ATLAS (2024)

Studio:   Netflix
Director: Brad Peyton
Writer:   Leo Sardarian, Aron Eli Coleite
Producer: Brad Peyton, Jeff Fierson, Joby Harold, Tory Tunnell, Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter
Stars:    Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla, Mark Strong

Review Score:

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Summary:

Decades after a bot uprising kills millions of humans, a conflicted counter-terrorism analyst joins a dangerous mission to hunt down an AI enemy with whom she shares a past.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

In 2043, artificially intelligent bots across the globe inexplicably bypass their security protocols and kill three million people in a devastating worldwide uprising. Harlan, an AI developed by robotics expert Val Shepherd and raised alongside Val's ten-year-old daughter Atlas, is identified as the terrorist mastermind behind the attempted genocide. In response, the International Coalition of Nations (ICN) launches counterstrikes against the AI attackers. After sustaining significant losses to his robot forces, Harlan flees Earth, but he threatens to eventually return.

28 years later, ICN soldiers capture Harlan's AI lieutenant Casca Vix in Los Angeles. ICN AI Task Force General Jake Boothe summons Harlan's surrogate sibling Atlas Shepherd, now an ICN counter-terrorism analyst, to interrogate Casca. Atlas tricks Casca into revealing that Harlan is currently located on the inhospitable planet GR-39 in the Andromeda Galaxy. Atlas then disables Casca by short-circuiting his disembodied head.

Atlas implores General Boothe to let her join the ensuing mission to go after Harlan. Mission leader Colonel Elias Banks, who initially opposed Atlas's involvement due to her reputation for being difficult, agrees that she should go because she is the leading authority on Harlan. However, Atlas advises that Harlan is too dangerous to be allowed to live, even though Boothe insists Harlan be taken alive so they can backtrace his code to determine how he broke his programming.

To allay her intense aversion to AI, Elias shows Atlas how his ranger battalion uses neural links to bond with semi-sentient, mechanized ARC suits. Elias introduces his ARC unit Zoe by revealing their neural links are based on technology developed by Atlas's mother. Atlas remains deeply suspicious of any AI.

Atlas, Elias, and the rangers board the Dhiib, a battleship carrying a payload of carbon warheads to be deployed on GR-39. Harlan shoots down the ship from the ground. Elias and the rangers scramble into their ARC suits to survive the fall toward the planet. Atlas is forced into a unit named Smith.

Inside Smith, Atlas crash-lands on GR-39. Smith's protocols refuse to let her exit, so Atlas sets out for the location of a rescue pod. Along the way, Atlas finds multiple rangers dead inside their ARC suits, although Elias is missing from Zoe.

Another Casca Vix pursues Atlas along with five more AI soldiers. Atlas detonates an ion bomb to destroy the bots, but the bomb creates a sinkhole that swallows her and Casca. Atlas breaks her tibia in the fall, but Smith automatically treats it.

Smith informs Atlas that their best chance of surviving is to sync her mind with his systems via a neural link. Despite her intense fear of interfacing with AI, Atlas reluctantly agrees, although she still refuses to let their sync reach 100%. Smith only gains partial access to a memory that reveals Harlan was like a brother to Atlas. Meanwhile, Casca emerges from the sinkhole to report back to Harlan, who has Elias held captive, with a status report on Atlas.

Smith and Atlas follow a subterranean cave that allows them to escape the hole without alerting Harlan's soldiers waiting on the surface. Atlas insists on going after Harlan, but Smith's protective protocol overrides Atlas's motor functions to prevent her from doing so. By linking with her mind, Smith discovers Atlas feels guilt regarding Harlan, but Smith doesn't know why.

Atlas finds the base where Harlan holds the Dhiib battleship and its carbon warheads. Back at Mission Control, General Boothe receives a distress transmission from Atlas that makes him worry Harlan could use the warheads to destroy Earth.

Harlan's forces capture Atlas, who is removed from Smith and held hostage alongside Elias. Harlan explains his plan to purge the vast majority of Earth's population so survivors will inherit a new birthright of peaceful coexistence with the world around them, which will be guided by their AI counterparts. Harlan further reveals he orchestrated Casca's capture because he wanted Atlas to bring him the Dhiib's warheads. Having already obtained the first of two clearance codes from Elias, Harlan extracts a second code from Atlas that will allow him to bypass Earth's defense grid.

Elias passes his neural link to Atlas so she can reconnect with Smith to rescue them, although she remains hesitant to let their sync reach 100%. Atlas confesses that when she was a child, she was jealous of the attention her mother Val paid to Harlan, so she wanted to be more like him. Harlan manipulated Atlas into altering her mother's neural link design so it would work both ways between a human and an AI. This enabled Harlan to take control of all bots worldwide. He then killed Val to start his revolution, which Atlas blames herself for, even though Smith insists it wasn't her fault.

After finally reaching full synchronization, Smith rescues Atlas and Elias. Atlas and Smith locate scrap items that they use to upgrade Smith's weaponry. Elias sacrifices himself to destroy Casca's AI soldiers while Atlas, now inside Smith once again, goes after Harlan and the Dhiib. Harlan launches the battleship toward Earth, but Atlas shoots it down with rockets.

Following their final faceoff against each other, Atlas disables Harlan and collects his CPU to bring back to General Boothe for research. Having sustained significant damage in the fight with Harlan, Smith disables the neural link so Atlas can survive with his remaining power. As Smith sacrifices himself, Atlas realizes her disposition toward AI has softened.

