Alita: Battle Angel 

MFC Review

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) was directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by renowned filmmaker James Cameron. It features performances by Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali.

Based on the GUNNM manga, created by Yukito Kishiro in 1991 and later known in the West as Battle Angel Alita, this new film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the original story and the animated movie Battle Angel (1993), directed by Hiroshi Fukutomi.

Alita: Battle Angel tells the story of Alita (Rosa Salazar), an android with amazing abilities who seeks to remember her past after being rescued and restored by Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz).

Although the production of the film began in 2003, its development was constantly postponed because James Cameron was focused on Avatar (2009) and its sequels. It wasn’t until 2016 that it was announced Robert Rodriguez would be the director of the film.

The final result is a great example of the interest and affection with which they approached the project. The quality of the visual effects of Alita: Battle Angel makes viewers feel immersed in its futuristic world. The action scenes are very well achieved, but the strongest point of the movie is the special effects used for the completely digital creation of Alita‘s character, which, thanks to the great interpretation of Rosa Salazar, make her performance look natural and adequate to that of the other characters.

The script presents certain weaknesses that makes the story feel a bit incomplete. Likewise, the appearances of Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali did not contribute much to the overall plot, as they played characters that may well have been personified by any other actors.

The film leaves an open ending that invites the story to continue expanding in future installments, plus the production of at least two sequels are already part of future plans, if the reception and income generated by Alita: Battle Angel turn out to be as expected.