Alita: Bita Ita is a creative orgy between the minds of Robert Rodriguez (who directed it, known for such classics as From Dusk Til Dawn), James Cameron (who co-wrote and produced the screenplay, known for inventing the 1980s), and Yukita Kishiro (who wrote the manga the film was originally based on). With that amount of distinct input, my mind generally goes to one of two places.
Either A) This will be an awkward, unfocused belch of a failure, or
- B) This’ll be fucking awesome.
As far as I’m concerned, Alattle: Battle Attle is very much the lattle– er, latter, sorry. And while a lot of its charms can be seen from without (the impressive effects and star-encrusted cast), I feel like this movie has more to offer, maybe even a lot more. This review will aim to be free of specific story spoilers while being as thorough as I can otherwise manage.
Right off the bat, the world has a rusted, lived-in beauty that’s intimately realized by the film’s outstanding special effects and set design. Detail abounds not only in the unique cars, taxis, shops, and alleyways, but within rooms themselves, pockets of life with enough personality to sing songs about the characters that inhabit them.
The room Alita herself first awakens in, for instance, is cozy — and while it’s brightly-decorated, it’s also confined, invoking without outright stating that this is a return to her adolescence, a time where she has to be a child again so that she can grow. Likewise, when we later see Hugo’s loft, we see a visual testament to his desperation to escape Iron City; while it’s extremely small, it’s open and flooded with light, filled with decorations and keepsakes that are fading with disuse.
The visual feast that this movie provides doesn’t stop with the sets, though. Every character pops (even the more subtly-designed Dr. Ido) and their designs, again, speak volumes about who they are and what role they play in the film. Combine this with a handful of genuinely impressive actors that includes multiple Academy Award-winners, and you have a world and cast that it’s easy to get invested in without them ever opening their mouths.
This is… admittedly a good thing, as Alangel: Bangel Angel won’t be fondly remembered for its riveting dialogue. There are some good lines in there, sure, and it keeps everything moving, with a hint of self-awareness that takes some of the sting off, but the dialogue here is mostly serviceable rather than genuinely engaging. An engine to shift and rearrange scenes so that the story can be told in a manner better befitting its creators — with action and emotion.
Before I completely move away from the topic of the effects, however, there’s one thing I should mention, because it’s what everyone’s been talking about since the first teasers came out: Alita’s Eyes™. Pointless? Yes. Weird? Yes. Adorable? Yes. And another thing is, while the Eyes™ have been cited as sending the character headlong into the uncanny valley, I… sort of disagree. Considering that Alita was likely to be a mostly CGI character no matter what, I feel like giving her such a stylized appearance makes her less-human-looking-enough that she is less affected by inevitable facial burps. Not that this movie doesn’t do a great job with the faces of the cyborgs, specifically Zapan’s (oooh how fun he is to hate!), but on my second viewing I found that the faces of certain primarily-CGI characters didn’t hold up as well as they could, specifically the less-humanoid motorballers. As such, I really think that the Eyes™ may have been a good choice, even if that likely wasn’t the reason they were included.
The action is expectedly great (it’s Robert Rodriguez, if you expect anything else, you’re a fucking s– ahem, we would have a dissonance in opinion), but what I love most about it is that it all feels important to the story. Each big fight scene has a reason, and progresses either the plot, or something to do with one or more characters, which brings me to one of the last big things I wanna say about this film, something that will force me to back up slightly.
I’ve been growing… exhausted, I guess, with a lot of newer movies coming out, because of their breakneck pace. More and more it feels like every movie is a bundle of scenes in a race against themselves — how much of an intro do we need before we can hit an inciting incident? Where does the (likely unnecessary) love interest fit in, and how much time do they need to spend with the hero for them to kiss at some point? How much dialogue do we have to add before another action scene? How many jokes do we need before we can get to a climax? How much work do we have to do before this thing’s over, we can collect our check, and leave?
Alita: Battle Angel, I found, subverted this (at direct risk to its own climax). At over two hours, it takes its time and lets itself move at something other than a mad fucking rush — it shows us the world and lets us see its characters in several different scenes. Lets their choices and their changes matter. While I reflexively hated Hugo the instant I saw him (with a groan of “oh, this character”), we eventually got enough time with him that I wanted better for him. Dr. Ido resists Alita’s attempt to become an UNSTOPPABLE KILLING MACHINE long enough that it’s very meaningful when he eventually relents, and even then, only after significant loss. We get enough waves of victory and failure that when Alita “grows up,” so to speak, it feels earned. We care about seeing her win because winning isn’t the only thing we’ve seen her do — we’ve seen her struggle, lose. Feel pain and joy. And we see her eat a chocolate bar. Very important.
And yes, as I mentioned earlier, the ending hurt for it. Cameron and Co. clearly wants a sequel and won’t accept anything else, and while this movie does have a climax, it likely won’t be the climax you wanted. But if that means we got to have a movie willing to take its time, I’ll gladly stand at the pier in a long white veil and stare longingly into the ocean, waiting for the ship to come. The ships that brings my Angel back to me.
I give this film a final verdict of 9/10. The dialogue could have been a bit more pungent and the ending, I feel, would have done well to land harder before baiting us with a sequel. Overall, however, this has been one of my favorite times in the theater in recent memory.