Alita: Battle Angel

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)

Robert Rodriguez is back after a long hiatus and unexpectedly at full strength, aided by James Cameron as writer. Alita is a visual juggernaut much like last year's Ready Player One and I have to say that even though I initially approached the film as an outsider, I was very pleased with the end result and left the cinema satisfied as I haven't been in a long time. The film is set in the 26th century, so it's Cyberpunk, with a very likeable lead, a solid as usual Christoph Waltz, with good pace, uncompromising action , and I roared through the cinema with happiness and emotion at the grand finale. The diverse villains, the music and most importantly the rollercoaster pace made you wish it had an extra half hour. I didn't mind at all that Rodriguez stayed away from violence, and story-wise it could have also been stronger, but I was so blown away by everything that I didn’t feel like thinking about it like, when Megan Fox strips in front of you, so staring open-mouthed is richly enough. This is one of the best adaptations of Japanese Manga I've ever seen, and it will shake Japan to its foundations. Seen at IMAX with massage seats and eight scoops of ice cream and bliss. Serve the trilogy immediately without hesitation. 85% (10/02/2019)

A tarted-up lot of nothing that’s nice to look at. The visuals are unsurprisingly superb, Rodríguez’s direction is surprisingly solid and focused, and the robotic/computer generated main character is very likeable. I wouldn’t have a problem with it overall, if, somewhere in the middle, I hadn’t realised that the film not only wasn’t moving towards the central clash, but that it would also elegantly avoid it. To be continued, basically. (08/02/2019)

Sci-fi for girls, in a good way. At least for girls who want to be like Ripley. Rodriguez populates Cameron’s fantasy world with living, breathing characters with the soul of a cyborg. The action is coherent and easy to follow; the fight in the bar is just genius. The romantic storyline is pretty weird, but it works well. Rosa Salazar grabs you with her big eyes and doesn’t let go. This is evidently just the first episode, as it is obviously a prelude, and I want to see more, so I hope Alita is a hit. (19/02/2019)

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)