Movie Review: Alita: Battle Angel

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Alita: Battle Angel is the newest film from director Robert Rodriguez and producers James Cameron and Jon Landau. The movie is about a cyborg teenage girl living in the year 2563.

Alita: Battle Angel is a movie based on the manga series called 'Gunnm' or Battle Angel Alita.

Due to the original source being a multi-issued manga, the movie version of Alita: Battle Angel has some issues in regards to its story.

The main flaw of Alita: Battle Angel is that it tries to cram in too many stories all at once in its two hour runtime.

First there's the story of Alita trying to remember her past life, but then there are other story threads all happening at the same time as well.

The main thing I did not like about the movie is that it does not feel like a standalone film. The film concludes setting up stories for a potential sequel since the movie does not end on a high note.

While the story of Alita: Battle Angel is an issue, the rest of the movie is a blast to watch.

Thanks to the film being set in the far future, the CGI and animation in this movie looks great and futuristic.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if you are watching a CGI movie because the cyborg character models look really realistic.

Not to mention the action scenes are fast and entertaining mainly because most of the fight scenes include cyborgs with unique abilities and weapons.

While the first half of the movie is a little slow at the beginning, the movie picks up towards the end once the bad guys show their face.

The film never feels too slow or boring during the latter half, although as aforementioned the movie ends too abruptly for my taste.

In terms of characters, Alita played by Rose Salazar is a likable main character that has a lot of layers to her.

Sadly though, we don't get to know too much about her past life since this film is clearly setting up for future movies.

Christoph Waltz is also excellent playing the character of Dr Dyson who is the character that revives Alita at the beginning of the movie.

Most of the side characters are also good to watch, although actors like Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali aren't given as much screentime as I'd hoped.

Overall, Alita: Battle Angel is an okay movie with wonderful visuals and a likable main character.

The action scenes are excellent, although the main flaw of the movie is its incomplete story.

This movie would have been better if it was a standalone effort rather than baiting us with sequels that might not even come to fruition.

Verdict: 3.5/5 stars

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20th Century Fox