‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is directed by Robert Rodriguez with a screenplay by producer James Cameron of ‘Avatar’, and ‘Titanic’ fame. It follows the revived cyborg Alita as she searches for her lost memories and strives to find her place in the world. It is based on the manga comic series ‘Battle Angel Alita’ by Yukito Kishiro.

To start off, I went into this film completely blind. I was only slightly familiar with the comic series.  Whether it was the over the top action, similar story aspects, or Alita’s huge anime eyes, there’s no denying the influece of anime for this film.

That being said, I think this is a average film by itself, but it’s really good for an adaptation. After watching clips of 1993’s ‘Battle Angel Alita’, you can easily see the similarities with the live action version. The castings were also very good in my opinion. You have veteran actors such as Rosa Salazar as Alita, Christoph Walts as Dr. Ido and Jennifer Connelly as Chiren. In addition, there are also some newer faces like Keean Johnson, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and Lana Condor. It’s a good mix of an established well known actors with upcoming rising stars. For the most part, I feel the looked and felt like their original counter parts surprisingly.

I was very surprised how well they were able to translate the world in for live action. The CGI is really good and blends really well together in this futuristic setting. This is definitely a film you’ll want to see on the biggest screen possible. I’m usually not a big fan of 3D, but I feel this one would be worth checking out in the format due to all the CGI and effects.

I think the weakness of the film is definitely the plot. While it uses the original source material, I feel like this version rushed the story too much. Which is surprising since it seems they are trying to make this into a new hit blockbuster franchise. I feel the film could have been split into two separate movies as there was a bit too much going on. It makes sense since the source material is divided by chapters, but making the original plot continuous with out dividing it into parts makes it a little confusing.

To sum it up, I feel that ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ is definitely not a perfect film but it is a fun watch. It’s got a stellar cast along with great visual effects. While the plot can feel rushed,  I appreciate that it really stays true to it’s source material. If you enjoy anime or action packed CGI film I would recommend to give it a watch. However, if those aren’t you’re types of movies, I don’t think you’ll find much enjoyment from this one.

Rating: 8/10

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