Alita: Battle Angel - 9 Reasons It's A Failure

6. Robert Rodriguez's Sloppy Direction

Robert Rodriguez has always been a wildly inconsistent filmmaker, which made him an especially curious - that is, risky - choice to helm a movie like this.

Though Rodriguez was lucky enough to be teamed with the most commercially successful filmmaker on the planet in James Cameron, the end result is still incredibly messy.

Rodriguez was reportedly left to his own devices by Cameron for the majority of the shoot, and it really shows.

From some of the disorientating editing choices to the oft-wonky tone and general lack of finesse, this still feels very much like a typical rough-around-the-edges Rodriguez movie.

While his punk rock filmmaking style lends itself well to films like Desperado and Sin City, it doesn't mesh quite so well with a movie this glossy and reliant on technical precision.

As a result it's tough to escape the sense that Alita really belonged in far more experienced directorial hands.