Atlas, the review of the Netflix film with Jennifer Lopez

If there is a topic that has taken center stage in entertainment throughout the last year, beyond the usual suspects, this is certainly theartificial intelligence. From its application to the worrying dangers, from industry strikes to the controversies surrounding the opening credits of Secret Invasion, from The Creator by Gareth Edwards to the latter Atlas by Brad Peyton. AI is one of those themes that from the Wachowski Sisters to Steven Spielberg, from Alex Garland to Spike Jonze, has always intrigued and inspired contemporary filmmakers, above all due to the plasticity and relative versatility of the subject, adaptable to many different contexts in a mix of genres however dominated by science fiction.

The fact is that the future is ever closer and today, more than yesterday, AI intrigues and teases the world, already being used concretely in many different fields. The topic is substantially more current than ever and now concerns us closely, even if the evolution of artificial intelligence has recently passed the embryonic phase. The domination of “robots” over men is still distant, so to speak, and the apocalyptic and Schopenauerian vision of Matrix or the threatening one of I, Robot by Alex Proyas are still dark mirages. Net of this, however, also Atlas with Jennifer Lopez he looks with extreme fascination at those same fears and those same people what if of past directors, and despite being derivative from every point of view, the truth is that he knows how to make more or less all the elements in play work discreetly.

On the hunt for AI

The future in which it is set Atlas it has no coordinates, but the story begins in Los Angeles. As imagined in the writings of Isaac Asimov (who is quoted directly) and then re-proposed over the decades by much other cinema, TV and literature, Man has coexisted with bots for years. The development of artificial intelligence has in fact allowed the introduction of these robots in every area of ​​society and everyday life, operating in healthcare, cultural, defense and household environments. Suddenly, an AI named Harlan (a very cold but convincing Simu Liu) created by Val Shepherd begins to modify the codes of the bots that begin to rebel against humanity, starting a real global massacre. The ICN (International Conference of Nations) is created to deal with Harlan and his army, then one day the terrorist leader AI escapes into space, promising to return and “finish what he started“.

28 years later, Atlas (J-Lo), Val’s daughter, is an ICN analyst who manages to discover Harlan’s hideout and is sent by General Jake Boothe (Mark Strong) on ​​a field mission, entrusted to the care of Colonel Elias Banks (Starling K. Brown). The objective is to capture Harlan on the planet GR-39, and to do so the ICN has developed innovative AI mechas for military use with which each soldier is however forced to interface at the neuronal level. Atlas, however, does not trust artificial intelligences anymore, finding himself forced to collaborate with one of them to survive in hostile territory.

If the incipit reminds you The Creatormake no mistake: Edwards’ film is a clear cinematic muse of Atlas, from which it “steals” the idea of ​​AI terrorism and of an all-out war between robots and humans. There is no other comparison, however, because Peyton’s work then begins to look beyond, to space, to Ultronto the video game (Lost Planet by Capcom), proving to be a great mix of inspirations. The story is in itself derivative in its development and plot, yet it is in the writing of the dialogues between the protagonist and her new AI, Smith, that the film is in the right gear from an introspective and reflective point of view, then leaving the task of entertaining to action and exploration.

In da mecha

What’s surprising about Atlas it is his great ability to know how to move adequately in his own derivation. Beyond the titles already mentioned but even beyond cinema, sci-fi with J-Lo fishing from manga and anime the attraction for mecha and an already known nomenclature (“neuronal link”) to combine exoskeletons similar to those of Avatar with concepts exploited far and wide by Evangelion to Pacific Rim. Divided into three very distinct acts, the film finds its greatest strength in the central body of the work, when Atlas is inside the mecha and must interface with the AI ​​program that hosts it. The clash-dialogue between the two opens up interesting questions on the possible bridge that man-artificial intelligence collaboration could create towards a tomorrow of understanding and not of war, where no one is a mere enemy or instrument and where integration is the only possible choice. In the meantime of these reflections (not at all taken for granted and indeed managed appropriately) Atlas and Smith move between the different and baffling biomes of a totally inhospitable planetstarting to get to know each other between distrust and sarcasm.

The film is completed with good action sequences (the landing on GR-39, the first escape, the final battle) which however suffer from fits and starts. CGI is not always of a high standard, at times slightly artificial but still capable of giving the viewer some imaginative and immersive alien glimpses, between cinematic and videogame-inspired shots and subjective shots. At the exit of the disappointing The Mother on Netflix (read the review), we wondered on these same pages about J-Lo’s choices in terms of genre, hoping to find more valid projects or to return to a more classic cinema, between drama and comedy. Atlas it demonstrates Lopez’s good will to adapt to different genres and propose something satisfying which, even without intellectual pretensions or ambitions, without who knows what originality or innovation, is able to convince in its own way.