This is the most unserious film I’ve seen in a while.
What it's about
In the future, top tech analyst Atlas Shepard (Jennifer Lopez) makes it her life mission to put an end to the rogue AI robots who plan on wiping out the human race.
The take
Atlas is bad on every conceivable level. The writing is hackneyed, the cinematography is soulless, and the acting (save for a few) is one-dimensional. Only Jennifer Lopez and Sterling K. Brown are turning in serious performances, but somehow that makes the film worse, not better, because of how mismatched the energy is. If the acting wasn’t so serious, then Atlas could probably pass as camp—so bad and corny that it actually becomes fun to watch. If that’s the kind of film you’re looking for, then by all means, put on this Netflix film. But if you’re looking for genuine sci-fi fare, films with something meaningful and enlightening to say about the scary future of AI, then I suggest you look elsewhere.
What stands out
For a dystopian film about AI, the tech renderings are surprisingly and hilariously derivative. The holographic screens are giving Iron Man, while the voice command tech is straight out of Back to the Future II, no one can convince me otherwise.
Comments
Add a comment
Your name
Your comment
UP NEXT
UP NEXT
UP NEXT
More like this in
Thelma (2024)
A lovely and bad-ass tribute to the fierceness of old age
8.4
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending
8.2
Rain (2019)
A girl finds true love in this unusual, marvelous, rain-soaked coming-of-age drama
8.1
Fallen Angels (1995)
An evocative masterpiece that captures the wildness of a big city.
9.1
Open Your Eyes (1997)
The startlingly surreal Spanish psychothriller that inspired modern cult classic Vanilla Sky
8.0
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
A more story-driven Godzilla movie with a lot heart
8.0
The Platform (2019)
If Parasite was too tame for you
7.0
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
8.2
I Love Lizzy (2023)
A seminarian falls in love in Bicol in this true-story-based Filipino romance
6.8
The Wolf’s Call (2019)
Not quite Hollywood but still an enjoyable action movie