120 minutes, available on Netflix 2 stars The story: In the future, robots with artificial intelligence (AI) are at war with humanity. Data analyst Atlas (Jennifer Lopez) holds a personal grudge against AI, so she signs up for a military mission to destroy Harlan (Simu Liu), the leader of the AI rebellion. The mission heads to Harlan’s planet, confident in having the firepower to destroy his base of operations.
The best thing that can be said about this sci-fi action movie is that it is not the worst Netflix Original. That honour would have to go to the Adam Sandler comedy-western The Ridiculous 6 (2015), a steaming mess that the streaming service’s executives should have mercy-killed at inception. But there may be more to Atlas than mere indifference to standards.
In common with other Netflix Originals, the film seems to be made to consume on a phone or tablet while washing dishes or ironing. There is no subtext in this story, for instance. Everything is said out loud, so viewers do not have to watch the screen to understand the proceedings.
Lopez’s Atlas is a loose cannon who cannot be trusted on a military operation, so Colonel Banks (Sterling K. Brown) is there to speak those very words to General Boothe (Mark Strong). Atlas is a genius, so she plays chess, distractedly speaking her moves to a chess computer while she, like the viewer, is doing something else.
She beats the computer every time, naturally. Lopez is a producer, so it is clear that she has had input in.
