Alita: Battle Angel

Year of Release:  2019
Director:  Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay:  James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, based on the manga series Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita) by Yukito Kishiro
Starring:  Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson
Running Time:  122 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action, cyberpunk

The year is 2563, three hundred years after a catastrophic war known as "The Fall" decimated Earth. The vast majority of the inhabitants of Earth live in huge decaying metropolises, such as Iron City, while the chosen few ascend to the wealthy floating city of Zalem.  While scouting an Iron City junkyard, cyborg scientist Dr. Dyson Ido (Waltz) discovers a dismembered humanoid cyborg (Salazar).  Ido is able to rebuild and reactivate the cyborg who he dubs "Alita", and who has advanced combat skills but no memory of her true identity or previous life.  As she tries to recover her memories and identity, Alita has to survive in the deadly Iron City, particularly when she discovers that powerful people will stop at nothing to see her dead.

The Japanese manga series Gunnm (known in the West as Battle Angel Alita) was first published in 1990, and had already produced several spin-offs and animated adaptations.  Writer, director and producer James Cameron had been a long time fan of the manga series, and after a long period in development, handed the reins to director Robert Rodriguez. 
I have never read the manga or seen any of the previous adaptations, so I cannot speak to how faithful or not the film is.  It is visually stunning, creating a grimly beautiful new world in Iron City, and incredible, cyborg creatures.  The action is frenetic, spectacular, genuinely exciting, and surprisingly violent.  Despite sometimes cliched dialogue, and a lack of a conclusive ending (it's almost bound to lead to sequels), this is a beguiling and fascinating new world, and Rosa Salazar is brilliant in the title role, being both heartrendingly vulnerable and a ruthlessly efficient warrior.

Rosa Salazar is Alita:  Battle Angel
       

Desperado

Year of Release:  1995
Director:  Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay:  Robert Rodriguez
Starring:  Antonio Banderas, Joaquim de Almeida, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin, Quentin Tarantino
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Action

This film is a sequel to Robert Rodriguez ultra-low-budget debut El Mariachi (1992), but is also kind of a remake with a much bigger budget, because, although it follows directly on from El Mariachi, and events from that film are referenced, it follows the plot of the first very closely, and several set-pieces form the original are recreated on a much grander scale.  The unnamed Mariachi (Bandreas, replacing Carlos Gallardo from the first film) is seeking revenge on crime boss, Bucho (de Almeida), for the death of his one true love.  With the help of his American pal (Buscemi), the Mariachi wanders from town to town with a guitar case full of guns pursuing Bucho.

Full of stylish action and violence, which is graphic enough to be appealing to action fans, but not too graphic to be too disturbing.  Antonio Banderas makes for a great action hero, and Salma Hayek, who made her breakthrough performance with this film, is good as the bookstore owner who helps the Mariachi.  There is also a fun cameo from Quentin Tarantino.  This is the kind of movie that is just a fun action packed romp.        

Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas in Desperado

El Mariachi

Year of Release:  1992
Director:  Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay:  Robert Rodriguez
Starring:  Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter Marquardt, Reinol Martinez
Running Time:  82 minutes
Genre:  Action  

This 1992 movie is the debut film from writer/director Robert Rodriguez.  An unnamed musician (Gallardo) travels from town to town with his guitar to pursue his dream of becoming a mariachi like his father and grandfather.  Arriving in a small town, the Mariachi is mistaken for a criminal, Azul (Martinez), who has broken out of jail and is being hunted by the local crime boss, Moco (Marquardt).  Like the Mariachi, Azul dresses in black and carries a guitar case, only Azul's is full of guns.

Reputedly produced for a budget of only $7000, which Rodriguez raised mainly by taking part in medical tests, this is funnier and more exciting than many bigger and more expensive action films.  Carlos Gallardo is winning as the Mariachi, and Consuelo Gomez is affecting as the bar owner who he falls in love with.  Some of the acting can be politely described as  overly enthusiastic, the low budget is obvious in many scenes, and also there are several scenes that seem to be there just to pad out the run time, but by and large this is a fun, stylish movie, with well choreographed action.  It was followed by two sequels:  Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).      

By the way, Robert Rodriguez's book on the making of the film, Rebel Without a Crew (1995), is worth tracking down for anyone interested in low-budget film-making.

