Alita: Battle Angel
Feb. 1st, 2020 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaIt was okay. It was enjoyable enough. But it felt like a lot of missed opportunities and didn’t come together as a whole. I think the main issue is that they structured this movie as a Part 1 and it’s fine as an origin story and it would work as the opening part to a mini-series but as an individual movie? Meh.
+ I liked Alita in herself. I love her determination and stubbornness, her innate kindness and sense of right. I loved at the end of her second fight with Grewishka when she was down to one arm and still effectively fought back because that's who she is.
+ It had little moments I enjoyed – like Alita biting the orange and then spitting it into Dr. Ido’s hand or her lifting her arms into the air while riding behind Hugo.
+ I liked the little part with the URM ship and would have liked to have seen more of that.
+ The fight scenes were a lot of fun.
+ I liked Ido and his relationship with Alita.
+ I liked Chiren but I was left with questions. Like, why did she make it obvious that she helped Alita by walking out of the front of the church instead of sneaking away? Why was she so confident that she could just quit the Factory like that? Even if she assumed that Vector would let her walk, she made a deal with Nova and she had to know that he wouldn't be fine with her going back on their deal.
Chiren being in lingerie in her first scene with Vector was completely unnecessary and the implication that they had a sexual/romantic relationship ended up going completely no where so what was the point? It didn't stop him from killing her for parts. It didn't make her torn about leaving. They should have either done something with it or dropped it. I'd have preferred the former myself because both Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali are hot and morally grey/dark people in love is my jam.
+ I wish they’d done something more with the relationship between Alita and Chiren. It really felt like they were going to but then just never did and so instead we get all these individual moments between them that feel like they should add up to more but don't. Imagine how much more Chiren helping Alita would make sense if they had a relationship? Or how much more gutting Chiren's 'death' would be?
+ Considering everything I do like that Chiren's ending of dismemberment and stuck in three jars as parts isn't actually a death sentence. If Alita took that box with her Chiren could easily, theoretically, be given a new cyborg body and that's definitely something I'd have liked to have seen.
+ As soon as the dog showed up I looked up if it would and so was ready to be mad over it being killed. Alita making friends with it, then it disappearing for 30 minutes only to just happen to show up at the bar when she did annoyed me for the convenience. But the dog dying as a reason for McTeague to enter the fight actually made sense and while they could have easily structured that differently I ended up dislike the random dog death less than I was expecting. I really appreciated McTeague's love of dogs and it made me want more of him. In the end I was more annoyed that the dog literally showed up in two scenes. They should have had her adopt him or shown that he follows her around and randomly shows up where she is for snacks/cuddles.
+ I liked what little we saw of nurse Gerhad but I wish she’d had a bigger role.
+ The romance was fine I guess. They definitely spent the time to build it up. I did like Hugo's change of heart over what he'd been doing and their bond is slowly built up. Alita offering him her heart, literally, was definitely intense. It was a bit much for me but I did like his reaction and their laughter afterwards. I kind of loved him getting fridged to cause her pain. And I actually really like that his impossible dream and unwavering desire for it was what partially led to his death.
+ Alita entering the motorball race to get the funds felt like a weird divergence of the plot. Once Alita has the memory of Nova that should have been the goal and yet it really doesn't until the end.
+ I wanted to see more of the URM Berserkers learn about them. I wanted to see more of Gelda and her relationship with Alita. Also I wish their attack on the supply tube had gone a little differently. They had already taken out every other floating city so the defense ring should be well known to them and shouldn't be able to wipe out both squads basically instantaneously like that.
+ I rather liked the little we saw of Hugo and Tanji. Their last fight made me roll my eyes a little but also young men, so sure. I loved that despite Tanji's dislike of cyborgs/Alita and their anger with each other over it (I wish that had been explored more) when an outside danger appeared they were on the same side again, and then Tanji risked, and gave, his life to protect Hugo.
+ Hugo says they'd be on the run in the city... so why not just leave it? This is a bit of world-building left ignored because a) they left the city easily enough earlier, b) they visit a jungle with trees and fresh water, there are farms all around so clearly edible food can be grown outside... so seriously, why don't they leave Iron City?
