ATLAS - A Sci-Fi Movie with Plenty of Nicely Done CGI-Heavy Action

I missed watching this latest movie from Netflix on the day it was released as I was working late that Friday night. I only got the chance to watch it yesterday when I was a bit more free. All right then, why don't I just get to it?

Brief Story Line

Set in the future, the Artificial Intelligent beings led by an android called Harlan (Simu Liu - Barbie, Arthur the King etc) have revolted and terrorized the world killing millions in the process. After going through a battle with the International Coalition of Nations (ICN) armies under the command of General Boothe (Mark Strong - Murder Mystery 2, Kingsman: The Golden Circle etc), Harlan and the remaining rebels have escaped to an unknown location.

ICN analyst Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez - Shotgun Wedding, Marry Me etc) somehow managed to find the whereabouts of Harlan. Despite the reluctance from Boothe, Atlas managed to convince Colonel Banks (Sterling K. Brown - The Rhythm Section, The Predator etc) to join the mission to capture Harlan.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

OK, this movie might not have the most extraordinary plot and in fact it was quite light and easy to digest. It was a story where AI beings had become the enemies of humans and the people forces have to fight against this terrorist. It's a pretty standard premise and was already told in many movies/series before. In fact I remembered a movie that I saw not so long ago in the flight entertainment titled Simulant (also starring Simu Liu) where it was about fight between AI and humans too. Significant difference though that one was more like a thriller drama with little action, while this was the other way around as it focused on the action. 

Now in term of action, I was not disappointed at all. It was quite awesome to my opinion with heavy CGI effects on the mechs and space ships that looked realistic enough for me. Likely it was due to the large budget the movie had (I read it cost USD 100 million). And for around 2 hours that included long closing credit, the action was plenty to satisfy me. Btw, there was no mid or post end credit scene at all which I could easily check without spending long time, since I watched it on streaming platform. 

The cast did their best to perform their roles, but I did not expect this to be character driven movie so I am OK that they were not fully developed. J-Lo's character was pretty straight forward and nothing fancy. Simu Liu was playing an android without any expression so nothing to expect there, while Mark Strong & Sterling K. Brown were just support characters. Oh, in addition to the names I mentioned above, there was a familiar face of Lana Parilla (Once Upon a Time TV series etc) as Atlas' mother Val. Another important cast was Gregory James Cohan as the voice of Smith whom I felt provided a touch of humor. The movie was directed by Brad Peyton (Rampage, Frontier TV series etc) and he was also credited as one of the writers. 

Overall this was an enjoyable enough sci-fi action movie of humans vs AI if you are fans of such thing. The action was pretty entertaining with some major visual effects done. It was not a drama film so you won't find anything that would provide great emotions. As long as you are fine with those attributes, I am sure you would be enjoying this movie. But if you expect something great, then better look elsewhere. I myself was fine and did not really care what expert critics said anyway, so I have no problem with this. Although it would not make it to the top of my head for excellent sci-fi action film.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars