Alita: Battle Angel

An innocent cybernetic super-soldier warrior girl (Rosa Salazar) is found in a scrap heap by a child-longing cyber-surgeon (Christoph Waltz), leading to a rebirth that will change the way civilization has regressed. Without getting into too much detail of the clever but cliche dystopia, there are haves and have nots. The lowly Iron City dwellers, and the mysterious upper crust living in Salem (pronounced Solemn), a majestic city in the sky. Lawlessness in the city leads to gangs of hunter warriors, futuristic bounty hunters who work for the kingpin, Vector (Mahershala Ali). He in turn works for the faceless eye in the sky, Nova, who is played in a hilarious creditless cameo by... I won't spoil it. As Alita learns about her past, she learns about her future, and she begins to embrace her destiny.

"Alita: Battle Angel" has been in gestation for decades. James Cameron created "Dark Angel" back in 2000, and although unrelated ("Alita" is based on the graphic novel "Gunnm" by Yukito Kishiro) it was a preview of a concept Cameron had of a dystopian future where an elite female warrior saves humanity. It's a timeless tale of... wait, it's not. Cameron is unarguably one of the most visionary directors in history, but his storytelling leaves much to be desired. Remember that little thing he did awhile back, "Avatar?" Everything except the story (and dialogue) was absolute golden brilliance. It was a visual orgasm that moviegoers had never experienced before, and likely won't again (until "Avatar 2" hits in 2020). I'm not saying "Avatar" wasn't worth watching more than once, it is a well-executed and supercool experience, but let's be honest, the "Fern Gully" criticisms and one-with-nature zen message didn't really add value to the action and effects.

This was the reason I was excited to experience the IMAX 3D version of "Alita" to just get a glimmer of cutting edge visual effects. Well, I have some good news and I have some bad news. Which would you like first? The bad news is that the story is weak and recycled from more 1980's sci-fi action films than I could name. The love story is awkward and frankly kind of uncomfortable, and the dialogue is next to awful. The weapons and fight scenes are a bit clunky and blunt (lots of oversized hammers, saws, axes, etc.) and the sporting event sidebar is just unnecessary and adds distraction and cheese to the narrative.

The good news is that two Oscar winning actors, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Early Haley's voice (my favorite part of the movie) and Rosa Salazar in a stunning motion-capture performance salvage the scrap heap of a story, but just barely. They don't spend too much time developing the 26th century universe, and don't waste our time with the back story flashbacks, or explaining how things work in the new time frame. They just jump into it and move forward. Kudos to Cameron for that. Additionally, and most importantly, the film is visually stunning from start to finish.

The first installment of a trilogy, the next episode will be based on "Last Order" and the third on "Mars Chronicle." I would expect this trilogy to continue as it is clearly a passion project of Cameron, and is likely to make money globally due to the high quality visual effects. Besides, Cameron will get to play with new technology in his spare time while he's developing "Avatar 3, 4, and 5". This is assuming director Robert Rodriguez is interested in continuing, as this was certainly no easy feat. The attention to detail is obvious, and I admire the work and toil this must have taken.

It's for these reasons that I give it a slightly higher rating than I would typically to a movie of this type. I was impressed and disappointed at the same time, but honestly, it synced up with my expectations pretty closely. This is a typically weak time of year for films, and with a lack of viable entertainment options, there are certainly worse ways to spend two hours of your time. 7/10. For the love of Cameron.