Throughout cinematic history, there have been many great science-fiction movies. But for every handful of exceptional films, there are less-stellar ones that have to be endured.
Sadly, Netflix’s latest sci-fi effort falls into the latter category. Coming hot on the heels of ongoing debate concerning the use of artificial intelligence – hello, Scarlett Johansson’s soundalike! – comes “Atlas”, starring one Jennifer Lopez.
The film is set in a not-too-distant future, when AI has gone rogue and is hellbent on eliminating humanity. Leading the pack of artificial humanoids is Harlan (Simu “Shang-Chi” Liu), the world’s first AI terrorist.
Lopez plays Atlas, an expert analyst tasked with tracking Harlan’s whereabouts and taking him in.
But when her spaceship is shot down, she finds herself inside a giant mech-suit, and is forced to establish a neural link with it to survive on a hostile planet while Harlan’s AIs hunt her down.
The majority of the movie’s two-hour runtime is spent with Lopez inside the mech-suit and speaking to its AI voice, Smith (Gregory James Cohan). Alas, her acting chops leave much to be desired, leaving you wondering if she was right for the part.
Compounding this is the fact that Atlas, as a character, isn’t likeable enough for the audience to root for her. Her constant whining and reluctance to connect with her fellow humans, and Smith, is aggravating.
Cohan delivers a good voice performance, infusing wit and charisma into his AI persona. Somehow, Smith ends up being more appealing than the title character, even after taking on her vocabulary and characteristics!
As for the villain, Liu is barely on screen and, when he is, doesn’t do much to sell the menace an AI terrorist should to exude. Don’t even get us started on his distractingly bright blue contact lenses.
Supporting characters don’t get much time to shine as well, relegated to the background for explosions or moral expositions that don’t really go anywhere. This is a shame, given the calibre of performers such as Sterling K Brown and Mark Strong.
Speaking of which, while there are action sequences in “Atlas”, they don’t deliver the adrenaline rush one would expect.
Still, two scenes stand out – Smith dual-wielding multiple weapons and eliminating hordes of AI soldiers, and the final fight between Atlas and Harlan – offering a glimpse of the film’s potential had the producers leaned more heavily into the action than the sci-fi.
As for the moral dilemma of whether humans should trust AI or not, it has already been done by other films, and better.
In that regard, “Atlas” doesn’t tread any new ground: in fact, the plot is so generic, and the characters so flimsy, that AI could have written it. Now, isn’t that ironic?
‘Atlas’ is now streaming on Netflix.