In a Nutshell
When Alita (Rosa Salazar) awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past.
[imdb]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437086[/imdb]
Review
James Cameron is well known for creating some of the most profound cinema experiences of the past decade. From Titanic to Avatar to name a few, it is no surprise that audiences were intrigued to see how Cameron would adapt Yukito Kishiro’s 1990s Japanese manga saga Gunnm.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, most known for films like From Dusk Til Dawn and Sin City, whose known nitty gritty style would compliment the post-apocalyptic world that Alita’s story is set in. Unfortunately, behind the impressive CGI, special effects and a booming soundtrack, the film lacks substance and the storyline falls short.
With no prior knowledge of the source material by Manga- artist Kishiro, it can be hard to determine how close Cameron stayed to the original storyline. Most screenplay adaptions can go one of two ways but the fact that Cameron was able to turn an epic disaster into the worlds most famous love story, should tell for something.
A Genre Mash-up of Established Tropes and Clichés
Given this theory, the story lacks any sort of direction and in reality, the film doesn’t really know what genre it fits within. Is the film a Sci-Fi or a Rom-Com? An Action film or a Thriller? This can be confusing for the audience, as they can find it hard to connect with the narrative.
Storyline aside, the cast includes some notable faces like Oscar winners Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Masherala Ali and upcoming actors like Rosa Salazar and
Johnson plays Hugo, her troubled love interest caught between a better life and the love for a robot. Waltz plays Alita’s father figure Dr Igo, whilst Ali and Connelly star as the film’s villains Chiren and Vector, intent on destroying the strong-willed Alita.
A Glarring Sense of Visual Over-Familiarity
One of the most surprising factors of Alita: Battle Angel is how familiar it feels. Throughout the picture we can see clear references from other films, for example, the floating city of Zalem is similar in look to the city in 2013’s Elysium. The skater
For the most part the action sequences are thoroughly entertaining, specifically during the scenes were Alita discovers her strength. Her willingness to uncover her true path comes across in specific scenes with Alita and Dr Igo, as it revealed that he knew all along who she is and what her purpose was.
Alita must come to understand why Igo made certain decisions to withhold this information and ultimately protect her from who she really is. With every exciting action sequence, a silly plot point is introduced which immediately destroys the engrossing illusion the film previously had. A scene in particular with a puppy comes to mind.
A Final act That Throws Everything bar the Kitchen Sink Into the mix
When we reach the final act things truly start to crumble, up to this point in the film, so many little mini storylines were introduced, the ending seems rushed in an attempt to tie this up any loose ends. Insignificant characters start popping up with their own agendas which solve no real purpose to the plot which unfortunately draws the audience away from the film’s main message.
The film ends on a cliff-hanger, which doesn’t leave much to the imagination, as we see Alita finishing in a stance that not even Katniss Everdeen would be proud of. With the sequel coming in the next few years, one can only hope that the storyline picks up from here.
Verdict
Screenplay adaptions are often hit and miss. It worked well with the world of Harry Potter but didn’t so much with the Divergent series. Fans of the Manga series, I would urge you to enter this with very little expectation, but I hope that you will be pleasantly surprised.
