‘Atlas’ is Underwhelming
And has a problematic message.
Atlas is set in the future, when AI has risen up against humanity, led by Harlan (Simu Liu), an advanced AI. When Harlan is located on a far-off planet, Atlas (Jennifer Lopez) goes after him and discovers a great deal about herself in the process.
I do think there’s a good movie buried in here somewhere. With the rapid rise of AI and the utter lack of accountability, ethics, or controls behind it, I think it’s important that we continue to talk about this subject. And, if a movie about AI can start a conversation, I think that’s worthwhile.
But Atlas isn’t a very good movie. The writing is pretty poor, with uninteresting dialogue, thin characters, and unnecessary “twists” in an attempt to add suspense. All in all, it’s a pretty bland film, which is a shame.
Probably the most egregious error was the casting of Jennifer Lopez. There are some movies where she is great (i.e., Hustlers), but Atlas isn’t one of them. She does her best, but because the writing is so poor, there’s not a lot there to help her. Most of the movie is close-ups of her face while she’s yelling at an AI named Smith (Gregory James Cohan), which I think works against her.
This would be a difficult role for any actor simply because you have to carry the entire movie without much…
