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. (11/22/2019)

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. (02/08/2019)

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. (07/24/2019)

I wasn't expecting much, but I was hoping it would turn out to be a fun and nice looking piece of crap. And in the end, it did. Alita probably won't appear on my list of the best films of the year, but the two hours in the cinema went by faster and more pleasantly than I would have guessed a few weeks ago. The visual effects and production design are top-notch and it's a really good watch, but this sci-fi epic gets the most points for its heroine. Rosa Salazar is great as Alita, she's both endearingly freaky and spectacularly deadly at the right moments. Robert Rodriguez keeps a surprisingly low profile and his action scenes are lucid and milk Hollywood's current technological capabilities to the max. The whole thing may be a little cheesy and 90s in both the good and bad sense of the word, but they are clearly aware of that. A lot of the themes aren't fleshed out enough (and shouldn't have been) and at times Alita turns into a sci-fi romance for teenage girls, but it still works. Personally, I had no problem tuning in on the same wavelength as Rodriguez and Cameron and enjoying the fact that it's big, beautiful, action-packed and fun. And basically, that was enough to satisfy me. (02/13/2019)

This fast-paced action sci-fi fairy-tale with heart is held together by Alita, who is surprisingly the most vivid of the characters. Super cute! The nice daddy Waltz was also fine. Other character would benefit from more screen time, as that would give the movie more complexity, which it slightly lacks. And I’m not talking only about deepening the character of super MILF Connelly and similarly important characters, but also about some space for funny supporting types like the cowboy Fahey. He definitely had more space in the screenplay. Anyhow, the movie is a roller-coaster ride alternating emotions with spectacular action, and the fights leading to the transition of a fragile girl into the ultimate fighter will take your breath away. I was completely satisfied and am willing to watch it again in Atmos or IMAX. The Japanese are going to love this. (02/08/2019)