Netflix has been trying to convince us for a while that they make "cinema quality" films that could EASILY be blockbusters if released theatrically (hilariously, they never put their money where their mouths are and actually do that). Sometimes, I agree that certain Netflix films are genuinely great and for lack of a better term, "cinematic."
Atlas, alas, is NOT one of those movies. Despite the constant commercials and billboards trying to convince us otherwise, Atlas is yet another cheap feeling pastiche of what Netflix believes people want from blockbusters. When I say the majority of this film is Jennifer Lopez, in a room, by herself, i'm not lying to you. That's honestly what we're being presented here.
JLO - an actress far past her cultural prime - plays "Atlas" (an amazingly stupid name), a vague "analyst" tasked with assisting the International Coalition of Nations (a name that you'd expect a child to come up with) to take down an "AI terrorist" named Harlan (Simu Liu). She and Harlan have history, as (of course) her mother invented him and historically treated him as her son.
I won't pretend like Atlas doesn't have some things going for it. The premise itself is somewhat compelling and I appreciate that this is an original film concept. I mean, it's SORT OF an original concept; it's basically pro-AI propaganda like The Creator, with a lot of visuals reminiscent of the game Titanfall.
A lot of the movie has JLO talking to SMITH, her AI companion whom she predictably builds an extremely close relationship with. Side note, it would probably make more sense to call the AI companion ATLAS (you know, like something that guides a person) and give JLO a generic human name, right? Doubly so because Atlas is not a particularly compelling character; she's simultaneously the best analyst in the world (again, child like understanding of what that means) yet is essentially a luddite. It'd be like if the top US government analyst refused to use computers in 2024.
When she meets SMITH, she comes off like a Boomer who's never used a smart phone before and SMITH is unrealistically human like and compassionate, to the point where it's sickeningly sweet. I couldn't help but feel this film was a vehicle to promote AI as a concept more than anything else; similar to the Creator, and it feels kind of weird given how AI is already being used to undermine art.
For the positives, there are some good action scenes, I think this movie did a pretty good job of capturing the "feel" of an anime with fluid action and some pretty insane visuals. I will say, towards the end, Atlas gets considerably more entertaining.
But it's also tied up way too neatly and it still can't escape the cheapness that Netflix films usually have; there's like five people in this movie, most of it is JLO by herself and a disembodied voice, and there's not a lot of originality here. I think Lopez was definitely miscast, it's really hard to buy her character, and she's frankly very annoying. Like most Netflix stuff, no one's going to be thinking about this a month after its release.
Atlas, alas, is NOT one of those movies. Despite the constant commercials and billboards trying to convince us otherwise, Atlas is yet another cheap feeling pastiche of what Netflix believes people want from blockbusters. When I say the majority of this film is Jennifer Lopez, in a room, by herself, i'm not lying to you. That's honestly what we're being presented here.
JLO - an actress far past her cultural prime - plays "Atlas" (an amazingly stupid name), a vague "analyst" tasked with assisting the International Coalition of Nations (a name that you'd expect a child to come up with) to take down an "AI terrorist" named Harlan (Simu Liu). She and Harlan have history, as (of course) her mother invented him and historically treated him as her son.
I won't pretend like Atlas doesn't have some things going for it. The premise itself is somewhat compelling and I appreciate that this is an original film concept. I mean, it's SORT OF an original concept; it's basically pro-AI propaganda like The Creator, with a lot of visuals reminiscent of the game Titanfall.
A lot of the movie has JLO talking to SMITH, her AI companion whom she predictably builds an extremely close relationship with. Side note, it would probably make more sense to call the AI companion ATLAS (you know, like something that guides a person) and give JLO a generic human name, right? Doubly so because Atlas is not a particularly compelling character; she's simultaneously the best analyst in the world (again, child like understanding of what that means) yet is essentially a luddite. It'd be like if the top US government analyst refused to use computers in 2024.
When she meets SMITH, she comes off like a Boomer who's never used a smart phone before and SMITH is unrealistically human like and compassionate, to the point where it's sickeningly sweet. I couldn't help but feel this film was a vehicle to promote AI as a concept more than anything else; similar to the Creator, and it feels kind of weird given how AI is already being used to undermine art.
For the positives, there are some good action scenes, I think this movie did a pretty good job of capturing the "feel" of an anime with fluid action and some pretty insane visuals. I will say, towards the end, Atlas gets considerably more entertaining.
But it's also tied up way too neatly and it still can't escape the cheapness that Netflix films usually have; there's like five people in this movie, most of it is JLO by herself and a disembodied voice, and there's not a lot of originality here. I think Lopez was definitely miscast, it's really hard to buy her character, and she's frankly very annoying. Like most Netflix stuff, no one's going to be thinking about this a month after its release.
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