A brilliant counterterrorism analyst with a deep distrust of AI discovers it might be her only hope when a mission to capture a renegade robot goes awry.
I mentioned before that how A.I is used as opposed to the use of it itself is the more meaningful discussion to be had especially when this technology is increasingly threatening to replace us and rob us out of our most precious creations, so I wasn’t completely against the premise of “Atlas” when I heard about it. But then I remembered this was a Netflix production.
And then came the realization it’s just a poorer man’s imitation of “I, Robot” meets Titanfall.
Yeah, no nicer way around this: for all the legs it already has itself standing on, the story completely drops the ball in doing the bare minimum of trying to discuss this familiar premise with enough exceptional execution to where its intentions, stakes and the protracted setup doesn’t undercut its thin veil of appeal. Plot-wise, we’ve already seen narratives like this told in much more terrifying and convincing fashion but the lack of innovation and depth to this story’s ankle-deep empty husk is a constant source of irritation because you keep seeing SMALL to MODERATE SNIPPETS of the potential it craves to unlock. And yet, its pacing betrays not just the story’s lack of curiosity but also its nuance.
They keep contradicting the state of both the war, the uses of A.I and how us humans contribute to that, making its continuous hints at substance in its themes that much more disjointed and superficial and trying to highlight the importance of breaking down one’s tech-resistance and trusting artificial intelligence during times when AI is having very real repercussions on the world is a bit tone-deaf, made even worse by its choice to take the exposition-dump route in regards to fleshing out the world around them. A more substantial focus on the godfather of AI and his safety protocols could have added a layer of depth and realism, making the stakes feel more tangible rather than basing the entire events of this story around a series of contrivances. To be fair, effort is present in channeling the external and internal conflicts together to where it didn’t completely feel like performative activism: the big twist near the end does help hammer home what I already mentioned about A.I usage and I have harbingered a soft spot for stories where the central character has to learn to reopen themselves to the world via an unlikely companion.
But for a science fiction film that’s supposed to thrive on curiosity, the script constantly feels like taking as many shortcuts as possible to NOT explore those boundaries, and it guarantees that you’ll connect to no one and care about nothing.
I don’t think Brad Peyton was the right guy to tackle a project laced with this much ambition and potential complexity attached. Sure, he’s tackled other big scale projects that tackle a lot of destruction but they all feel like simulations of blockbusters than the real thing (but hey, at least his previous works don’t feel as directionless as this one). He’s adapted to Netflix’s style well but on his own, it’s not that remarkable.
Can’t say the production design helps achieve the full potential of the stakes they look to establish, either. When it’s not admittedly visually or thematically operatic in how the cinematography nimbly shuffles though scene to scene or stable in its editing, it’s nakedly borrowed from more popular action movies with the low-quality of an early PS3 game. Its atmosphere’s vague Titanfall aura peters out faster than it can keep it, the indecision on being serious or a B-movie schlockfest wrestles a lot with the movies presentation, Andrew Lockington’s score is up to the task but is still rather unremarkable and really, the less I talk about the 1.5-dimensional characters, the better.
I wasn’t moved by any of the performers here; most of them are phoning it in and under-acting but Ms. Jenny from the Block herself keeps wildly dilating all over that spectrum. I commend her for going out her comfort zone as this type of role normally demands you stretch your acting to adapt but she breaks her range within the first 30 minutes of the film; feels like she was overacting just a little bit.
You can dismiss all these bullet points and enjoy the film for what it is in the name of spectacle if you want. But all that “spectacle” isn’t spectacle enough to gloss over all of these shortcomings for me.