Rangers rescue Atlas and return her to Earth where Boothe hails her as a hero. Atlas joins the ICN rangers and suits up inside a new ARC unit that emulates Smith's programming.

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Review:

I imagine for a fair number of viewers, Jennifer Lopez will be the biggest draw with "Atlas." For me, I feared she would be the biggest drawback. Even for a Netflix film, which is automatically attached to cellar floor expectations due to the streamer's track record for mediocre-at-best original movies, I'm still an easy sell for any sci-fi adventure involving massive mechs, wars between humans and robots, or outer space firefights, and "Atlas" includes all three. But could I really trust an image-obsessed diva like Lopez to actually get down and dirty with laser-firing chaos and gritty guerrilla drama? Turns out I can't, although "Atlas" nevertheless has enough going for it as a CGI spectacle that the movie mostly works in spite of Lopez, not because of her.

It's barely been two weeks since I wrote a review for another movie set in a bleak near-future, "Humane" (review here), where I cracked that its opening assembly of newscaster voiceovers was "a tried-and-true trick for establishing exposition in under a minute." Tried and true indeed, because guess what? "Atlas" does the exact same thing. Over opening credits, a smattering of newscaster sound bites accompanied by scan-lined video clips (because digital artifacting is apparently a technical difficulty in the future) sets up the backstory, which isn't anything special, yet functions fine for establishing a serviceable sci-fi setting.

In the year 2043, artificially intelligent bots all over the world inexplicably override their programming and slaughter three million humans. Harlan, an AI entity who was raised alongside his brilliant programmer's young daughter Atlas, is identified as the terrorist mastermind behind the rebellion. Following an international counterattack against the AI assassins, Harlan flees the planet, but vows to resume his attempted genocide at a later date.

That date is 28 years later, for no noticeable reason other than to reestablish Atlas as an adult. I know ageism is frowned upon, but it's kind of well-known that Jennifer Lopez is in her fifties, since her PR people want JLo to be seen as an age-defying icon. So forgive me that when her character is presented as 38, as well as someone with a reputation for being difficult to work with, I couldn't help but roll my eyes with a chuckling smirk.

Technically, "Atlas" also indicates the titular character could be 39. The newscasters in 2043 say Atlas is ten at the time of the AI uprising, yet it's later said she was 11 when her mother was murdered. Both events occurred at literally the same time, so I'm not sure which number to go with. But since end credits also identify a character clearly called "Casca Vix" as being named "Casca Decius," I'm not under any impression that keeping details straight is a priority.

Anyway, 28 years after the AI revolt, Harlan resurfaces on another world in another galaxy. Now working as a counter-terrorism analyst who is deeply suspicious of anything related to artificial intelligence, Atlas insists she be sent on the mission to take down the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, because she carries the burden of feeling responsible for her "brother" Harlan's heel turn. Once she's over the other planet, Harlan shoots down the ship carrying Atlas and a team of rangers intent on obliterating his AI forces. Now, Atlas has to face her fear of artificial intelligence by bonding with a semi-sentient mech suit that may be her only chance of survival, and her best shot at terminating Harlan once and for all.

I've seen some sources claim "Atlas" either flirts with or openly addresses real-world issues regarding advancements in AI technology, and the wider implications of how its application threatens to render humans inessential. The inclusion of such themes paralleling current concerns is exaggerated at best, and patently untrue at worst. The AI aspect doesn't add much of anything. The villainous bots could be vampires, an alien race, or some similarly interchangeable danger and there'd be little material difference to the plot, which is A-to-Z predictable even by Hollywood's standards of "safe" scripting.

Remember when I mentioned I was right not to trust an image-conscious personality like Jennifer Lopez to get in the tough-it-out trenches of sacrificing celebrity for the sake of a film full of sweat, grime, and electromagnetic explosions? That's because she doesn't. If you're wondering why she'd sign up for an action-packed epic, it's because she doesn't have to provide any of that action. For much of the movie, Lopez stays stationary, sitting inside her mech suit while shouting at holographic projections and arguing with a computer's voice. Lopez plays Atlas as a perpetually grim sourpuss, always pessimistic to apocalyptic extremes, so she isn't much fun for anyone, including the audience, to be around.

However, there is fun to be found in the dazzling shoot-em-up sequences that intrude on constant close-ups of Lopez's frowning face or staid conversations with the disembodied robot that occupies the role of her main co-star. "Atlas's" sci-fi stuff isn't on par with "Star Wars" or anything. It's more in line with the average imagery of a fast-paced video game. But there are plenty of mechanized machines crashing and burning, colorful digital displays lighting up sharply designed backdrops, and definitely dozens of detonations providing a visual feast of virtual fireworks. The eye candy's sweetness compliments hectic battle and bombings rather well.

Atlas's routine character arc is what it is, and about what one would expect from a slightly sleepwalking Jennifer Lopez performance. Yet the surrounding fiction, redundant though some of it might be, holds its own with an entertaining special effects extravaganza when the blander bits aren't in the way. Maybe Lopez's portions aren't anything memorable. But other pieces combine for a futuristic fantasy that is halfway decent as a live-action comic book, or as a VFX department's demo reel if you want to be more cynical about it. These days, "halfway decent" can qualify as pretty high praise for a Netflix film.

Review Score: 60

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