Jennifer Lopez’s career has been a bit disjointed. She came out of the gates with Selena and a few other action films opposite George Clooney, Out of Sight, and some rom-coms opposite Matthew McCaughey, The Wedding Planner. Lately, though, her career as far as quality films has taken a downswing. Films like Mother and Shotgun Wedding haven’t been received that well and they were very good. Her latest movie is another Netflix film called Atlas. It’s better than her more recent fair.
In a futuristic world where AI is running rampant, a woman Atlas (Jennifer Lopez) who has a bad history with AI is a data analyst for the government. She had an AI in her family, Harlan (Simu Liu), who went rogue and started an uprising. She has resented them ever since. When she gets the opportunity to interrogate one of the captured AI soldiers Casca (Abraham Poppola), she learns the whereabouts of the escaped Harlan. Her commander General Boothe (Marc Strong) sets up a mission with Colonel Elias (Sterling K Brown) as its leader. He’s not much of a fan of Atlas, but he reluctantly agrees she would be a good asset to go off-planet to help track down Harlan on a faraway planet where he’s hauled up with his army of AI soldiers. With the help of giant mech suits with human names such as Zoe, Atlas, and others, attempt to capture Harlan on this distant planet.
Atlas gets teamed up with Smith voiced by Gregory James Cohen. At first, she has an awkward time acclimating to her mech suit. With her disdain for AI, she has a hard time understanding and getting along with Smith. When they end up in a bad situation involving a massive gunfight and ambush by Hatlan’s soldiers, they have to learn to get along for both of their survival. Atlas eventually gets the hang of her suit. They start to make a plan to finish their mission and then get off of this hell hole of a planet. As time goes by, they develop a great resource with one another, which helps them move forward.
The majority of Atlas is CGI or virtual backgrounds of alien planets and such. As an actor, I’m sure this wasn’t that easy acting opposite of Lopez. There were quite a few things in the suits that the actors, mostly Lopez, had to make us believe were real. That she was acting alongside something we could reach out and touch. At first, the AI looked like CGI, but as the film and story progressed, I believed more and more about this world and the scenario she was in. I’ve seen a lot of sci-fi films with situations like this before, and the second half of this movie sucked me into the situation that was going on completely.
Brad Peyton, the director, has assembled a nice cast of actors for this sci-fi film. Besides Lopez, there is Simu Liu as the big bad Harlan, who has a friendly demeanor about him, but he has a mission for AI to take over Earth and that changes his friendly nature to that of a major threat. Liu shows that in his performance. As an actor who plays nice guys, this is a nice turn for him as an actor. Marc Strong is the general, and he has that leadership quality about him. Opposite Liu, he’s played a lot of bad guys in his career, so it’s a nice change to see him play a good guy for a change. Sterling K Brown, also in a different turn from his days on the hit show “This Is Us” plays the reluctant leader of the team of mech soldiers. He has to work with Lopez’s character to take down Harlan, and they work together well. I’m glad to see him getting different roles like this and the one in American Fiction. They show he has range. This cast overall was pretty good, considering they’re in a CGI spectacle.
The key to this film is the relationship between Lopez’s character and her mech suit voiced by James Cohen. They have a great banter and a love-hate relationship at times. Their interactions are funny, dramatic, and very emotional at times. The crux of the film is their interactions. The writers of the script Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Colette create a sense of humor while also creating a sense of dread throughout the story. The balance between the two was very well done. The script was realized quite nicely. The script is one of the strong points of this movie. It couldn’t have been forgotten considering the CGI nature of the film.
Jennifer Lopez has tried to get away from her glamor days of rom-coms by taking roles as strong-willed female characters with grit and determination. These roles have helped and hindered her. In Hustlers, it worked into her strengths as an actress and singer. It showed off her Sultry side. In Mother, it completely failed her. I didn’t believe in that role at all. In Altas, she plays on both the comedic and dramatic sides of her personality and career. She’s fantastic in this role and doesn’t take herself too seriously. She’s become a well-rounded actress in her older years.
Atlas is a film that gets off to a slow start. The world building is a bit confusing at the start, but one Lopez’s character starts to get going as the film takes off. Her interactions with Smith, the mech droid who she has a close connection with, is the main focus of the second half of the movie. This is the part of the sci-fi spectacle that is the most enjoyable to me. The cast is solid with interesting turns from Liu, Brown, and Strong. The best is the voice-over by James Cohen. He adds a nice touch to what otherwise could have been droll computerized mech suits. Overall, this was an entertaining movie that gets Lopez back in the plus side of things as far as her career goes.
3 ½ stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 
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