Sister Movie Review: Alita: Battle Angel

Last Tuesday, we went up to see Alita: Battle Angel in IMAX. It has been out less than a week and yet the theater was almost empty. Not really a good sign. We talked on the drive up about how poorly it had done over the weekend and most critics panned it. I knew I had expectations based on the trailers. Even thought I had been looking forward to I was a bit worried.

There was nothing to worry about. We loved it. I had been hoping for fun, robots, and fight scenes. It delivered. For those who don't like violent movies, this is probably one to skip. The movie is about a warrior fighting in the future. There is blood, battles, and a few icky deaths. For more details keep reading, but be warned, there may be spoilers ahead.

Small aside: my frustration with modern movie theaters continued. The movie poster was back lit making a decent movie selfie almost impossible. But...on entering the actual IMAX theater we found these free movie posters. It made me happy.

The Good:
Sister: I liked this movie, I mean, I really liked this movie. I want to see it again. This was a great Anime adaptation, it was futuristic, ghost in the shell-esque, but better. I loved the music. To me it's a movie of self discovery. The message really spoke to me. I enjoyed the first fight, her discovering what she could do, her finding the URN body, and every battle. I liked that Alita was a strong character who was learning her place in the world and what mattered to her. It wasn't a movie with an agenda of having a "strong female lead" the story just was that. It wasn't heavy handed.
Me: It was exactly what I wanted and expected. It found it fun and highly entertaining. I liked so much of the movie. The challenge is narrowing down what was enjoyable. I liked the main character, I wanted to discover the world with her and was rooting for her. I like when movies give me that. I liked the characters around her. There were some great minor characters, they all had distinct personalities and interesting antagonists. There was more than one thread of interest but the storytelling wasn't heavy handed. I also found every interaction with Nova was facinating. Thinking about it more, I liked the level of detail, the locations, the world building, and Christopher Waltz. I liked that they played a game called Motorball which looked like a cyborg verse of roller derby. I  liked the story, even when I could tell the story's direction. And even with that clear direction there were also a few surprises (or maybe they were obvious to everyone else, I still liked them). I liked the slow reveal of Alita's history, and I appreciated every answer wasn't just handed to us. I liked the movie.

TLess Than Good:

Sister: The building of Alita's two main relationships, Dr Ido/father figure and Hugo/boyfriend, felt speed up. The relationships in themselves weren't bad but the quickness felt forced and unnatural. 

Me: In the moments of the movie there was little that bothered me. In a few spots I found the pacing a little too bogged down and slow. I also agree about the relationship building between Alita and Hugo, there was nothing wrong with having a love interest, it just felt...mediocre and the writing rushed. There were a few spots like that but they didn't ruin the movie for me. The only other issue was, at times I found Alita's CGI face disconcerting. 

Favourite Battle:

Sister: all of them

Me: the bar fight before Grewishka arrived.

Favourite scene:

Sister: Exploring the "enemy ship" and discovering the ancient URM cyborg body

Me: I enjoyed themes more that a specific scene like the interact between Ido and Alita, any time Alita learned something, and her battling. If I had to pick one...when she is first trying out her URM body. Oh, and I really liked seeing Nova at the end. That's impart because I was really excited to discover it was an unaccredited Edward Norton cameo.

Favourite quote:

Sister: This is just your body. It's not bad or good. That parts up to you. -Dr Ido

Me: I have two: 1) Talking to to Alita,  "Wait here. [pauses ] Try not to kill anybody." -Dr Ido 

And:

Alita: You made the biggest mistake of your life. 

Vector: And what's that? 

Alita: Underestimating who I am. 

Should there be a sequel:

Sister: There was the set up for a second movie but I think if it happens they will mess it up.

Me: If there is a sequel, I will go see it. I expect Sister is correct and I will be disappointed.

Rating:

Sister: 5 Damascus blades out of 5

Me: 4.6 Hunter-Warriors out of 5