I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Alita: Battle Angel. I’m unfamiliar with the source material, and the enlarged anime eyes on actress Rosa Salazar came across as silly in the marketing material, if not downright creepy.
But the film is, at least on a technical level, astonishing. This is how you do world-building – the rusty, dusty dystopia depicted on screen feels depressingly real, a ruined civilization rebuilt with spare parts, inhabited by cyborgs and street punks.
Unfortunately, the tone of the film isn’t quite as dark and gritty as the unhinged universe it depicts; one gets the feeling that truly nasty things are happening in the shadows, offscreen, while we follow a Disney romance that doesn’t quite fit the setting.
That ham-fisted love story and cringy dialogue are the biggest flaws in this otherwise enjoyable film, which boasts incredible action sequences and luscious visuals. The nightmarish blends of man and machine are superbly rendered, with the CGI on display far superior to any recent blockbuster. I haven’t felt this immersed in a fictional universe since Avatar, or perhaps War for the Planet of the Apes.
Iron City makes Wakanda and Atlantis look like video game cutscenes; it’s one of those films where every single frame is packed with photo-realistic detail. Surprisingly, the aforementioned bulbous eyes of Alita don’t come across as jarring, at all.
The eyes are the window to the soul, and one would assume that such a bold creative choice is doomed to backfire. In fact, it almost did. But Alita’s eyes feel oddly natural, the striking visual distinguishing her from the other man-machine hybrids roaming around the city, imbuing her with an otherworldly vibe.
Alita’s story, that of a childlike innocent coming to terms with her true nature as a war machine, is interesting, but surrounded by narrative clutter. I’m assuming that the source material is lengthy and complex, because this adaption struggles to retain momentum, bogged down by unnecessary complexities.
It doesn’t help that the antagonist remains offscreen for almost the entire duration of the film, and that the ending feels like an opening chapter rather than a conclusion. This was merely an introduction to Alita’s universe, and the story seems better fitted to a television series, rather than an overstuffed blockbuster. Personally, I’m interested in reading the original manga after watching this film – it’s a world I want to explore further.
You have to admire the ambition behind this adaption, but unfortunately, I think Alita: Battle Angel will struggle to find an audience, seeing as the film isn’t family friendly enough for the superhero crowd, or dark enough for more mature folks, existing in a strange limbo between the two.
It might be a flawed film, but if you’re a sci-fi fan who loves world-building, cyborgs, or merely someone who appreciates great visual effects, Alita: Battle Angel is a must-watch.
