Atlas Review: Jennifer Lopez Can’t Save This Boring and Melodramatic Film

– No Spoilers –

The problem with movies like Atlas is that it is so mind-numbingly generic that it becomes an unending chore to watch. Focusing on data analyst Atlast Shepherd, whose deep distrust for AI is taken to as annoying lengths as her mommy issues, the movie catapults her into a journey to capture a rogue AI robot who escaped 28 years ago after committing worldwide genocide. Much like every other action movie with or without the antagonist being scary AI systems gone rogue, this movie is simple to a fault and pours in emotions that are so choppy that they feel fake.

The movie’s main part is Atlas’s past and her issues with Harlan, the AI that her mother created that then went rogue. Of course, there are mommy issues and history in that relationship that impact everything in her present life and the movie doesn’t delve any deeper than necessary, keeping Atlas’s character arc as well as the storyline a safe distance away from anything remotely interesting. The sappy emotions don’t mesh well with the Atlas that we see at first and it’s even more astonishing to watch her overcome with emotions at the drop of a hat.

Plus, I am a little confused with her character; Atlas is supposed to be super smart but for some reason, she makes the worst decisions on a random planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, which obviously leads her to make some huge mistakes before eventually going on her fated hero arc. I swear I age 10 years every time I watch the same storyline being repeated albeit in different wrapping paper – gotta keep the outside looking pretty. Atlas’s relationship with Smith also forms the basis for the emotions to come out and by far the AI bot is the most interesting character of the lot. Unfortunately, the protagonist has nothing new to offer, with the creators going down the tried-and-tested route instead of doing anything remotely interesting with her.

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Coming to the storyline, we must come up with something other than the bad guy trying to destroy Earth. There has to be something that AI robots would like to do instead of this, right? Atlas goes down the same route as human antagonists usually do, with the storyline’s flow not being good enough to keep us invested. Its biggest downfall is that the movie is boring in every conceivable way possible, with nothing new or exciting to offer that can keep viewers invested in any way. With a runtime of 118 minutes, there’s not enough going on to keep us glued and Atlas as a character is too annoying to root for.

However, I must say that I enjoyed the action sequences and everything looked very beautiful. Most of the movie is CGI but everything looked great. And Jennifer Lopez is fine but her character is so poorly written that it’s difficult to root for her throughout the runtime. All the other characters are thoroughly forgettable, including antagonist Harlan whose reason for mayhem is as cliched as every other movie out there.

Atlas Review: Final Thoughts

Jennifer Lopez isn’t able to save this boring and melodramatic movie that feels like a regurgitation of other action/sci-fi flicks of the past. In a movie with the most cliched storyline and characters, there’s not much to keep us entertained other than the fluid action sequences. With hardly any depth in the story or the characters, you don’t feel for Atlas’s troubled past or present and thus feel as disjointed with the characters and the story as the story itself is.

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