REVIEW: ‘Alita: Battle Angel’, a cyberpunk fantasy with a franchise on its mind
Rosa Salazar stars as Alita in Alita: Battle Angel, directed by Robert Rodriguez.
The history of live-action adaptations of well-loved anime and manga series is a fraught one. Recent examples like Ghost in the Shell or Death Note have brought not only criticisms about the accuracy to the source material, but accusations of whitewashing - casting white actors in traditionally Asian roles. So an American adaptation of the Yukito Kishiro series Battle Angel Alita by Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron likely inspired some worries in fans, especially when you consider the added element of Rodriguez and Cameron’s chosen production method: a reliance on the same performance-capture technology behind Cameron’s Avatar and other movies like the Planet of the Apes remakes.
Despite some production delays, this newest version of the story, released as Alita: Battle Angel, is here. Notably, the tone of the discussion over the movie is different from the earlier anime adaptations: by casting a Latina actor (Rosa Salazar) in the lead role, the perception that a role has been taken away from a person of colour was reduced. It didn’t stop, however, some bemused reactions over the blending of CG characters with live actors or the Alita character’s exaggerated eyes - the effect known as the “uncanny valley” - as that’s a lot more subjective. But whether Alita’s eyes creep you out or not, the movie still holds itself together, even with a second half that’s pressing a little too hard to set up a sequel.
Via a riff on the 20th Century Fox logo, we find that the movie takes place in the 26th century, after a catastrophic war in the 23rd century that wiped out much of civilization. The action centres on a city divided in two: a gleaming realm called Zalem that floats above a derelict industrial area called Iron City. Only the rich and powerful can live in Zalem, and to be kicked down into Iron City is like being banished to hell. But it’s in one of the surface world’s scrap heaps that Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) comes across the intact head and torso of a young cyborg woman from the long-ago war. Ido immediately recognizes the woman as a member of an elite fighting force, but driven by the loss of his daughter years before, he becomes protective over the woman, naming her Alita.
Christoph Waltz as cybersurgeon Dr. Dyson Ido.
Alita sets out on a quest to discover who she is and unlock her buried memories. Along the way, she encounters a series of new friends and enemies, all the while wondering why she feels drawn to the looming presence of Zalem in the sky. Filling out the cast is Jennifer Connelly as Chiren (another cybersurgeon like Ido), Mahershala Ali as a businessman named Vector, Keean Johnson as Hugo, a young scrap dealer, and a host of treacherous underworld types played by Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and others.
I’ve always had a thing for cyberpunk, and Alita: Battle Angel fits into the genre easily. There’s something about floating sky cities, cyborgs, and post-apocalyptic settings that make the world-building parts of these movies a joy to look at. It’s the kind of visuals that light up your brain and make you want to explore. Plus, with Rodridguez at the helm and Cameron as one of the writers, you couldn’t ask for more experience behind the camera. No matter how you feel about their recent work, both filmmakers have an appreciation (and maybe obsession) for rendering otherworldly locations with cutting-age movie technology.
Like the Netflix series Altered Carbon, another recent entry in this genre, the core theme is one of identity. In a world where mortal injuries can often be fixed as easily as sticking a severed head onto a robotic body, the movie contemplates what it means to be human, especially in a society filled with people who might pull off your arm (or even your head) and exchange it for profit. Whereas Altered Carbon approaches this question in a refined way, by allowing its characters to cleanly transfer their consciousness to new bodies, Alita goes with a more body-horror approach. There’s inherently something grislier about a fight scene where a bad guy lops off most of Alita’s limbs, but she continues on, thrusting herself into the air on her remaining arm and punching deep into the villain’s skull.
Mahershala Ali as a menacing businessman named Vector.
These visuals may be grittier, but the screenplay holds a lot more back than it should. With about 10 minutes left to go, it becomes clear that the Big Bad the film has yet to fully introduce is being withheld until a theoretical next installment. Even before this point, the signs of the story dragging its feet are there: it’s unclear why the villain’s henchmen don’t kidnap Alita or go after her friends, despite having many opportunities to do so. And when the climax does arrive, it’s lacking the kind of emotional weight that would come from rooting for Alita to right a big wrong.
We all know that Cameron could deliver a satisfying, self-contained narrative if he wanted to, but I fear that in the case of Alita, the albatross of being “King of the World”, i.e. the director of the two highest-grossing films of all time, won out. Maybe if the filmmakers didn’t overplay their hands on sequel setup, Alita would be a more fulfilling experience. Here’s hoping that if it does net a follow-up, the storytelling gets as confident as the imagery.
Alita: Battle Angel gets three stars out of four.
Stray thoughts
Some of the wipeouts in the motorball sequences look pretty fatal. Can you get a bounty on your head for playing rough in the game?
This movie makes me even more excited for the game Cyberpunk 2077.
Without spoiling the identity of the Big Bad, all I’ll say is it’s a smart move by the actor - reduced risk if no sequel is made, but he could get a good payday if the franchise gets off the ground.