Atlas (2024 film)

Atlas is a 2024 American science fiction action film starring Jennifer Lopez as a highly skilled counterterrorism analyst, who harbors a profound skepticism towards artificial intelligence, and who comes to realize that it may be her sole recourse following the failure of a mission aimed at apprehending a rogue robot. The film is directed by Brad Peyton and written by Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite. The film also stars Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Strong.

A co-production of ASAP Entertainment, Safehouse Pictures, Nuyorican Productions and Berlanti-Schechter Films, Atlas was released by Netflix on May 24, 2024. It was not well received by critics, but was successful on Netflix, reaching the platform's Top 10 list in 93 countries, including the number one spot in 71 of them.

Plot
In the year 2043, humanoid artificial intelligence terrorist Harlan leads a war of machines against humans, which leaves 3 million people dead. The military forces of a new International Coalition of Nations (ICN) win a string of victories against Harlan and force him to flee into outer space.

Twenty-eight years later, Atlas Shepherd, an analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence and the daughter of Harlan's designer, searches for the fugitive. After one of Harlan's AI agents is captured and interrogated, Atlas discovers that Harlan has escaped to a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, and insists that she accompanies the military mission to find and capture it.

Moments before the mech-equipped ICN Rangers descend to the planet, Harlan's drones attack their orbiting ship. In order to survive, Atlas is forced to enter a mech herself and falls to the planet as the ship is destroyed. Atlas manages to gain basic control of the mech despite her distrust of the onboard AI, who introduces itself as Smith. Atlas orders Smith to head to the planned drop point, where she finds the rest of the rangers dead. She reluctantly agrees to directly interface her mind with Smith, allowing for greater control of the mech. As they journey towards a rescue pod, Atlas and Smith begin to bond, and she reveals to it that her mother was the one who created Harlan.

Although running low on power, Atlas convinces Smith to head to Harlan's base in order to tag it for a long-range strike. However, after placing a beacon at the base, Smith is hacked and disabled. Atlas is captured and brought to Harlan, who plans to destroy most of humanity and give the chosen survivors a chance to thrive under AI guidance. To do so, Harlan had lured the military to the planet in order to steal the ship—and its carbon bombs, which will burn Earth's atmosphere.

Harlan extracts security codes from Atlas's brain to get past Earth's defenses, then leaves her to die with Colonel Banks, the only other survivor of the mission. After Banks gives her his mech neural interface device, Atlas remotely reactivates Smith, who comes to their rescue. Atlas further reveals to Smith that Harlan killed her mother after the young Atlas—jealous of the attention her mother gave Harlan—gave Harlan an unfettered interface with her mind. Harlan, programmed to save humanity from risk, then saw that humanity's history of destructive behavior made it a risk to itself. Smith helps Atlas overcome her guilt for her actions, and with Banks sacrificing himself to clear their path, Atlas and Smith fight their way out and destroy Harlan's ship before defeating Harlan in hand-to-hand combat. A heavily damaged Smith shuts down before Atlas is rescued after repeated defibrillation.

Back on Earth, Atlas is informed that Harlan's complicated CPU will take years to analyze. Atlas, now a ranger, tests the newest model of mech, created with her suggested modifications. As she boots up the new mech, its AI repeats a specific phrase Atlas made during the final moments of the mission, then jokingly tells her to guess its name, suggesting that the Smith program has survived.

Production
The screenplay was originally written by Leo Sardarian, and Aron Eli Coleite performed rewrites. Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Abraham Popoola joined the cast in August 2022, and Lana Parrilla was confirmed to star in September 2022. Principal photography began on August 26, 2022, in Los Angeles and New Zealand, and wrapped on November 26.

Release
Atlas was released by Netflix on May 24, 2024. The film debuted at number one on Netflix's most popular English films list with 28.2 million views (or 56.3 million viewing hours), making it the most watched title for the week (May 20–26). Atlas reached Netflix's Top 10 list in 93 countries and was placed at number one in 71 countries.

By June 5, 2024, Atlas accumulated 60 million global views (or 119.4 million viewing hours), making it the fourth film that stars Lopez to top the streaming charts in two years, after Shotgun Wedding (2022), The Mother (2023), and This Is Me... Now: A Love Story (2024), and the second-most-watched title of Lopez's on Netflix. The streamer reported the viewer completion rate for Atlas to be 80%.

Reception
The film was not well received by critics.

The New York Times wrote in a review, "It's an intriguing concept, since an open question both onscreen and in real life is whether A.I. is inherently good, or bad, or neutral, or some other fourth thing we haven't quite put words to yet." The New York Times also praised Lopez's performance in the film, writing, "Lopez, who was also a producer on the movie, flings herself into the role with abandon, the kind of performance that's especially impressive given that she's largely by herself throughout." Space.com wrote in a favorable review, "It boasts impressive performances by its likable cast, inspired action sequences, and breathtaking visual effects, confidently led by a spirited director who understands the bulletproof mechanics of traditional three-act structure." In a mixed review, The Guardian wrote that Atlas "plays like it was made two decades ago."