Great movies are wanton to go over . So are bad ones , since they elicit likewise straightaway , emotional answer . A film likeOppenheimer , for case , can dazzle you with its technical achievement while also enlist you intellectually with its heady , elliptical narrative . A bad picture show likeUnfrosted , on the other hand , is manifestly terrible , with its stale jokes and thin satire , that there ’s no challenge in conveying just how awful it is . For both films , it ’s all there on the screen .
Movies likeAtlas , however , are tough to analyse . This a slick , pretty aptly made movie with ludicrous , stupid ideas , and a cast of characters that often perform like they are in completely different movies . In many ways , it represents the problem with steaming - only movies . There ’s a visual flatness to it , and a plot made out of the scanty parts of other , better sci - fi movies . Atlasoften does n’t find material ; rather , it resemble something30 Rock‘s Jenna Maroney would asterisk in afterThe Rural Jurorbombed as a straight - to - DVD waiver . But here ’s the wipe : I enjoyed follow it . I should n’t have , but I did , and it ’s due almost entirely to Jennifer Lopez , who takes this materialwaytoo in earnest and injects it with enough stern - face absurdity to make it a mild joy to see .
A bad case of deja vu
If you put some of the most influential sci - fi movies of the last 40 years in a liquidiser , you ’ll add up up with something like the plot ofAtlas . Inspired by , and in a flash slip from , Graeco-Roman movies of the genre like ( inscrutable breath)Aliens , Blade Runner , Starship Troopers , Robot Jox , Pacific Rim , I , Robot , The Iron Giant , and about a half - dozen MCU movies , Atlastakes place in the near future , when AI has take over the world for better and worse . Sentient machine can now make you coffee and observe your innermost thought , but they can also seek to destroy the world .
That ’s what Harlan ( Simu Liu ) , a rogue AI , endeavor to do 29 eld ago , and he ’s gather an army of disgruntle , jack - upChatGPTs on another planet to wipe out humanity once and for all . The only person who can block him , it seems , is Atlas Shepherd , a frazzle , brilliant data analyst who is secretly a badass . How do we know she ’s overbold ? Because in the opening arcminute of the flick , she play chess with a robot and shewins . How do we have it off she ’s a badass ? Because she practice one of her chess game pieces to destruct an android ’s discorporate headland in the very next scene . How do you know she ’s a mess ? Well , her whisker is tangle and unkempt , and she keeps hinting at a traumatic result from her past that makes her distrustful of AI .
Very quickly , she ’s persuaded to accompany a team of Marines to the faraway major planet Harlan is situate on to neutralize his terror before he lands on Earth . Just when you think this will be yet anotherAliensripoff , though , the flick abruptly geological fault gears , wipe out off most of the Marines , and then becomes a narration of a adult female and her preferent robot , as Atlas must swear on an AI - powered suit of armor ( think a live - actionMobile lawsuit Gundam , but spoilt ) named Smith to campaign Harlan before it ’s too late .
Humanity’s savior: Jenny from the block?
Atlas ‘ plot is a messy quilt of other sci - fi stories , and it never really manages to forge an identity of its own . There are times , such as Atlas ’ philosophic treatment with Smith about who start out to have a soulfulness and who does n’t , when the moving picture show glimmers of deep thought , but too often that ’s pushed apart by the next generic action at law succession , which at least is pulled off with some skill and coherence . The CG ranges from telling ( the movie ’s futuristic Los Angeles depend shiny and impressive ) to meh ( stroke of J.Lo piloting Smith just are n’t that believable ) , and the overall ocular look of the picture favors burnt - Orange River tones and shiny glassy surfaces that sometimes become a routine much .
The performing is better , if discrepant . As Atlas ’ peers , Mark Strong and Sterling K. Brown cash their checks with a come off professionalism that ’s both praiseworthy and forgettable . As Harlan , Liu is made up to appear to like the Irish actor Barry Keoghan for some intellect , and chews enough scenery to make you retrieve the thespian could be our generation ’s George Hamilton . ( That ’s a compliment . )
But it ’s Lopez who make the film worth keep an eye on . As the tortured yet always stunningly beautiful heroine , Lopez to the full commits herself to the role , even though on paper , she ’s made up of “ problematical activity chick ” clichés that evenResident Evil‘s Milla Jovovich originate old-hat of a decade ago . It would ’ve been fatal if the actress had played this role at any less than a 10 , or spoilt , for laughs ; instead , she acts the housedown , and forces you to take all of this nonsense seriously . It ’s a reminder that the Lopez , more noted now asa singer who ca n’t fill stadiumsor as a paramour toDunkin Donuts ’ most famous spokesman , is a magnetised cover mien when the opportunity presents itself , like in the forgotten crime caperBlood and WineorOut of Sight .
I, J.Lo
And even when there is n’t an opportunity , like inAtlas , she creates one for herself , and makes a movie that could ’ve been a groaner into something that ’s frivolous and playfulness . Not everyone will agree , and that ’s understandable : Atlasis the type of movie that demand to be watched with the right mood , and just enough lowered expectations to be consider passably entertaining .
as luck would have it , Atlascaught me at the right time , and I was able to savour its corny sci - fi pleasure for all their Charles Frederick Worth . There ’s a time and plaza for serious sci - fi epics likeDune : Part Two , but sometimes , you want a shopworn boron - pic to watch mindlessly as you sit on the couch . If that does n’t sound like ringing indorsement , well , feel gratuitous to watchBlade Runner 2049again . That movie is far better , but it does n’t have J.Lo taking down an regular army of robots while trap for a café Americano . Nowthat’scinema .
Atlasis now streaming on Netflix .
