Atlas

• Directed by Brad Peyton
• May 24, 2024
• Netflix

An AI has determined that humanity must be exterminated to end war. Sounds reasonable.

JLo is not known as an action star. Maybe Atlas was an effort to rebrand herself. Maybe it was just a chance to do something different. Unfortunately she was not the right choice as central character-top AI terrorist expert Atlas Maru Shepherd. One more thing: who named this character? It is quite possibly the silliest future name I have heard in quite some time. But that is not the biggest sin.

Jennifer Lopez brings her usual romcom style to the part. She leads a wreck of a life and seems frazzled and stressed just like in any number of her other films. She’s a career driven woman who’s shut herself off from love and romance. Atlas follows that same basic structure. All that is missing is the man to turn her life around. In this case that man is the AI name Smith (voice of Gregory James Cohan). He safe and caring and loyal and will never let her down just like every other man that she ends up with an every other romcom. Congratulations Netflix you put guns in a romcom! 

The hardest part comes with the suspension of disbelief. I’m expected to believe Atlas is capable of surviving on an alien planet let alone taking on an advanced AI force that had 28 years (or so) to plan? Of course I am because otherwise that makes her saving the day all on her lonesome and fulfilling her dream of driving a mech a reality implausible to the viewer! Accept the drivel. That dream and its fulfillment got shoved in. It felt totally out of left field.

Atlas comes off like one of those direct to video movies meant to advertise a game. The scenes and the characters actions feel like they’re taken straight from a great game called Lost Planet. The footage of the mech trekking through the snow reminded me of that very game. Or a mid-tier YouTube production. This wasn’t written or produced by people who knew how to present or perhaps even had an appreciation for science fiction. They were trying for ‘cool’ or ‘spectacle.’ Both can be present in science-fiction but you need a good story.

Neither hide nor hair is encountered of her android ‘brother’ and terrorist leader Harlan Shepherd (Simu Liu) for 28 years until they find one of his associates named Casca (Abraham Popoopla) on Earth who has not been spotted in 28 years himself. This does not raise any serious concerns given what is known of how he operates and plans?

It’s noted that there’s a defense system around Earth and ships can’t pass through it without the proper code which brings up the question: how did the android Casca get on Earth? Was it inactive until fairly recently or was it placed there as a part of the plan? Which begs another question: how did it get on Earth since only authorized ships can get close to Earth? These are questions caused by in story information that never get explained and are important to answer if you are going on a distant mission.

It says a lot of the most interesting character in this horror movie is the artificial intelligence Smith that Atlas must bond with in order to run her mech suit well enough to defeat the evil Harlan. These mechs have artificial intelligence that the pilot must synchronize with in order to better function. How this is an improvement over operating it yourself and being trained? I don’t know. The only explanation they give is they are greater together than they are separate which sounds deep but really says nothing.

The weirdest part of Atlas is there is no strong need to pay attention. You can have this on in the background as you wash dishes or make dinner or just piddle around the house. The story is incredibly easy to follow and should you leave or get distracted for a few minutes you can figure out what is going on within seconds without rewinding. The story is relatively predictable and the characters are two dimensional. At nearly 2 hours they do little that makes you care about Atlas or Smith or the villain.

There are no great twists and turns or even mid-tier twists and turns. You already know Atlas and friends will get to the planet and destroy the AI base and given how quickly they get to the planet you know it’s going to be up to Jennifer Lopez. She be saving humanity because!

I am not sure exactly what the character of Atlas learned. Did she learn to bond with people? No because her bond was with an AI to the point she requested the recovered Smith to be installed in her new mech or something along those lines. Trust the machines was the lesson? They made a big deal of her not trusting people, but she never actually learned to trust people. 

There’s not too much in Atlas. It’s okay for the action sequences but it’s nothing that will really hold your attention. Pass unless you want background noise.