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

5. The Romance Is Insanely Corny

Though the romance between Alita and Hugo (Keean Johnson) is drawn from the movie's source material, its treatment here is...not good.

The main problem is that it's just so corny and offputtingly cliched: if you thought Titanic over-indulged in syrupy sentimentality, it's got nothing on the groan-worthy love story Cameron has penned here.

It certainly doesn't help that Salazar and Johnson don't really have any natural sexual chemistry, and their pairing never rises above feeling both silly and awkward, despite the film's aggressive attempts to make it affecting.

Hollywood should take note: not every blockbuster movie needs a romance to sell tickets, and not every romantic story as written translates into another medium particularly well.