When Jennifer Lopez linked her performance at the SuperBowl, her acclaimed role in Wall Street Scammers and, shortly after, she married Ben Affleck, it seemed that a JLo reign was beginning, stronger than ever. She was successful in all aspects. Leaving aside her rumored crisis with Affleck, we have to say that, both musically and interpretively, it seems that everything was a simple mirage. While she has to reduce the dates of her musical tour given the low ticket sales and the lack of impact of her recent songs, her latest film releases have been catastrophic. And if they have gone well at the hearing, as was the case with Mother on Netflix, critics have turned their backs on it.
However, what we should always applaud Jennifer Lopez for is that she never stops trying. Of first, Atlas It didn’t seem like a project that could turn out moderately well. It is a science fiction film directed by Brad Peyton (Rampage Project, San Andrés) that takes us with an analyst played by JLo to a distant planet to exterminate the leader of a robot revolution who grew up with her.
Atlas It is, to put it mildly, a kind of sci-fi collage in which everything fits. There is, of course, the section Terminator accompanied by the classic excuse of eco genocide. On the other hand, robots are now called AI because, well, it seems like a more current idea even though we’ve been around it since Asimov. There is also a bit of predator in terms of survival in hostile territory and, if that were not enough, Jennifer Lopez has a character full of traumas, social problems and more.
The worrying thing about Atlas is that its script and execution really seem created by the same AIs that it poses as a threat. Yes, like those photos created by AIs that seem perfect but, if you look closely, there is someone with three legs. We could say that the worst of Atlas is that you always seem to see the continuous use of green screen throughout the image. It’s tacky, even though it tries hard to seem otherwise. But as a television film we can buy this visual aspect in the middle of 2024. The real surprise of Atlas is that, despite the fact that in its epic and ambitious sci-fi intention there is nowhere to take it, it works.
Yeah, Atlas, with another approach, it works. The drama of the story and the traumas of JLo, far from demonstrating any talent, end up divinely linking with the lost gaze with white contact lenses of the AI that Simu Liu embodies, the ridiculous Terminator walk of Abraham Popoola or the character of Sterling K. Brown, sometimes a nerd and sometimes a parody of Stallone in Rambo. Atlas It works as a B-series comedy, as a trashy science fiction story full of clichés and off-colors. It’s bad, yes, but it’s not boring, and that’s because there are few things more fascinating than watching Jennifer Lopez in such a mess while she seems to genuinely believe she’s Sigourney Weaver in Alien or Amy Adams in The arrival. Atlas It’s like watching someone who you think dances well dance badly. She only makes a fool of herself but his faith ends up creating a certain admiration for his ignorant bravery.
