Atlas
There I was, ready to do two foreign zombie films in two weeks. But the second one was only available if I buy amazon prime. So, here we are with another Netflix film, a science fiction. I’ve been enjoying science fiction since my first Andre Norton novel in 1969. That was one of my first lessons in sf, that the audience who can appreciate speculative fiction knows no bounds, and that the best ones teach the reader valuable lessons. The makers of this film seem to be trying to do that.
Not so very way, way into the future, AI robots try to kill all the humans (Yeah, we’ve never seen that before.) and manage a few million. Humans prevail, but the AI terrorist mastermind escapes the planet. Earth unites and beefs up its outer space defenses because they know he’ll be back somehow. Atlas (Jennifer Lopez), sees on the news that one of the AI terrorists who stayed on Earth was captured. She goes to investigate and is drawn into … well, the rest of the movie.
This movie plays in a lot of super classical science fiction areas, and at least one simply classical allusion. Atlas has the weight of the world on their shoulders, and so does J Lo. It didn’t take too long for me to get that reference, but there were others that took me a minute to get. I laughed every time. I also laughed at the unexpected humorous moments, because for the most part this movie is kinda grim, though very pretty.
I’ve been pretty disappointed in Lopez’s movies the last few years, but I have to say, she does really well in this Older Lady Saves The World tale. There are other really fine actors as well, like Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings, Barbie), Mark Strong (Dune: Prophesy), and Sterling K. Brown (This is Us). None of them have as much screen time as Lopez, and Gregory James Cohan (a ton of small tv roles) the voice of the AI Smith. His voice sounded very much like the computer in Galaxy Quest, only smarter.
I have a feeling the choice of an actor who gives Galaxy Quest with his voice was a deliberate choice by the creators of Atlas. There were a lot of other scenes reminiscent of earlier science fiction, like the Terminator at the very front of the movie with it’s zombie movie-like recreation of a world wide panic on social media brought on by devastating loss of humans. I loved an actual quote from the grand master of science fiction AI robotics, Isaac Asimov, who wrote the Laws of Robotics as we know them, back in 1940. “If you make a smart robot, the first rule should be: do not harm people”. We may not be heeding his message, but we sure do still think about it.
Other films that I noticed was a S.W.A.T. battle that reminded me of the first The Matrix fight scene, a little Silence of the Lambs¸ and a massive Aliens nod that made me laugh because my dad laughed in the theater with me when we saw it. The evil AI terrorist is named Harlan, which did make me laugh. I have a six degrees connection with Harlan Ellison, and I’ve heard a few beery back room tales of him and Isaac. My biggest laugh was when I connected the main AI’s name with the 1960s show Lost in Space. The allusions tended toward the literate and obscure, and I really liked this aspect of the film a lot.
The plot is not quite standard, but very straightforward and geared toward action. Lopez supplies most of that action, with a heavy dose of very well done cgi. Or AI, or however it’s done these days. The “humanity” element supplied by Atlas’s life long trauma is done well. I would have loved if Captain Picard would have had five minutes with the evil AI Harlan to wrangle some logics issues, but that remains for another film I suppose.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film that supplies a lot of human angst and wrestles with the nearly hundred year old conundrum of whether humanity can trust and learn to work safely with artificial intelligence. It’s smart, gives solid nods to classics and science fiction classics, looks good and is well acted. I recommend this if you’re looking for a movie that is kinda smart and still muscle-y.
Available on: Netflix
LINKS:
CRF: In Addition
Well huh. I have seen this advertised but never watched. I do like all of the actors and I like all of the representation.
Oh Cranky, wanna come over and watch it again with me?
Chick Flicking Reviews 