Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Review

This film has recently been added to Sky I have rewatched the film Alita: Battle Angel and here is my review for the film. The premise of the film is set in the future and sees a man remake a Cyborg who ends up being a warrior attempting to stop a group of evil forces. 

Main Character 

There was some controversy before this film came out about the lead character as actress Rosa Salazar was chosen to perform the mo cap and voice of the character Alita but she was a human being and I honestly think it worked. At first it was a bit jarring but what it does really well is make Alita stand out to every other character in the film, she is great in the action scenes and is a character you care about. You learn some things about her character and you do want to see her succeed and that makes her a very likeable protagonist in the film. 

Supporting Characters

Christoph Waltz plays the man who finds her in this film and he does a really good job, he is a trememendous actor and his character is really interesting with some interesting takes in the film. But the rest of the cast do not fair as well, Mahershala ali is one of the best actors around but he is literally given nothing to work with in this film, the writing for his character is completley generic and it doesn't allow him to stretch his acting muscles. Jennifer Connelly & Ed Skrein are both in this film but they also don't really work for the film as there characters aren't given time to develop to make you interested in their roles. 

Story

The story of Alita's character is interesting, as you see her piece together her life you root for her and grow to care about her. Even the romance in the film isn't too bad even though I think the film didn't exactly need it, it was handled well. It is just that the story in this film is a bit all over the place, they try and include so much cool stuff but things end up not being explored enough and leaves you feeling like things weren't fully explained and were just being saved for a future sequel. Also the ending is very abrupt, the last 10 minutes move extremely quickly and leaves a few characters ending untold which hurts the ending as a whole.

Script

The script has some decent drama in it, the relationship between Alita and Waltz's character is handled well and lead to a pretty dramatic story. Though the film at times tried humour and it didn't really work, also as mentioned the writing tries so much that the film feels really jimbled at times. 

Style

The style of the film is where this film hangs and for the most part it reall works. Alita looks great, the action scenes are really exciting in a world well built. There are a few cases of poor CGI but the majority is really well handled, well enough to rise above the few characters who have poor animation. 

Overall

Overallm this is a good film, with some great and exciting concepts and action scenes. It is worth a watch if you like stylish films with good action scenes.

Rating - 7/10