I suppose when you get to a movie that’s been in various stages of production over the last 20 years or so, the story would be a touch familiar. On the other hand, it’s remarkably faithful to its source material, co-opting the better parts of the first two main stories along with elements from further stories of the manga.
The beginning remains fairly intact with cybernetic specialist Ido (Christoph Waltz) finding Alita (Rosa Salazar) in a junkyard and rebuilds her. Hugo (Keean Johnson) is brought in much earlier to help her, and us by default, discover the world of Iron City and the mysterious floating world above, Zalem (renamed from the books). The Motorball element (from book 3 onwards) is also brought forward, serving a slightly different purpose for the sake of the movie.
Fans of the manga will find many familiar moments as Alita finds her place and purpose. The changes bring a cinematic dynamic to that core story that plays out on screen. There really is nothing much else in terms of plot. Alita may be the central character but the stories are the ones swirling around her. Hugo wants to go to Zalem. Ido wants to keep Alita safe. Vector (Mahershala Ali) is something of a manipulative businessman making use of certain characters while running the Motorball games. He has an interest in Alita by way of the mysterious Nova (uncredited famous guest star) and sets Chiren (Jennifer Connelly) to ‘investigate’.
Of course, for a movie like this, we may not entirely be focussed on the plot or story. Reportedly, when James Cameron set about with his sequels of Avatar, Robert Rodriguez asked him about the status of Alita. It is said that Cameron told Rodriguez that if he could crack the script into a more manageable production, he could go ahead and direct it.
As a filmmaker, Rodriguez has often been seen as a niche director, essentially making massive home movies for public consumption. His last few major movies (Spy Kids 4 (2011), Machete Kills (2013), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)) had him wearing many hats from writer and director to producer, cinematographer, editor, soundtrack composer, visual effects, cameraman, and more). His experience in practically every aspect of film-making might serve him very well in pulling together a massive production like Alita, and he delivers well, especially with the action. The movie is highly entertaining in that respect.
It’s hard to say if the movie would have been any better if Cameron directed it himself as he intended all those years back. There are elements of his work there, particularly in the story. There are discrepancies between the movies he writes and directs himself and those where he just writes (look at Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Strange Days (1995), and now this). The ideas are there but the execution feels a little detached.
Still, the stars are game even if their take on certain characters are quite unlike their comic counterpart. Props, however, to Rosa Salazar. Alita may be a fully digital character on screen, but it’s still Salazar’s performance that brings Alita to life. We’ve had digital characters on screen before, and while Alita is more cyborg than human (a reason for those larger than normal eyes to reflect the manga influence), she is still far more human than most that we’ve seen so far. There are moments (for me, anyway) where the digital effects stand out in the Uncanny Valley, but when the action kicks in, that minor discrepancy goes away.
It’s hard to say if anyone is going to take the movie on its own merits. The Motorball scenes alone will draw comparisons to Rollerball (1975 or 2002) and Speed Racer (2008 – highly underrated in my opinion) in terms of presentation and execution. Yes, Hugo is a bit bland here, and maybe Gerhad (Idara Victor) is a bit under-utilised. The score from Tom Holkenborg feels a bit underwhelming given the work he did on Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).
Yet, the effects are a stand-out, especially with the numerous cyborgs (Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeff Fahey, and more), as well as the world of Iron City. The designs are eye-catching and the action is the main draw in the end. The scale of the movie is quite epic in scope, particularly in IMAX 3D (at a nice discounted RM18 for a morning screening).
Should a sequel surface, it would be interesting to see where the story will go given the changes that have been made. Especially since they have a rather known star in place for the big bad, Nova. If anything else, this is one of the more solid manga adaptations so far.
Rating: ***1/2 /5
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Written by James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis, & Robert Rodriguez (not credited on screen)
based on the manga “Gunnm” by Yukito Kishiro
Stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson, Lana Condor
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Berning Away 
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