Directed by:
Robert RodriguezCinematography:
Bill PopeComposer:
Tom HolkenborgCast:
Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Keean Johnson, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley, Eiza González, Ed Skrein, Casper Van Dien (more)VOD (4)
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When Alita (Rosa Salazar) awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious history while her street-smart new friend Hugo (Keean Johnson) offers instead to help trigger her memories. But it is only when the deadly and corrupt forces that run the city come after Alita that she discovers a clue to her past – she has unique fighting abilities that those in power will stop at nothing to control. If she can stay out of their grasp, she could be the key to saving her friends, her family and the world she’s grown to love. (20th Century Fox)
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Reviews (16)
Alita pushes computer acting to a new level, aided by a story whose straightforwardness and naivety (most painfully rising to the fore in the development of an extremely hollow romantic subplot) that have their charm, but it’s not enough for a two-hour film. I would rather suppose the basis of the film to be a young adult novel by an American author who loves Japanese culture and James Cameron films (at least the latter bit about James Cameron, who wrote the screenplay, is probably true), rather than a Japanese cyberpunk manga comic book. Christoph Waltz with a rocket-powered pickaxe, describing a martial art called Panzerkunst, philosophising about whether one can love a cyborg, and Mahershala Ali as Blade don't help much. Nevertheless, Rodriguez has not been so focused in his storytelling for a long time. Even more so than in the patient building (or revealing) of the world from the lowest floor, this can be seen in the uncluttered action sequences with very complex choreography (I would not shy away from a comparison with Ready Player One). I wouldn’t be surprised if it is such a failure that we won’t see a follow-up, but I also wouldn’t mind if a sequel was made. 65%
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A sympathetic, nicely designed sci-fi fairy tale with bloody roots, from which, however, narration chaos is literally apparent. Lots of things are somehow provisionally sketched out and do not led anywhere, awkward zigzagging between a dystopian global story and a love story, the absence of a strong finale, which the film owes to a slightly overly optimistic intention to serialize it... The more promising ideas there are, the more of an unpleasant taste they leave.
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A surprisingly dynamic and compact film peppered with sci-fi flourishes and clear action from a trash director who took a break from his typically familiar garage movies. You can see the typical B-movie feeling of a dirty city and all those strange robo-human creatures, but at the same time there is Cameron's supervision, especially during the key parts of the main story, or when the camera pans over the city in the sky, or the wild car track. I wish all those wannabe sci-fi/cyberpunk creations of recent years, led by Ghost in the Shell, looked this lush and fresh.
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This fast-paced action sci-fi fairy-tale with heart is held together by Alita, who is surprisingly the most vivid of the characters. Super cute! The nice daddy Waltz was also fine. Other character would benefit from more screen time, as that would give the movie more complexity, which it slightly lacks. And I’m not talking only about deepening the character of super MILF Connelly and similarly important characters, but also about some space for funny supporting types like the cowboy Fahey. He definitely had more space in the screenplay. Anyhow, the movie is a roller-coaster ride alternating emotions with spectacular action, and the fights leading to the transition of a fragile girl into the ultimate fighter will take your breath away. I was completely satisfied and am willing to watch it again in Atmos or IMAX. The Japanese are going to love this.
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I wasn't expecting much, but I was hoping it would turn out to be a fun and nice looking piece of crap. And in the end, it did. Alita probably won't appear on my list of the best films of the year, but the two hours in the cinema went by faster and more pleasantly than I would have guessed a few weeks ago. The visual effects and production design are top-notch and it's a really good watch, but this sci-fi epic gets the most points for its heroine. Rosa Salazar is great as Alita, she's both endearingly freaky and spectacularly deadly at the right moments. Robert Rodriguez keeps a surprisingly low profile and his action scenes are lucid and milk Hollywood's current technological capabilities to the max. The whole thing may be a little cheesy and 90s in both the good and bad sense of the word, but they are clearly aware of that. A lot of the themes aren't fleshed out enough (and shouldn't have been) and at times Alita turns into a sci-fi romance for teenage girls, but it still works. Personally, I had no problem tuning in on the same wavelength as Rodriguez and Cameron and enjoying the fact that it's big, beautiful, action-packed and fun. And basically, that was enough to satisfy me.
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