Film Reviews by AH

Really great fun. I absolutely love Alita, a wonderful mix of innocent teen and killer robot. The film leans into the humour just enough, the bar scene being a particular highlight.

It's the first American adaptation of a Japanese comic source that really works. Probably because Robert Rodriguez is a bit of an outsider himself, and his casting of the leads as Hispanic works well too, it feels more international,, rather than just an Americanisation.

Alita is fresh, and funny and quite gauche in a way, in its eagerness to just adapt a great source, and make a great movie out of it. Quite unusual these days, and Alita might feel a bit old fashioned and out of step, compared with the glossy emptiness of the new Star Wars films, for example. But Ithis is the first film I've wanted to watch more than once in ages.

It's okay. I like Bree Larson, she's kind of a female Chris Pratt. She doesn't act, she just poses and does that smile, a kind of smug, sexy, superior smile And often that's enough. But it's not much to make a film out of. There's not much character here. The only actual hint of a character is when we hear from a little girl that Auntie Carol never really got on with her family...and? And nothing. We never hear why. Or learn much about Carol Danvers. Her alien alter ago is also basically blank. There's more time spent to convince us that the US Airforce is NOT racist or sexist at all (I have no idea whether it is or not, but this film seems to protest too much) than there is on Carol Danver's actual personality.

The story is not that interesting either. It's okay. A bit like Star Trek IV for a bit, then a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy. It's not bad. And it doesn't end with a big endless CGI battle, so that's good. But it's not great. Great is the last two Avengers films. Very good is the Guardians films, and the new Spiderman films, and the Antman movies. Pretty good is Dr Strange.

This is slightly better than Dr Strange, but not as good as the new Spiderman films.