Directed By Brad Peyton

Starring – Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown

The Plot – A brilliant data analyst (Lopez) with a deep distrust of AI finds it may be her only hope when a mission to capture a renegade robot goes awry.

Rated PG-13 for strong sci-fi violence, action, bloody images and strong adult language.

ATLAS | Official Trailer | Netflix (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Very little about ‘Atlas’ made an impressionable impact on me, but what does lends itself to the talents of the primary ensemble, mainly Lopez, Liu and Gregory James Cohan, who appraise tangible value to the depths of their various portrayals. Lopez still doesn’t get the credit she deserves as an emotionally gifted actress, here treating the opportunity with a commitment to craft that surprisingly dabbles in the tenderness and vulnerabilities of her character’s design. Lopez’s ability to cry on command inscribes an abundance of meaning to instances that would otherwise be approached as merely expositional, and while she has definitely acted in better and more meaningful films, her appeal here truly brings out undeniable impact that she has towards a film’s prominence, especially lately as her roles have dabbled in the psychologically traumatic. In addition, Liu’s much-appreciated antagonistic turn garners an unexplored edginess about the actor that allowed the role to stand out among anything else that he’s previously done, with Terminator levels of menace to his portrayal, and Cohan nearly steals the show in vocal capabilities alone, as an artificial intelligence right hand to Lopez’s Atlas, named Smith, who appraises elements of humor to a film that is thirsty for it. Aside from performances, the film’s immense scope in inter-galactic travels is no match for the dynamic between Atlas and Smith, who grow with much earned appreciation and respect for one another as the film and their relationship persists. While the talking points are heavily on-the-nose, and Atlas’ distrust with artificial intelligence a predictable exploration that we’ve experienced before, it still endears a charming quality to the engagement that felt far more beneficial and integral than what transpired outside of their ship, servicing the lone element to the world-building that kept my interest firmly invested to what transpires. Lastly, despite so much of the storytelling feeling plagued by predictably derivative material, the pacing of the engagement is surprisingly smooth-flowing, especially as it reaches the two hour mark of summarized storytelling. Part of this reason is definitely with the structure of developments, which constantly keep things moving, even during an abundance of exposition dumps, but even more lends itself to the lack of complexity with the story, which could easily be viewed as a hinderance to the film’s prominence, but here leaves the material feeling satisfyingly approachable for all audiences, leaving it one of the rare streaming occasions where the comforts of home didn’t catch up to the integrity of my investment.

NEGATIVES

About a quarter of the way through ‘Atlas’, I realized that I have already seen it, and that’s as a result of the entirety of its derivative material, which makes the film feel like a greatest hits compilation of story beats from far better science-fiction genre classics. On plot alone, the film is an identical twin to ‘Blade Runner’, but the film is also made up of vital pieces from films like ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, to ‘Minority Report’, to even ‘The Terminator’, leaving this a very predictably bland engagement, but also one with very little creative wiggle room in garnering any semblance of originality to allow it to stand out on its own. This is then echoed in the equally bland direction from Peyton and production, with no definitive tone, style or substance to the nearly two hour engagement, that grew tedious quite quickly. You know you’re in trouble ambitiously when the claustrophobic confines from within the machine emanating the infectious dynamic between Atlas and her artificial intelligence serves as the most entertaining moments of the film, but it’s even worse when the script summons all of these intriguing questions about artificial intelligence, like their similarities to the concept of a soul for humans, then abandons them abruptly in ways that made me question why they were even included in the first place. It certainly makes it feel like deleted scenes are left somewhere on the cutting room floor, but when you consider so much of the movie’s computer-generated special effects and studio stock score merits an unmistakably streaming essence to its quality, it conveys that as little effort was established in making something memorable as possible, continuing Netflix’s intention of quantity over quality that has deduced them to very few winners over the past few years. In particular on the obvious green-screen backdrops, the film’s wasted and underdeveloped futuristic setting might as well be animated, with a lack of tangibility and influence in established sets and various decoration that inadvertently makes the actors feel like the only authentic aspect constantly in frame, which dramatically underscored the evidential depth within this truly unique setting. Artificiality then bleeds over to the variety of action sequences helmed by Peyton, with nothing special or even noteworthy between their high stakes set pieces or documented presentation to earn my attention. While Peyton is able to stay away from the kind of claustrophobic framing that obscures so many other action films towards feeling dead on arrival, the overcomplicated editing, with constant cuts of ammunition consistency make it difficult to remain focused on what’s being presented on-screen, and with no shortage of physical conflicts within its ambitious run time, the stacked sequences of suspenseless realities never rise to the occasion towards attaining any kind of urgency or vulnerability to the proceedings, in turn robbing it of spark and spectacle from the grandest moments of the film’s supposedly expressive pay-offs. Also, while there’s spectacular work from the aforementioned decorated trio of Lopez, Liu and Cohan, there’s an equally disappointing side to the performances that wastes some truly credible actors, who could’ve definitely added an appealing element to the engagement, but instead are left questioning why they even took the job to begin with. The dynamic duo of Mark Strong and Sterling K. Brown have never been defined by a term such as forgettable, but between only being present in two scenes each throughout the film, and being given such phoned-in moments for the time they are present, it makes me wonder why the studio even bothered casting them, especially in the case of Brown, who has stolen the show from emotional heavyweights in films like ‘Hotel Artemis’ and ‘American Fiction’ that have made him a sought after force to be emotionally reckoned with. Finally, while I gave much of the film’s blame in disappointment to a blandly derivative screenplay, the desperation of the dialogue shares in the blame, with on-the-nose crafted lines so obvious that they quite literally spell out developments for the movie, long before they actually materialize. It isn’t bad enough that they pertain to some long-winded exposition dumps during the opening act that frequently pad the runtime, they eventually involve forceful foreshadowing as a result of keywords and bullet points that completely massacre subtlety, leaving the film’s second half plagued by predictability that one could see coming from miles away. The worst of these instances pertain to the interaction between Atlas and Smith, with the latter essentially just serving as a plot device to uncover much of the former’s shrouded past, and while some of this is needed to resolve the movie’s mystery, the manner in which it is approached proves that the film has little faith in the interpretive capabilities of its audience, resulting in a heavy dose of off-screen influence of the artificial intelligence variety.

OVERALL
‘Atlas’ feels muddled by a complete lack of imagination and originality that desserts the potential of its futuristic setting and corresponding world-building. Despite an emotionally charged performance by Lopez giving the film credibility, this Netflix release is another for the plundered pile, with cheap looking effects, predictably recycled plot points and artificially manufactured dialogue surmising a mountain of nothing, and one that Peyton and company are happy dying on, especially with so little innovative or truly gripping about this content filling tax write-off.

My Grade: 4/10 or D-