A cyberpunk manga brought to the big screen with aplomb by Robert Rodriguez based on a script by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and all their fingerprints were evident in the final product resulting in a final product that thematically and narratively felt recycled, but visually outstanding. From Rodriguez's directorial flair reminiscent of his last good work Sin City (incidentally also a graphic novel), Cameron's typical misogynistic, white male storytelling (no significant character of colour and a female lead - and other female characters too - that lacked her own agency and narratively driven/defined by her relationship to a male love interest...cue the eye rolling). and lastly, Kalogridis was just blatantly rehashing the world-building she did in Altered Carbon.
Narratively, Alita presented nothing new, and unfortunately the quality of the writing did no favours to excite or engage the audience. Alita was an easy protagonist to root for, but neither Cameron or Kalogridis managed to find the soul within the cyborg. Whenever the story moved into emotional terrains, the film screeched to a stop and the film just fell flat. It did not help that all the characters were also just as flat and had no chemistry with each other.
At least Rodriguez gave us great action sequences and fantastic special effects. Nothing less was expected from the creative minds of Rodriguez and Cameron. And again, like Aquaman, it just makes the anticipation of his Avatar sequels all the more expectant.
Rosa Salazar did a good job protraying Alita via motion capture, but she ain't no Andy Serkis. And her interactions with Christoph Waltz and Keean Johnson felt hollow. The chemistry between those two pairings, central to the story, just did not get through.
Waltz tried his best but, really, this was just another pay check for him
Ditto for Jennifer Connelly.
This film must have been to Mahershala Ali what Jupiter Ascending was to Eddie Redmayne.
(Come to think of it, Alita and Jupiter Ascending has quite a bit of similarity, although Rodriguez ain't no the Wachowskis...heh!).
The music was by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL and although it sounded like him, it was not Mad Max: Fury Road, maybe more like a generic superhero action flick a la Deadpool or Batman v Superman.
At 122 minutes, the film felt stretched with an ending that was obviously built for a sequel which may or may not materialise. And for that, it felt like a cheat.
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