Alita: Battle Angel

(M) ★★★

Director: Robert Rodriguez.

Cast: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Keean Johnson, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. 

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If you're working in the sci-fi/action/horror/superhero genres, there's no such thing as making just one film anymore. No, every movie is merely a pretext for a franchise; a trilogy at least, but more likely a full cinematic universe of spin-offs, sidequels, prequels and other such moneymakers. As much as I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has a lot to answer for in this regard.

The latest of these franchises-in-waiting is this adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm AKA Battle Angel Alita, which has already been made into an anime series. In the hands of Rodriguez and writer/producer James Cameron, it aims for the sci-fi heights with its blend of Astroboy, Rollerball, Blade Runner, and Cameron's own Dark Angel.

But, as is the case with so many of these wanna-be cinematic universes, there are too many eyes on the future, and not enough on the film at hand. Alita: Battle Angel is like a wounded magpie - it's close to flying but is distracted too often by shiny, fast-moving things.

The titular Alita (Salazar) is a cyborg, salvaged from a scrapheap by cybernetic surgeon Dr Ido (Waltz). Despite not remembering her past, it soon becomes clear Alita is something special. She's a warrior, and she has awakened in an unrecognisable and dangerous future where people are out to get her.

Amazing CG work is par for the course these days: if your effects look shitty, you haven't given your visual FX houses enough time or money. So it should go without saying that Alita looks amazing. Alita herself, despite sitting pretty in the uncanny valley, is an impressive piece of motion-capture, and her not-quite-realness works because she's not-quite-human. 

The action sequences are also excellent. They're well choreographed and packed with slow-mo and wide shots to make them easy to follow and enjoy. But as pleasing to the eye as these scenes are, so many of them, particularly those featuring the violent sport of motorball, feel superfluous. The script does its best to make them important to the plot, but they regularly slow and bloat the story. 

The screenplay borders on excellent at times, especially in its opening half and early worldbuilding. However it stumbles too often as it progresses, not just with dire dialogue, but with its characters. Love interest Hugo (Johnson) is not conflicted enough or as well-drawn as he should be for someone who is supposedly a nice guy doing bad things, while the changes of heart displayed by him and other players feels overly simplistic. 

Perhaps worst of all though is the obvious "save it for the sequel" mentality that is going on. A largely unseen Big Bad and Alita's mostly unremembered past could be seen as enigmatic, but the film doesn't have that vibe. Instead it feels like its keeping too many pay-offs up its sleeve, instead of telling a full self-contained, well realised story. 

Alita: Battle Angel is at its best when Rodriguez embraces the noirish tones he brought to Sin City. The murky underworld filled with bounty hunters and body-part bandits is fascinating and gives the film a sense of style that's more interesting than many of the video game-esque CG bonanzas. The brawls and encounters that take place in the bars and back alleys have a look and tone to them that make them stand-out.

The other aspect that makes the film work much better than it probably should is Salazar. She gives a solid, endearing and at-times powerful performance from beneath a layer of pixels. Her turn is all the more impressive because her character is so richly written, which is in stark contrast to the parts of Waltz, Ali and Connelly; all of whom do their best with some questionable material.

It remains to be seen whether the box office will propel Alita to its desired status as a franchise, so the real question "is does it deserve to be one?". The best answer I can muster is a Futurama quote: "All I know is my gut says maybe." It has its moments, and in Alita it has a worthy heroine to hang sequels on, but the film itself doesn't have me clamouring for more.