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Aalita: Battle Angel. 7.5/10

Remember that teaser for this movie that you saw a while ago, that led you to watch this movie?

Well think of this movie as a 2hr version of THAT teaser for the actual movie (which i’m hoping James Cameron will helm, if ever he has the time off from directing the 4 sequels to Avatar!), where Aalita busts balls in Zalem.

No disrespect to director, Rodriguez, it’s an uphill battle taking over from JC, but he made it his own and as it turns out, what is actually a good entertaining movie that’s fast-paced with self-explanatory dialogues, beautifully carved buildings and cyborgs — but it does leave me wanting at the end.

What do I want? A better, tighter, script? Breathable 3D cinematography? Bigger character development and story arc? Expansive action sequences with deeper meaning? A score that will render my senses numb and make me forget that I’m in a cinema?

Don’t get me wrong, they could’ve called this ‘Motorball: The movie” and I’d still leave wanting more out of Aalita, performance captured by Roza Salazar, who may not have invoked much of a soulful justice of a protagonist but she’s definitely punched above her weight here, carrying the titular character from scene to scene.

Although I secretly wish she had had me  believe that good-hearted Aalita is emotionally hurting than just playing out emotions, stomping stomp stomp her way through the various sped up stage of adolescent and self-discovery.

Now even though my human heart is dying to give 10/10 to this prehistoric warrior on steampunked rollerblades, it’s still just a teaser to me, especially when it was revealed to us that the villain, Nova, bore too much of a resemblance to a certain fight club hero.

And you know the first rule of Fight Club? We don’t talk about it or you might just get panzer kunst-ed..

.. In any case, I don’t mean to be rude, but am I seriously supposed to expect a sequel here?