Brian Wakefield

I was a proud Atari 2600 player as a child, and ever since I've always been drawn to the advancement of graphical wonders. I'm still an avid player of fantasy games and a sucker for CG filmaking, always ready to let myself get sucked into a new world through visual tech dancing on a screen. Not since Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within has a film so deeply captivated me through its visuals as Alita (though Avatar and Ready Player One came close). It's pure art, and shouldn't be missed for that aspect alone. Luckily, its devotion to the spectacular source material and superb mo-cap translation of Rosa Salazar's emotional acting hold up the foundation of this masterpiece. While a handful of downbeat scenes slightly fail in delivering the full weight of one or two supporting characters' emotional motivations, the quick return of Alita to the screen makes up for the missteps. The action scenes are intense, feeling both exciting and believably dangerous. My only real disappointment is the ending; I wanted so much more. I wanted to see Alita rise to Zelam and take Nova down. What story never lets its protagonist and antagonist face off at least once? This one. After the credits rolled I immediately hopped online to find some scraps of info about the inevitable sequel, only to find several articles about why it will probably never come. And what a shame that would be.