This movie is so full of tropes it's hard to get engaged:
Then there's the substandard dialogue, phoned-in acting, messy uninvolving plot and flat CGI (even in 3D, that world just looked flat...like a background matte painting). The much-vaunted Alita-character CGI was too uncanny valley, looking less like a cyborg in real life and more like a Final Fantasy character in a cut-scene.
To add insult to injury, there's no ending. It just ends in the middle of the story...presuming itself to offer a sequel. Risky game to play...tho' it may still come. But will there be interest in it several years later?
I still score an ok 5/10 as despite all these flaws it was fairly watchable, some action was decent. Nothing was really outright poor. It's comparable to Mortal Engines: very similar quality & feel (even sharing the garbage dump trope), tho' Mortal Engines scores slightly higher by its interesting roaming-cities designs.
I can't really recommend Alita. It even lacks the bite & originality of japanese anime so I'm not sure who the audience for this is supposed to be.
- mysterious character with no memory of badass past mixed with manic pixie dream girl.
- kindly older father figure played by well-known character actor guiding said character.
- committee-pleasing diverse gang of characters so underdeveloped nobody remembers their names or what happened to them.
- rich city in the sky that the folk below aspire to.
- mass garbage dumps.
- talk of a catastrophic event long ago which ruined the planet.
- cyborgs with human heads (very Robocop-aesthetic).
- bad guys who maniacally laugh while hunting their prey.
- Murderball variant.
- mysterious 'Big Bad' who eventually reveals his face to be...a famous actor.
Then there's the substandard dialogue, phoned-in acting, messy uninvolving plot and flat CGI (even in 3D, that world just looked flat...like a background matte painting). The much-vaunted Alita-character CGI was too uncanny valley, looking less like a cyborg in real life and more like a Final Fantasy character in a cut-scene.
To add insult to injury, there's no ending. It just ends in the middle of the story...presuming itself to offer a sequel. Risky game to play...tho' it may still come. But will there be interest in it several years later?
I still score an ok 5/10 as despite all these flaws it was fairly watchable, some action was decent. Nothing was really outright poor. It's comparable to Mortal Engines: very similar quality & feel (even sharing the garbage dump trope), tho' Mortal Engines scores slightly higher by its interesting roaming-cities designs.
I can't really recommend Alita. It even lacks the bite & originality of japanese anime so I'm not sure who the audience for this is supposed to be.