J.Lo’s AI Sci-Fi Flick Is One of the Year’s Biggest Misfires
As a creative, I am constantly worrying myself with questions about artificial intelligence. Will my job be obsolete one day? Can AI as we know it ever be regulated in a way that serves both forward-thinking developers and artists? Will AI develop a voice singular and humorous enough to replace a gorgeous young entertainment critic who has stunning features that stop cars on the street and send rubbernecking cyclists smashing into trees? The answers are out there, and no one is more qualified than Jennifer Lopez to pursue them.
Excuse me, did I say Jennifer Lopez? I meant counterterrorism analyst Atlas Shepherd, the titular character in Lopez’s latest film, Atlas, which premieres on Netflix May 24. In the film—directed by the auteur behind the 2010 surrealist masterwork Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Brad Peyton—Lopez plays a government employee with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence. Atlas toils away evaluating data to assess whether or not an invasion of AI bots, led by their commander Harlan (Simu Liu), is likely. After an uprising 28 years earlier led to a devastating war between humans and bots, Harlan fled Earth to forge an AI-led spacy colony, but not before promising to return to finish what he started.
Genocide and AI are two extremely pertinent, complex topics that should be addressed with intense consideration, so as not to alienate the people entrenched in their real-life dangers every day. Unfortunately, Atlas has a graceless approach to both, opting to ladle a heaping helping of CGI slop over a thinly written, myopic plot. The film is a nonsensical, emotionless dreck that can’t conjure a compelling character to save its dwindling life. Even Lopez, who typically livens even the worst material, can’t use the giant, inelegant robot she pilots to save this movie, let alone keep Earth safe from its AI invaders. Atlas is easily one of the year’s biggest trainwrecks, and—even worse—the movie’s flaccid stance on AI is more aggravating than if its filmmakers had simply taken a narrative risk and just gotten it wrong. Having the guts to try would be respectable, but the only bravery you’ll find here is the nerve it’ll take you to make it to the end credits.