ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Release Date: Malaysia, 05 Feb 2019

Genre: Science Fiction

Running Length: 2:02

Cast:  Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson

Director:  Robert Rodriguez

Screenplay: James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis and Robert Rodriguez, based on the manga series "Gunnm" by Yukito Kishiro

Before going into the cinema, my expectations for ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL was set really low after what I've witnessed in the trailers. It was CGI heavy, the main lead is cosmetically CGI and the action scenes were just too loud and silly. I was prepared to be bored. I mean, just look at the unconvincing poster. C'mon!

But boy, was I BLOWN AWAY!

(But more of that later)

This movie is set in a dystopian future of the 26th century where cyborgs and humans live together in a run-down city known as Iron City. Most of them aspire to reach a utopian world known as Zalem which floats above the city (like the movie Elysium). The only way for these peasants to get to 'heaven' is to win in the violent sport of Motorball.

After being saved from the scrapyard, Alita (Salazar) was brought back to life by Dr Ido (Waltz), a cybernetic doctor. He soon becomes a father figure to the teen-aged Alita as she tries to recall her past.

This film worked for me because of Salazar's performance, the convincing CGI and the thrilling action set pieces. 

In the trailer, Alita's big eyes were creepy and distracting but thankfully, her naive but powerful personality over shadowed her appearance. One just can't help but to fall for her charm as she comes across as a fully formed believable teenage cyborg girl.  

The Iron City world is an eyeful at every frame as it's packed with details. WETA Digital, you guys did it again!

And finally, the ACTION SCENES! It's thrilling, violent and bizarre at the same time. Most of the cyborg characters are much better realized than expected. Some of them are really monstrous looking with OTT enhancements. 

Something about the action set pieces reminds me of Max Max: Fury Road . Although there isn't much blood splatter, its cartoon violence is unapologetic. It has several beheading, visceral bone crunching death scenes and a shocking scene involving a four legged *gasp*

I'm glad James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez didn't waste time in being all intellectual and cerebral on the ethics and philosophy aspects of this movie (eg. Ghost in the Shell) but went straight into producing an action-packed movie. 

As entertaining as it is, there were some jarring moments which made this movie feel like a motion picture made for tweens. Perhaps it's the cheesy dialogue, the central unconvincing romantic relationship and some cartoon-like characters. 

All in all, I felt that the filmmakers really pour out their sweat, blood and heart in bringing this movie to life on the big screen. I had a good time and it definitely exceeded my expectations (keep an eye out for a few uncredited guest appearances).

RATING: 8.5/10

SPECTRE (2015)

Genre: Action / Thriller
Running Length: 2:28
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth

SPECTRE is one technically accomplished and sleek Bond film. However, the screenplay pales in comparison to Skyfall, its immediate predecessor (also directed by Sam Mendes). The screenwriters tried to tie-in all the previous Daniel Craig's Bond into this film and as a result, it felt forced and patchy. Also, it gave me the vibe that Sam Mendes and team were not terribly motivated to make this film. To be fair, perhaps my expectations of Spectre was so high because Skyfall was just too good.

It starts off big with an engaging tracking shot of Bond working his way through a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. But it goes downhill and bloated thereafter where Bond's agenda this round is to follow the cookie crumbs left behind by his former boss. It kinda picked up towards the end when the big baddie revealed his masterplan but unfortunately, it just didn't redeem the entire movie. And the last 20 minutes which involved M vs. C was unnecessary. (Side note: "C" played by Andrew Scott is extremely distracting here. Those who watched BBC's Sherlock will get what I mean).

To me, Daniel Craig's Bond has always been more gritty and real for eg. he uses more hand-to-hand and fist fights. In summary, he "bleeds". But this round, the filmmakers seem to go back to the classic Bond where he seems invincible, overly suave and can fly a plane (and two helicopters) without breaking a sweat. Yes, even the corny, "'So James, what should we do now?' whispers the girl seductively" is present in this movie. The dude sitting next to me in the cinema hall couldn't helped but chuckled when the obvious happened thereafter.

As the main villain, Christoph Waltz is criminally underused. He is menacing in a somewhat cool demeanour. But compared to Javier Bardem's Silva, Waltz's baddie seems tame. Thankfully, the action set pieces are very well executed and the cinematography is breathtaking. And the score is exhilarating (however, that can't be said of Sam Smith's theme song; it was only marginally improved when coupled with the credit sequence visual feast).

Although Spectre is flawed, it's still an above average 007-outing.

Rating: 6.5/10