Robert Rodriguez has had some great and successful creative partnerships throughout his career: Quentin Tarantino on Grindhouse and From Dusk Till Dawn, Frank Miller on Sin City, Ethan Maniquison on Machete. It seemed to be a sure thing that his latest team-up with James Cameron would be just as saliva inducing and worthy of a geek freak-out as his past collaborative efforts.
Sadly, that isn’t the case with Alita: Battle Angel, a frustratingly unfocused and lifeless effort from two of the most groundbreaking and audacious genre filmmakers working today. Instead of drawing upon director Rodriguez’s and producer/cowriter Cameron’s greatest strengths, the film instead comes off as a somewhat dispassionate culmination of their aesthetics. While there are obvious touches that come from both filmmakers, they are only surface-level (fantastic effects, clever angles, well-executed action) and never reach the heart of what makes their greatest work so memorable (humor, developed and full character relationships, direct and condensed storylines).
The title character is a female cyborg that is found in a junk heap by a good-hearted scientist (Christoph Waltz). After she is reactivated, she has no memory of her past life but quickly discovers she can effortlessly kick ass while simultaneously falling for the blandest jackass one could imagine (portrayed by Keean Johnson). Alita then becomes a Hunter-Warrior along with Waltz, hunting criminal cyborgs for money. With her stunning abilities, she then starts competing in a 3D-friendly futuristic game called Motorball. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, she also has sporadic bouts of memory relapses where she recalls being a war veteran, and she is also trying to figure out how to get to an oppressive authority that ominously hovers over the city in which she dwells. I’m pretty sure I left out about a dozen subplots, there, too.
Alita spreads itself thin and glazes over every aspect of its cluttered story. Based on the popular manga, the movie seems more concerned with laying the foundation of a potential franchise than it does with being a singular and contained experience. Great actors (Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali) give forgettable performances and are nothing more than dressing for an admittedly gorgeous digital landscape. The character of Alita is the film’s primary saving grace–a direct result of Rosa Salazar’s fiery and likable portrayal of her (and in spite of the digital enhancements required for her character). While Alita exhibits enough heart and personality to win us over, it’s not enough to carry the film and it’s bumpy, excessive narrative.
There’s a lot of squandered potential in Alita. The blending of Cameron and Rodriguez seems to dull both of their potency. The film is primarily comprised of stale remnants of their past works and feels like it was executed by a young and undisciplined fan of both filmmakers—one who understands their technique but doesn’t have the heart required to make it something truly remarkable. Perhaps talents as great at Cameron and Rodriguez are best left on their own, creating original works designed to please no one but themselves.
GRADE: C+
