An Artificial Intelligence robotic prisoner, trying to insult Jennifer Lopez as the eponymous Atlas sneers, “You’re looking old.” Never mind the star’s looks, it takes courage to sit in a high-tech Automated Robotic suit and emote all alone. A lot of screaming, grimacing, grunting, weeping, panting by her, while surrounded by mechanical beeps, whirrs and flashing lights.
Atlas, written by Aron Eli Coleite and Leo Sardarian, and directed by Brad Peyton, is a sci-fi adventure for dummies, that simplifies the human-AI neural link to a fight, and then a romance, between a woman and the AI voice she interacts with in space, who calls himself Smith.(voiced by Gregory James Cohan). Remove all the CGI, gizmos and hardware, and at its core the film is a love story between a woman who finds people “disappointing” and an AI entity, who cares for and protects her.
AI terrorist Harlan (Simu Liu) has destroyed much of the world (including Bangalore!) and retreated when all nations united to defeat the army of “techno sapiens.” Now, 28 years later, he is threatening annihilation of Earth, because, to his AI logic, humans are destroying the planet themselves.
Atlas is an analyst, who lives alone in a smart apartment with voice commands making her coffee and playing chess. She is called to help locate Harlan, because she is an expert on him. He was created by her mother (Lana Parilla), but broke his codes and went rogue. Because of this experience, Atlas distrusts AI—everything can be hacked—and prefers using paper, pen and printer for her notes.
She insists on going along with a space mission to hunt down Harlan, but the rangers walk into an ambush and are killed. Atlas survives, because Harlan needs some codes from her to launch the missile to hit Earth.
For most of the film, Atlas cries, screams and quarrels with the AI system that powers her robot suit. She won’t link with him, for fear of having it/him mess with her mind. But when time is short and Earth is in danger, she has to put aside her misgivings and sync with Smith.
The film is silly but also fast-paced with an array of futuristic gadgets—there is nothing the human-AI synched entity cannot do, from fixing broken bones, to making a perfect cup of coffee. Not to mention battling robotic armies with slick weaponry.
The film is co-produced by Lopez, so she is in almost every frame, with her make-up and stylishly tousled hair always in place. Those who like and follow sci-fi movies would find Atlas old-fashioned, like last season’s smart phone; others might go along for the ride without pausing for breath.
Atlas
Directed by Brad Peyton
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Lana Parilla and others
On Netflix
