Two words: mind blown! This is a film I highly recommend you see. Especially if your looking for an action-packed, exciting, heroine film with amazing CGI and visual effects. I knew nothing about this film before going to see it and now I feel like I have been introduced to a whole new world and the franchise surrounding it. I believe that just like with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, this film is only the beginning of many more.
This film follows the story of a deactivated female cyborg, Alita (Rosa Salazar), who is rescued and repaired by Dr Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz). Alita remembers nothing from her past and so starts a journey to find out who she is. Along the way it becomes apparent that some powerful people want her dead. The film is set in a futuristic dystopian world where people on the planet surface try to fight their way up to the last surviving floating city, Zalem, where there is no rags and only riches. It becomes clear that Alita is the only one who can change the world as it is. She is the key to end the poverty and destruction of the people; to start the fight against the patriarchy.
As I said, I knew nothing about this film before seeing it but now I want to know everything and anything about it. It has engaged my interest and that’s what a good film should do! Make you want to see and learn more about it after you have seen it. But I won’t go into much detail outside the film; I want to stick with reviewing the film itself.
From the producers of Avatar, you already know that this film is going to be visually amazing. Of course, it was none other than Weta Digital who was responsible for the transformation of Alita and other characters into the stunning CGI creations they became. Weta Digital have been arguably the front-runners of CGI since the release of The Lord of Rings back in 2001. They’re ahead of their time and have used ground-breaking technology to bring a lot of films (some you wouldn’t even know of) to life. Alita: Battle Angel is no-exception to this. There is obviously a lot of CGI but the most noticable is the CGI on Alita, the character, herself. Some may argue that it being so noticable is a bad thing however the CGI is suppose to make her look different as she is a cyborg. With her enlarged eyes and petite body, I almost forgot there was an actress behind the CGI.
Rosa Salazar was, in my opinion, flawless in her performance. She was so convincing and fully adopted the entirety of the character she was playing. I had to look up who it was playing Alita, I had no idea it was her. One of the best things I liked about her character was how strong she was as a hero and as a female. Alita is a fighter, literally, and she kicks arse! I won’t say too much more because you’ll have to watch the film to really enjoy it. However, there are scenes in which Alita is losing fights but at no stage does she become weaker in her fighting ability. She is still as strong as she is when she is winning fights. I love that they didn’t compromise her ability to fight and her strength just because she was losing. Most of the time, filmmakers will rely on the usual stereotypes of women. Women are apparently frail, weak and need saving. But not in this film. She is the saviour.
I have to give a quick shout-out to Christoph Waltz for yet again a wonderful performance. I have seen him play a villian, a dark-horse and now a loving father figure. He is proving, always, that he can do a wide range of characters. He is a great actor and it’s a pleasure to watch him.
Finally, I want to speak about the director Robert Rodriguez. According to his IMDB page, this seems to be the biggest project he has ever worked on. He should be very proud of what he’s achieved. This is a brilliant story in which young women, not too young, can watch a female character be the hero and yet experience a lot of the emotions and life events of a young girl. Even through the tough times, this film shows that women can still be not only their own hero but others’ as well.
As I have said from the get go, I highly recommend this film. Even so to rate it a 10/10. I can not wait for the sequels and to see how this franchise grows to influence another generation of young people.
Mean Productions 