Alita: Battle Angel

I think that on paper, it must have seemed as a huge risk to put Robert Rodriguez in charge of such a gigantic project with a gigantic budget. But taking risks sometimes pays off, and I must say that Rodriguez has done a really good job with Alita. A beautiful cyberpunk movie from the distant future, which is imaginative, beautifully animated and, above all, full of bizarre (almost b-rated) ideas, which no one else but Rodriguez would have come up with. I had a great time and I think this movie turned out really well. An exemplary blockbuster with all the goodies that a blockbuster can offer. This includes actors, where I was the most pleased with, albeit animated, the leading actress Rosa Salazar, as well as her dad played by Christoph Waltz. Rodriguez put a bit of everything he’s made so far into this film. Absurdity, emotions, animated beauty, but also some Spy Kids vibe which I can forgive him for. Alitais simply a success and I enjoyed it to the fullest. (22/11/2019)

A sympathetic, nicely designed sci-fi fairy tale with bloody roots, from which, however, narration chaos is literally apparent. Lots of things are somehow provisionally sketched out and do not led anywhere, awkward zigzagging between a dystopian global story and a love story, the absence of a strong finale, which the film owes to a slightly overly optimistic intention to serialize it... The more promising ideas there are, the more of an unpleasant taste they leave. (24/07/2019)

Alita is a pretty good movie. Nice effects, nicely shot, great action. Alita isn't a whiny girl and to some extent the heroes are appealing. The Dolby Atmos worked well for it. It was just a little too shallow for my taste; it basically didn't give you the space to like anyone. Those who know the source material might like it. If they can get over the inevitable loss of information. A better 3 stars. (09/02/2019)

Alita pushes computer acting to a new level, aided by a story whose straightforwardness and naivety (most painfully rising to the fore in the development of an extremely hollow romantic subplot) that have their charm, but it’s not enough for a two-hour film. I would rather suppose the basis of the film to be a young adult novel by an American author who loves Japanese culture and James Cameron films (at least the latter bit about James Cameron, who wrote the screenplay, is probably true), rather than a Japanese cyberpunk manga comic book. Christoph Waltz with a rocket-powered pickaxe, describing a martial art called Panzerkunst, philosophising about whether one can love a cyborg, and Mahershala Ali as Blade don't help much. Nevertheless, Rodriguez has not been so focused in his storytelling for a long time. Even more so than in the patient building (or revealing) of the world from the lowest floor, this can be seen in the uncluttered action sequences with very complex choreography (I would not shy away from a comparison with Ready Player One). I wouldn’t be surprised if it is such a failure that we won’t see a follow-up, but I also wouldn’t mind if a sequel was made. 65% (08/02/2019)

A surprisingly dynamic and compact film peppered with sci-fi flourishes and clear action from a trash director who took a break from his typically familiar garage movies. You can see the typical B-movie feeling of a dirty city and all those strange robo-human creatures, but at the same time there is Cameron's supervision, especially during the key parts of the main story, or when the camera pans over the city in the sky, or the wild car track. I wish all those wannabe sci-fi/cyberpunk creations of recent years, led by Ghost in the Shell, looked this lush and fresh. (22/07/2019)