Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Movie Review

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Review

Hello guys and welcome back to Movie Reviews #100%, the place where you can be nerdy about movies!

Well, some time has passed since my last review but I was secretly preparing for joining the Secret Services and I did not have time for movie reviews. Just kidding mates. Actually, I was very busy with work and no play but, fortunately, I had time to do a review for the latest from James Cameron until the Avatar sequels over power us. He is just producing the movie and wrote a part of the script but, like Peter Jackson with ''Mortal Engines'' you can see Cameron's involvement in the process of making this movie. But the style is specifically Robert Rodrigues's.

If you are not familiar with this property, let me tell you that it is based on a series of manga comics created by Yukito Kishiro, titled ''Gunm'' but also known as ''Battle: Alita Angel''.

Also, a bit of a synopsis from the movie for you lot: Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens, she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.

So, from the beginning you can see bits and bobs from other movies like ''Wall-E'', ''Elysium'', ''Ghost In The Shell'' and weird enough, ''Rollerball'', if anyone remembers that movie. Most of the people know that if you watch a Robert Rodrigues movie, you can expect a lot of action set pieces and gratuitous violence. With other words, more style over substance. And that is exactly what you get with this movie.

It looks amazing, the visuals are stunning and some of the best I have seen in a sci-fi movie, the action scenes are very well crafted and intense, the design is just out of this world, pun intended and, also, we get a protagonist that we can easily relate to and root for her, even from the beginning. Although she has some very big eyes, which, oddly enough, it did not bother me as much as I thought it will, she also a heart to match, making her more human that any other living human in this movie.

However, with all this fancy visuals, the story is lacking and seems to loose ground against the visually stunning special effects. The script is a bit chaotic and, also, you can see that some elements are only used just to set up the sequel, especially the ending. Speaking of story, the romantic part seemed a bit useless, from my part and cliched. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a romantic story but I did not see the point for it in this movie. And also, why can't we have a movie, where the main protagonist is female, without a romantic involvement?

Acting wise, no comment there. Christoph Waltz, good as ever, Jennifer Connelly and Ali, also very good but a bit underused. The stand out, of course, was Rosa Salazar as Alita, with her motion capture performance that can easily give Andy Serkis a run for his money. She was brilliant, giving some well balanced series of emotions.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, not for the story but for the spectacle that was put in front of me. And I can assure that many people will be satisfied with this movie. And I would not mind a sequel. 7.1/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one. Coming soon, some more reviews, one of them being the ''Happy Death Day 2U''. Until then, take care, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!