Starring: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Ed Skrein, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Fox, out now

In the year 2563, scientist Dr Ido discovers the partial remains of a 300-year-old cyborg, revives her and names her after his dead daughter, Alita. But the resurrected female synth is starting to recall her past life and has a desire to right some wrongs.

James Cameron’s long-gestating passion project based on Yukito Kushiro’s cyberpunk Manga series was first announced by him in 2003, but then Avatar took over his artistic focus. It finally makes it to the screen under Robert Rodriguez’ megaphone, and proves to be the director’s best work since 2005’s Sin City, but you might wonder why it has taken so long to deliver what’s ultimately an OK film, but nothing that special.

One of the biggest problems with the movie is its lack of originality, from broad themes of Pinocchio and Frankenstein to very specific devices used in other cyberpunk media like Altered Carbon and Ghost in the Shell. Throw in some environments from Elysium and Judge Dredd, a bit of tech from Blade Runner, Motorball sport from Rollerball and you you’ve got most of the ingredients of this sci-fi melting pot. I also experienced happy callbacks to 1970s 2000AD, from ABC Warriors to Harlem Heroes to the already-mentioned Dredd.

But with all of this in mind, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. The world-building is convincing, Rosa Salazar (Maze Runner) is great as our wide-eyed and kick-ass heroine and Christoph Waltz is a joy as Ido. Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali sadly have less to do as Ido’s ex-wife and baddie Vector. Their roles are thinly-drawn and their fates are fairly apparent from the outset, though Ed Skrein’s cyborg bounty hunter Zapan raises a few laughs.

Verdict: Solid sci-fi from 26th Century Fox, which offers spectacle over originality, but rather cynically fails to complete this origin story, and instead offers a sequel-bait ending for a follow-up that may never happen. Better than feared, but one wonders what a 100%-focused James Cameron might have given us. 7/10

Nick Joy