ReviewNetflix movie review: Atlas – AI helps Jennifer Lopez save the world in sci-fi thriller

When Simu Liu’s rogue android vows to take out humans on a near-future Earth, Jennifer Lopez’s jaded heroine must overcome her distrust of AI to save the day

The film takes cues from James Cameron’s Aliens but lacks strong inter-character relationships. Its overwhelmingly positive view of technology is concerning

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Jennifer Lopez as Atlas Shepherd in a still from Atlas, directed by Brad Peyton and co-starring Simu Liu. Photo: Netflix

Published: 9:00am, 24 May 2024

2/5 stars

Mere months after Hollywood’s actors and writers reached an agreement with studios to protect their likenesses and creative output, it appears Netflix is already doubling down on its advocacy of artificial intelligence.

The streaming platform’s new science fiction thriller, Atlas, starring Jennifer Lopez and Simu Liu, might as well bear the tagline, “How I learned to stop worrying and love AI”.

It is set in a near future when Earth is at the mercy of the world’s first “AI terrorist”. Lopez’s jaded heroine must overcome her distrust of technology and put her life in the hands of a sentient machine to save the planet from Armageddon.

Humanity’s relationship with technology has been a fertile topic for sci-fi writers since the dawn of the genre, with the fear of artificial intelligence eclipsing our own at the heart of some of its best works, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Matrix.