Alita: Battle Angel Review.

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 is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past.

Alita: Battle Angel stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Ed Skrein, Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Connelly, Keean Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Lara Condor and Jackie Earle Haley. The film is written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, with the film produced by Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron,  Emma Watts, Jon Landau with Rodriguez directing.

                                                  

                                                                                  Via 20th Century FOX                     

There can be no doubting the ambition and craft of Alita: Battle Angel. A passion project of James Cameron who dropped out of directing allowing Robert Rodriguez to make his return to the directing table. A film this grand struggle to be perfect but there are plenty of redeeming qualities to Alita: Battle Angel.

At the heart of Alita: Battle Angel is a science fiction epic, one that is hard to fully thrive over however the world building, and general scope of the fictitious place in Alita: Battle Angel is wonderful to behold. Even to the naked eye some of the design is breath-taking, and whilst not on the level of say an Avatar you have to stand up and applaud the craftsmanship that has gone into the making of Alita: Battle Angel.

Given the large scope it is undoubted the film will come at a hefty budget but looking at the 150m cost you can see the film is money well spent. There are films that cost double this price that do not look as good (looking at you Justice League).

The real onus on Robert Rodriguez comes with the action set pieces, an aspect where he may be considered weak as a director. However, this is not the case with Alita: Battle Angel with cleanly shot action, a feat in itself given a large portion of which occurs in dimly lit scenery. The scope and action of the film manage to collude into creating a rollicking entertaining film that is value for money alone.

One of the most notable aspects is the manner in which Alita: Battle Angel feels like a character piece, much of the narrative is based between Ido (Christoph Waltz) and Alita (Rosa Salazar), and for that the movie benefits by giving this emotional attachment throughout the film. The cast does a good job, particularly as the romantic elements come into play which were handled well and do not become cliché. However, there are certain subplots which drag the focus away from the main overarching narrative and therein lies the biggest fault of the film with Mahershala Ali wasted in the roe and given little to no meaningful screen time. In fact, there was next to no need at having such a talented actor in this role given he did next to nothing.

 At times, Alita: Battle Angel feels as if it trying to tell one two many narratives, and the script could have been better served by focusing on perhaps just two of these. Despite this, the movie is effective due to the sympathetic and at times relatable characters which are portrayed on screen.

Despite the muddy aspects to the plot and script the sheer entertainment value of Alita: Battle Angel makes it worth watching, so much so that I would be down to see more in this series. If it does well at the box office that is.