, and he loves great action films. In Drew’s free time, he enjoys reading and playing video games, as well as watching TV and movies. His favorite TV show is “BoJack Horseman” and his favorite movie is “Whiplash.”
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