Alita - Battle Angel (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk till Dawn, Machete 1-2)
	Actors: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream, Noah)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 18.07.2019, in-flight entertainment, 10" screen.
Synopsis: On a post-apocalyptic Earth where only the flying city of Zalem and its ground-based dependencies survived, Dr. Ido (Waltz) discovers the remains of a cyborg that he brings back to life in a body he had planned for his deceased daughter Alita (Salazar).
Review: I almost went to the cinema to see this movie, and for the visual experience that would have been great. Even watching it compressed and on a small screen, I have no doubt that it is very well done (the digital effects I mean), from the cityscapes to the fully or partly robotic characters. Plenty of details, colors, and all well-animated. The movie doesn't hide its obvious Japanese Animated origins (cyborg ninja girl...) but adapts the story to the Western tastes and pace, sparing us the 30-minute monologue about how war is bad. All the above is likely the touch of producer James Cameron, long-time Japanime fan (remember the Mecha in the 1986 Aliens?) and whose name helps selling the film. Robert Rodriguez at the direction did a good job I find at shooting the thing and I felt his actors better led than usually in his films. But what is failing is this movie is how that same story is told (due to a group effort?). The futuristic Universe is easily understood and exposed at an appropriate pace but the city of rich people in the sky is nothing new in Cinema (Elysium). The war with Martian colonies reminds too much of The Expanse TV-series (and probably others before) so it is as well that they don't spend too much time on it (maybe on purpose). The Bounty Hunter thing is borderline (if Police doesn't exist anymore why not using cyborgs and those Centurion war machines?), but what really feels out of place is the love story, not because it is between human and cyborg I don't care, but because it really feels out of place. Also I find that the Motorball game doesn't bring much to the story, it is mentioned here and then until in the end Alita participates for a show of stunts, and we are told that it's the only way to reach the city in the sky. After we learn about so many lies, why would that even be a motivation anymore?? It feels more like The Island in the movie with the same name. And after all, the pace of the movie is weird too: it starts slow enough and after 90 minutes I thought we wouldn't see any motorball because we still had to understand who the heroin was and see her get to Zalem, while in fact she stays on the ground and the ending is open for the audience to think, or more likely open to a sequel. I definitely want to know more about the past war than about the woes between Alita and Nova (Edward Norton) that we barely saw, but I felt cheated by not getting that in the first movie. So, visually stunning but a proof that this is not enough.
Rating: 5 /10