+ I really don't buy that the URM ship wouldn't have been scavenged. Literally zero chance. Even if the people of Iron City left it alone for whatever reason I doubt that Nova wouldn't be interested in it.
+ I liked Alita in herself. I love her determination and stubbornness, her innate kindness and sense of right. I loved at the end of her second fight with Grewishka when she was down to one arm and still effectively fought back because that's who she is.
+ It had little moments I enjoyed – like Alita biting the orange and then spitting it into Dr. Ido’s hand or her lifting her arms into the air while riding behind Hugo.
+ I liked the little part with the URM ship and would have liked to have seen more of that.
+ The fight scenes were a lot of fun.
+ I liked Ido and his relationship with Alita.
+ I liked Chiren but I was left with questions. Like, why did she make it obvious that she helped Alita by walking out of the front of the church instead of sneaking away? Why was she so confident that she could just quit the Factory like that? Even if she assumed that Vector would let her walk, she made a deal with Nova and she had to know that he wouldn't be fine with her going back on their deal.
Chiren being in lingerie in her first scene with Vector was completely unnecessary and the implication that they had a sexual/romantic relationship ended up going completely no where so what was the point? It didn't stop him from killing her for parts. It didn't make her torn about leaving. They should have either done something with it or dropped it. I'd have preferred the former myself because both Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali are hot and morally grey/dark people in love is my jam.
+ I wish they’d done something more with the relationship between Alita and Chiren. It really felt like they were going to but then just never did and so instead we get all these individual moments between them that feel like they should add up to more but don't. Imagine how much more Chiren helping Alita would make sense if they had a relationship? Or how much more gutting Chiren's 'death' would be?
+ Considering everything I do like that Chiren's ending of dismemberment and stuck in three jars as parts isn't actually a death sentence. If Alita took that box with her Chiren could easily, theoretically, be given a new cyborg body and that's definitely something I'd have liked to have seen.
+ As soon as the dog showed up I looked up if it would and so was ready to be mad over it being killed. Alita making friends with it, then it disappearing for 30 minutes only to just happen to show up at the bar when she did annoyed me for the convenience. But the dog dying as a reason for McTeague to enter the fight actually made sense and while they could have easily structured that differently I ended up dislike the random dog death less than I was expecting. I really appreciated McTeague's love of dogs and it made me want more of him. In the end I was more annoyed that the dog literally showed up in two scenes. They should have had her adopt him or shown that he follows her around and randomly shows up where she is for snacks/cuddles.
+ I liked what little we saw of nurse Gerhad but I wish she’d had a bigger role.
+ The romance was fine I guess. They definitely spent the time to build it up. I did like Hugo's change of heart over what he'd been doing and their bond is slowly built up. Alita offering him her heart, literally, was definitely intense. It was a bit much for me but I did like his reaction and their laughter afterwards. I kind of loved him getting fridged to cause her pain. And I actually really like that his impossible dream and unwavering desire for it was what partially led to his death.
+ Alita entering the motorball race to get the funds felt like a weird divergence of the plot. Once Alita has the memory of Nova that should have been the goal and yet it really doesn't until the end.
+ I wanted to see more of the URM Berserkers learn about them. I wanted to see more of Gelda and her relationship with Alita. Also I wish their attack on the supply tube had gone a little differently. They had already taken out every other floating city so the defense ring should be well known to them and shouldn't be able to wipe out both squads basically instantaneously like that.
+ I rather liked the little we saw of Hugo and Tanji. Their last fight made me roll my eyes a little but also young men, so sure. I loved that despite Tanji's dislike of cyborgs/Alita and their anger with each other over it (I wish that had been explored more) when an outside danger appeared they were on the same side again, and then Tanji risked, and gave, his life to protect Hugo.
+ Hugo says they'd be on the run in the city... so why not just leave it? This is a bit of world-building left ignored because a) they left the city easily enough earlier, b) they visit a jungle with trees and fresh water, there are farms all around so clearly edible food can be grown outside... so seriously, why don't they leave Iron City?
+ I really don't buy that the URM ship wouldn't have been scavenged. Literally zero chance. Even if the people of Iron City left it alone for whatever reason I doubt that Nova wouldn't be interested in it.