Carlos Gallardo is El Mariachi

The Faculty

Year: 1998
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Screenplay: Kevin Williamson, from a story by David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Shawn Hatosy, Robert Patrick, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Salma Hayek, Daniel von Bargen, Usher Raymond
Running Time: 104 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, horror

Summary: Herrington High School is a perfectly normal school in Ohio. The star quarterback, Stan (Hatosy), wants to quit sports to concentrate on his academic work. Stan's girlfriend, Delilah (Brewster), is the head cheerleader and editor of the school paper. The frequently bullied Casey (Wood) photographs for the newspaper and has a massive unrequited crush on Delilah. Zeke (Hartnett) is a very intelligent but lacklustre student, preferring to concentrate on selling fake IDs, pornographic videos and his own home-made drugs to his fellow students. While goth girl and science-fiction fan Stokely (DuVall) is happy being left alone. Meanwhile new girl Marybeth (Harris) is just trying to fit in and make friends in the new school.
However, they soon become aware of strange changes taking place in the behaviour of the staff and fellow students. They quickly begin to realise that the faculty and most of the students are being infected by mind-controlling alien parasites. The problem is finding out who is infected and who isn't and whether there is any way to stop the parasites before it's too late.

Opinions: A mix of science-fiction, horror and teenage high-school comedy-drama, this film is an entertaining blend of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Thing (1982) and The Breakfast Club (1985) all of which are explicitly referenced.
The screenplay is by Kevin Williamson, who at the time was one of the hottest scriptwriters in Hollywood having written Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream 2 (1998) as well as creating the TV series Dawson's Creek (1998-2003). The film features many Williamson hallmarks such as quick-witted dialogue, multiple pop-culture references as well as Williamson's genuine interest in and liking for his teen characters.
The movie benefits a lot from Robert Rodriguez's typically stylish and fast-moving direction. The main cast of young, up and coming actors are effective and receive good support from their more established adult co-stars, including Robert Patrick as the enjoyably sinister Coach, and Famke Janssen as a repressed English teacher. Also comedian, satirist, TV presenter and host of The Daily Show Jon Stewart appears as a science teacher and there is also a cameo from Harry Knowles, founder and maintainer of movie news and review site Ain't It Cool News.
This is an enjoyable and interesting variation on some familiar themes. Also a high school, with it's emphasis on conformity and the pressure to fit in, is a perfect setting for "mind-control" horror.



Shawn Hatosy, Josh Hartnett, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall and Elijah Wood in The Faculty

Sin City

Year: 2005
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, with "Special Guest Director" Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay: Frank Miller, based on the Sin City graphic novel series by Frank Miller
Starring: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Nick Stahl
Running Time: 124 minutes; 147 minutes extended cut
Genre: Crime, thriller, action, film-noir

Summary: Four stories in the violent world of Basin City (most commonly called "Sin City"). A hitman (Josh Hartnett) shares a tender moment with his victim (Marley Shelton).
Violent but honourable Marv (Rourke) wakes up next to a dead girl and finds himself accused of her murder. Determined to avenge her, he sets off on a brutal quest to find her killer.
After being humiliated during a fight with his ex-girlfriend, Shelley (Murphy), and her new boyfriend, Dwight (Owen), police officer Jack (del Toro) and his friends go too far with the prostitutes of the "Oldtown" area of the city (where the prostitutes have absolute control) and pay the inevitable price, which threatens to destroy the fragile truce between the police and the residents of Oldtown.
On the eve of his retirement, honest cop John Hartigan (Willis) rescues a young girl from a sadistic serial killer (Stahl), seriously wounding him in the process. However the killer is the son of a powerful and corrupt US Senator (Powers Boothe) and Hartigan finds himself convicted of the serial killer's crimes. Years later, the horrifically disfigured killer returns to finish what he started.

Summary: This film is based on three Sin City graphic novels: The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard alongside the short story "The Customer is Always Right". The film is a very faithful rendering of the graphic novels, with the books even being used as storyboards, and writer and artist Frank Miller being so involved in the direction of the film that director Robert Rodriguez gave him a credit as co director. However the Director's Guild of America refused to allow the two to share credit as they weren't an established team and Miller had never directed before. Rodriguez planned to give Miller full credit but Miller would not accept it, and neither would Rodriguez accept full credit. As a result Rodriguez resigned from the Guild so the two could share credit. Quentin Tarantino directed one scene in the film and was given a "Special Guest Director" credit.
The movie is film-noir (or more accurately, perhaps, "neo-noir") but with all the stylistic elements ramped up to the nth degree. The movie is filled with over the top graphic violence all shot in glittering high contrast black and white, with the black being as black as pitch and the white being almost dazzlingly bright, and frequent flashes of colour, usually just one element in an otherwise monochrome frame. Shot digitally the movie utilizes a multitude of special effects which actually work well, to create a bizarre and violent world. It features great performances from an all-star cast who all seem to relish Miller's hard-boiled dialogue (mostly taken verbatim from the books).
Technically startling and full of memorable scenes and dialogue, this is a thrilling and exhilirating experience from beginning to end, and one of the most faithful translations ever of a comic to the screen.



Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis in Sin City.