Jennifer Lopez has been all over streaming over the past couple of years, starring in both Marry Me and The Mother in 2023, before her musical This Is Me… Now: A Love Story that accompanied the February release of her ninth studio album. Now she’s headed back to Netflix for the sci-fi action thriller Atlas. The newest flick, in which she must trust artificial intelligence in order to save the world from a rogue A.I. terrorist, is available to stream now with a Netflix subscription. Critics were able to get a look before its release, and they all seem to agree the new movie lacks depth.
Starring alongside JLo is Simu Liu — who absolutely shut down a journalist who tried to ask the Hustlers actress a question about the state of her marriage to Ben Affleck during press for the movie — with the Marvel hero switching over to the villainous side. So let’s see what the critics are saying about Atlas, starting with GamesRadar. Matt Looker gives the film just 2 stars out of 5, saying that similar to other movies dealing with the dangers of A.I., it isn’t all that clever beneath the surface. The critic writes:
Lopez takes admirable care of the story’s human elements, seizing opportunities to find emotion amid the weapons-grade pyrotechnics of the chaotic action sequences. But the effective (if minimal) world-building really just masks a thin plot, hammy characters, and the kind of questionable logic leaps you so often find in this sort of big, silly space movie.
Brian Truitt of USA TODAY seems to like the movie a bit more, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars and calling Jennifer Lopez’s effort “scrappy.” Like the previous review, Truitt credits Lopez for what she adds to the role, especially when she’s paired up with the A.I. Smith (voiced by Gregory James Cohan). Atlas is definitely more interesting that a lot of JLo’s rom-coms, the critic says, writing:
Obviously, there’s a climactic throwdown with Harlan [Simu Liu] – you don’t need ChatGPT to figure out the predictable plot – and there are plenty of action scenes with spotty visual effects. But Atlas cooks most when it’s just Atlas and Smith, sniping and snarking at each other: He fixes her broken leg, her cursing expands his vocabulary, and slowly they figure out a way to coexist and become a formidable fighting unit.
Having a big star yell expletives at evil robots does sound somewhat entertaining; IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, however, muses that’s not enough to base a whole movie around. The closer you look at the weak narrative and cheap aesthetics of Atlas, the critic says, the more the flaws become too much to overcome. Erbland grades the movie a D+, saying:
Too bad then that Lopez’s entire character is built [on] spare parts of the genre’s worst tropes, like ‘she’s not very likable!’ and ‘she doesn’t really vibe with other people!’ and ‘she’s the only one who actually knows what’s going on, but no one cares!’ Most damning, however, is that Atlas is the only person who seems to understand the threat of AI to our planet, which is a major problem, because Atlas is a film about battling evil AI.
Andrew Webster of The Verge agrees not even JLo can save this one, though the cranky and sarcastic barbs traded by the actress and Smith the A.I. almost make the movie worth the watch. What dooms it, according to the critic, is how seriously it takes itself. Webster writes:.
You would think that a sci-fi movie where Jennifer Lopez partners with a smart-ass, sentient mech suit to fight against her evil AI brother would be a little more fun. Alas, Atlas — Netflix’s latest attempt at a hit streaming action movie — takes itself far too seriously. It also fails to really dig into the complexities of the AI debate, despite essentially being a conflict between a friendly AI assistant and machine intent on a doomsday scenario. There are some funny moments, particularly the banter between Lopez and her mechanical companion, but every other part of the movie seems to be fighting against Atlas’ true form. This is a buddy comedy trying too hard to be a serious action flick.
Angie Han of THR writes that Atlas joins the Netflix actions that came before as a movie best half-watched on a plane or while doing laundry. While the banter between Atlas and Smith elevates the movie a little, there’s a notable lack of exploration when it comes to the very topic of the movie. In Han’s words:
Atlas demonstrates very little curiosity in general about the social or philosophical issues raised by its premise. What’s to prevent the current generation of androids from going rogue as Harlan once did? Atlas vaguely explains the new models are just ‘better.’ Who are the AIs without their homo sapiens counterparts? We never meet any solo AIs but Harlan. How did our relationship to technology change after Harlan broke so many machines free of their programming? We don’t see enough of everyday life in this world to guess.
While there seems to be some redeeming value in the relationship between Jennifer Lopez’s Atlas and Smith, the voice in her A.I. suit, the critics all seem to think Atlas is middling at best. Still, if you like JLo, Simu Liu or artificial intelligence-related action, always feel free to check out the movie for yourself and draw your own conclusions! Atlas is available to stream now, and be sure to check out what else is new and coming soon to Netflix.
