Alita: Battle Angel (2019) - 6/10
Everything in this film looks superb, from the excessively detailed cybertronics to the realistically structured setting and city landscape – it truly is a technical marvel, and the attention to detail is astounding. The action scenes are graceful and fluid, the blend of CGI and real actors is seamless, and even the brief venture outside the city is a real treat from the grime of the urban androids.
But the story isn’t great – it serves its purpose, and has a good range of characters, but it tries to fit too much in. The dialogue is clunky, the love story is very teenage i.e. ham fisted and lacks subtlety, and the action scenes are too few and far between. The acting is mostly good, especially Alita, although the villains are a bit one dimensional with their corny challenges.
There’s obviously been a lot of care and love put into the special effects and presentation, and I definitely want to see more of Alita’s story, but it’s not as great as it could have been.