The language of pure cinema is visual, and James Cameron speaks it to you with whizzing chunks of cybernetic fireballs, ablaze with technology and Golden Age angst. The Mt. Rushmore figure of cinematic science fiction has been in the kitchen on his new “Avatar” film for what feels like the last decade, though he’s been instrumental at steering a passion project, the Hollywood adaptation of revered manga chronicle “Battle Angel Alita,” to the big screen. The final dazzling product packs in everything that made Cameron who he is today: spectacle, thrills and visual entertainment. Though directed by genre ace Robert Rodriguez, ‘Alita’ is spun in the image of the producer, which is probably by design, given it was Cameron who tried to make this his own directorial project over ten years ago. The affectionate homage to the man behind the curtain mostly helps it soar and, in spurts, leaves it a little listless occasionally.
A film so true to its manga roots — about a revived female cyborg who cannot remember her past life and goes on a quest of identity — certain shots feel so slowed down and focused they’re directly ripped from the page, Rodriguez and Cameron give “Alita: Battle Angel” a puncher’s chance by allowing it to be as much of a spectacle as it can possibly muster. Watching the film in IMAX 3D might uproot your understanding of what’s possible with cinema’s immersion, which feels hyperbolic until you catch yourself ducking as a haggard robot with extending knife-claws comes swishing at your popcorn and soda. Their union is not a surprise. Rodriguez has always tried to push the envelope of technology and even tried to jumpstart the 3D craze six years before “Avatar” with the third “Spy Kids” film.
‘Alita’ whizzes by so realistically, you might literally leave the theater with a bit of imaginary scrap metal lodged in your shoulder. Rodriguez’s film gets in your face, wraps you up in its cybernetic grasp and takes you on a mind-bending joy ride. You won’t complain; any bumps and scrapes earned with this are badges of honor. Dizziness is a most glorious fate.
That’s what ‘Alita’ is best at: astonishing your senses. The film’s heart beats with a sprinter’s tenacity to win you over, as Rodriguez infuses his breakneck pacing with Cameron’s wrap-around vistas and sense for story-as-experience. The two make quite a team.
Though, Cameron has been prone to ramble when unfettered with runtime; it’s perhaps Rodriguez’s watchful eye in the editing room that keeps ‘Alita’ from bloating past two hours. Even so, ‘Alita’ can sometimes get so much on its mind that you really can’t tell where it’s headed. In one way, that’s a pleasant change-up from the monotony of the bullet point blockbuster, but in another way, you can almost get too lost in the grandeur to the point where it sometimes becomes noise.
Rosa Salazar gives the leading Battle Angel her actual heart, diving into the mo-cap performance with the same zeal that’s marked the best of the acting technique. It’s, really, eye-opening to see her emote so naturally with CGI-altered eyes. The best performers show through no matter what. And if this is what Salazar is capable of behind the dots and computer wizardry, she’s going to be capable of much, much more without the years ahead.
Rodriguez gets big points for figuring out what to do with Christoph Waltz, an actor few have been able to really nail down in his post-Tarantino filmography. Here, he’s the kindly-if-stern Dr. Ido, a role that allows Waltz to tap into more of the gentler side of his persona. It’s one of the actor’s curveballs after playing such violent, rambunctious misanthropes in the past. His “Django Unchained” role provided glimpses at how he can handle nobility on-screen, and it’s great that ‘Alita’ allows him to jump right into even more overt heroism. Mahershala Ali also shows why he’s approaching legacy status in the acting world with a villainous turn made so foreboding by simple leers that the script’s lack of characterization almost feels like a decision made ahead of time.
At the end of it all, it’s the film’s nobility that winds up sticking on your bones though. On a surface level, this is a theme park attraction worthy of a long wait in line; Cameron one of the greatest ever to take folks past their theater seats and into a new world. But the film plants itself in moral cyber-fiber and takes umbrage in that.
The film’s rock’em sock’em rumbles aren’t hollow, nor is the conversation about how violence permeates a society. Cameron and Rodriguez have always dealt with heady material in their films, and ‘Alita’ ruminates on what exactly makes for a hero, and just how dangerous a world is that rests itself on violent impulses and self-preservation. The futuristic Iron City at its center is cool to look at from one angle, but Dr. Ido is quick to mention just how malicious it can be. Alita lays out her empathetic groundwork early and rarely diverges from it. How wonderful to have a hero that always follows through with what she fights for. How wonderful to have a blockbuster that aspires for so much and mostly delivers on those ambitions. [B+]