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You would think that a sci-fi movie where Jennifer Lopez partners with a smart-ass, sentient mech suit to fight against her evil AI brother would be a little more fun. Alas, Atlas<\/em> \u2014 Netflix\u2019s latest attempt at a hit streaming action movie<\/a> \u2014 takes itself far too seriously. It also fails to really dig into the complexities of the AI debate, despite essentially being a conflict between a friendly AI assistant and machine intent on a doomsday scenario. There are some funny moments, particularly the banter between Lopez and her mechanical companion, but every other part of the movie seems to be fighting against Atlas<\/em>\u2019 true form. This is a buddy comedy trying too hard to be a serious action flick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Atlas<\/em> takes place almost three decades after an uprising that saw an advanced AI bot named Harlan (Simu Liu) help liberate other machines, who then proceeded to bypass their security protocols and start a war with humanity. It\u2019s a setup that echoes plenty of real-world concerns. Except, in this case, the AIs lose, and Harlan heads off-planet to lick his wounds \u2014 but not before issuing an ominous threat to the human population. Atlas (Lopez), the daughter of Harlan\u2019s creator who essentially grew up with him as a sibling, spends the ensuing 28 years trying to locate precisely where Harlan went so the threat can be eliminated for good. The movie kicks off when she discovers that location after interrogating the severed head of an AI henchman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most important thing you need to know about Atlas is that she has grown to absolutely loathe AI and, by extension, most futuristic tech. She has the same fears many of us do (along with sci-fi characters like Will Smith in I, Robot<\/em>), which are exacerbated by the fact that the tech around her can be hacked and exploited by Harlan and his associates. At one point, while briefing a group of soldiers, she says, \u201cYou can\u2019t trust AI,\u201d while handing out plans printed on paper.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This fear extends particularly to a device called a Neural Link (not to be confused with the Elon Musk-backed Neuralink<\/a>), which lets a human mind connect directly to an AI companion. It\u2019s a cool idea, but the movie never slows down enough to explore it in depth. Inevitably, Atlas finds herself with no choice but to use a Neural Link to connect to an AI named Smith (Gregory James Cohan) who looks just like Siri and is housed inside of a mech suit ripped right out of Titanfall<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Contrived as it might be, the relationship between Smith and Atlas is easily the best part of the movie. Atlas is cranky and sarcastic, and because of his adaptive learning capabilities, Smith soon becomes exactly the same. The AI swears and makes jokes, dishing it out to Atlas the same way she does to him. The banter is genuinely funny, to the point that, even though you can see it coming a mile away, their inevitable friendship still feels touching. It\u2019s almost worth watching the whole movie just for its heartwarming finale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The problem with Atlas<\/em> isn\u2019t so much that it\u2019s predictable (though that doesn\u2019t help, nor does its painfully generic vision of a sci-fi future). It\u2019s that the movie doesn\u2019t lean into this strength. Outside of Smith and Atlas, everything else about Atlas<\/em> is self-serious and dull. Harlan is the biggest offender, played with a stilted effect by Liu that makes him more boring than scary. In a future where AI bots can mimic human beings perfectly, it\u2019s confounding that the most advanced machine sounds like an old GPS giving directions. Overall, there\u2019s a lot of wasted potential. In particular, the movie\u2019s premise is a perfect framing for current AI debates \u2014 Siri vs. Skynet \u2014 but doesn\u2019t take the opportunity to say anything new.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are already plenty of recent movies that explore a potential AI future with a heavy dose of sincerity, whether it\u2019s The Creator<\/em><\/a>, Dead Reckoning<\/em><\/a>, or even Netflix\u2019s own Jung_E<\/em><\/a>. Atlas<\/em> adds nothing to that extensive body of work. Even worse, it fails to capitalize on its one defining aspect. The comedic moments are the best part of the movie, and yet they can feel out of place buried under everything else. Atlas<\/em> was a chance to take an urgent AI conversation and explore it in an approachable Hollywood package. It could\u2019ve been fun and<\/em> smart \u2014 instead, like a lot of AI right now<\/a>, it\u2019s neither.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n