Atlas

Huge themes are tackled in Netflix’s $100m blockbuster exploring the pros and cons of AI.

Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez) is variously described as “rigid and hostile,” “emotionally unstable”, “consistently flawless” and “driven and determined.” Either way, she is a doughty AI analyst in the year 2071 and has seen her worst fears come to pass. The daughter of a robot designer, Atlas must make up for her mother’s terrible mistake – for unleashing the world’s first AI terrorist. ‘Harlan’ and his mechanised army had already killed three million people before global coalition forces chased him into outer space. Twenty-eight years later word filters down to Earth that Harlan is hiding out in the Andromeda Galaxy and is making nefarious plans for a comeback. Knowing him like the back of her own neural interface, Atlas convinces the head of the International Coalition of Nations (Mark Strong) to let her tag along with the mission primed to capture and neutralise the android…

For much of its running time, Atlas feels like a video game jammed on fast forward, with its futuristic cityscapes looking ostentatiously futuristic and its characters talking the talk of movie characters. Colonel Banks (Sterling K. Brown): “Please don’t mistake my sunny disposition for naiveté.” These are words, of course, Banks will live to regret. Taking a leaf out of the book of The Creator, Brad Peyton’s film looks at both sides of the AI argument where artificial intelligence outstrips that of its creator. If programmed to protect the future of mankind, then AI must do a little pruning to preserve the planet (“cleansing the earth in nuclear fire”). But if Atlas Shepherd is to prove any match for her mother’s creation (“we are simply better versions of you,” Harlan explains), she must learn to tap into the limitless resources of AI herself. She must be prepared to sync with her own onboard computer (voiced by Gregory James Cohan) and draw on the inexhaustible circuitry at her disposal – but also let the AI into her most private secrets. Thereby lies a dilemma. Is she prepared to compromise her weakness for an imagined superiority? Discuss.

Jennifer Lopez has always been a very physical actress and here Atlas even admits to dying her grey hair brown, while the actress sports her now traditional buttock-hugging leggings. But Atlas is good company, using her passion for chess to keep her one step ahead of her peers, while her passion for good coffee over good men makes for a refreshing change. As mankind hurtles towards a future managed by AI, it does no harm for popular entertainment to address the pitfalls, as well as the advantages. Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite’s punchy script allows plenty of room for humour, and is not above overestimating the intelligence of its audience (a working knowledge of cybernetics might help). The Chinese-born Simu Liu makes for a chilling villain, if only because there is a puppy dog innocence to his villainy (Harlan’s catchphrase is: “Don’t worry, it’s almost over”). As sci-fi romps go, Atlas could have been a good deal less entertaining. Even if you know 2001, Blade Runner, The Terminator and RoboCop by heart.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Mark Strong, Abraham Popoola, and the voices of Gregory James Cohan and Zoe Boyle.

Dir Brad Peyton, Pro Brad Peyton, Jeff Fierson, Joby Harold, Tory Tunnell, Jennifer Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, Screenplay Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite, Ph John Schwartzman, Pro Des Barry Chusid, Ed Bob Ducsay, Music Andrew Lockington, Costumes Daniel Orlandi, Sound Ann Scibelli, Dialect coach Jack Wallace.

ASAP Entertainment/Safehouse Pictures/Nuyorican Productions/Berlanti-Schechter Films-Netflix.
120 mins. 2024. USA. UK and US Rel: 24 May 2024. Cert. 12.

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