Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson, Jorge Lindeborg Jr, Jeff Fahey
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Runtime: 122 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2019

| |

Rating notes: Science-fiction themes, violence and coarse language

Not too many of us contemplate what life on this planet might be like in the 26th century? The 24th? Or the 27th? Probably not. However, if you do want to speculate in the science-fiction, science-fantasy mode, then here is an entree. It is not based on speculative science rather, it is a dramatisation of Manga comics.

You can foresee the approach if you are familiar with the names behind the film – including writer, James Cameron, meanwhile making several sequels to Avatar, and director, Robert Rodriguez, a lover of action shows (from Spy Kids stories for younger audiences to From Dawn to Dusk, Machete and Sin City). It means that this is quite an elaborate show. In fact, there are some statistics to indicate that it cost $170 million to produce! However, scanning the bloggers’ opinions in the IMDb, they are all in favour, more than in favour, so it may do well at the world box-office.

So, who is Alita, this Battle Angel? She is a cyborg with origins several hundred years prior to this action where her face and some remains are found in a rubbish tip. Fortunately, the man who finds her is an expert in reconstruction, quite a whizz in fact. He is played by Christoph Waltz (two-time Best Supporting Actor Oscars with Quentin Tarantino). He seems quite benign here – although, for a moment, he looks to be villainous as a Bounty Hunter. But, spoiler alert, he remains nice throughout the story, earnest and helping Alita.

However, there are some authorities who are not so nice. They are played by Jennifer Connelly, former wife to the scientist, and Mahershala Ali who dominates on earth, especially managing a deadly sport popular with the inhabitants, a kind of no-holds-barred rollerball derby. He also represents a higher power who lives in a mysterious floating planet above earth.

So, while there is an emphasis on cyborgs in reconstruction, their personalities, and Alita trying to remember something of her past, she is more than a feisty character, eager to step into combat, no hesitations in confronting opponents or rivals. Which does mean that quite a lot of the film is taken up with battles and the derby, the special effects personnel having more than a field day. Many of the sequences are quite elaborate, with fans panting for more. Which they get.

There is a whole range of bounty hunters, some of them human, some of them cyborgs, many of them quite sinister and monstrous – more work for the special effects experts.

There are emotional complications – just what is the status of a cyborg in terms of love and relationships? Fortunately, Alita seems to have something like a human heart.

Some romance, some tragedy, some betrayals, some power struggles – and sad finale – except that, given box office success, it is not final. Alita stands ready, more than ready, to do battle in a sequel.

Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.