Jennifer Lopez’s new science fiction film, Netflix’s Atlas, has received mixed reviews from critics — but that hasn’t stopped it from performing impressively on the streaming platform.
Atlas is currently the No. 1 movie on Netflix, according to the platform’s public ranking system. It racked up 28.2 million views during its premiere weekend, which kicked off on Friday, May 24.
Despite its popularity, Atlas has received a lukewarm reception from some critics. The New York Times admitted the movie has an “intriguing concept” — Lopez, 54, stars as data analyst Atlas Shepherd, who is deeply concerned about the dangers of artificial intelligence — but criticized the film’s aesthetic and lack of originality.
“It looks, in a fashion we’re getting used to seeing on the streamers, kind of cheap, dark, plasticky and fake, particularly in the big action sequences,” the outlet argues. “Science fiction often earns its place in memory by envisioning something new and startling — but with Atlas, we’ve seen it all before.”
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RogerEbert.com, meanwhile, praised Lopez as a bright spot in the “cheesy” and “lackluster” movie.
“For an ‘our future depends on this’-type tale, the stakes never quite coalesce. But Atlas does have Jennifer Lopez in all her starry glory in the driver’s seat. It’s not nearly enough, but it’s something,” the review reads, after critiquing the film’s “visual designs and thematic ideas that feel borrowed from other (and better) films that came before it.”
The NYT similarly applauded Lopez for flinging “herself into the role with abandon, the kind of performance that’s equally impressive given that she’s largely by herself throughout.” Variety, however, argued that Lopez “seems to be perfunctorily running the bases” in the “predictable, overlong and bland” film.
While Atlas has suffered some tough blows from reviewers, its streaming numbers suggest that it’s doing something right.
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“Honestly, the first time I read the script, it was during the pandemic, and I sobbed,” Lopez told Space.com of the film earlier this month. “I literally called my producing partner, and she was like, ‘What’s the matter?’ At the core of it there was a really emotional story about two entities, a person and an AI, who become more human together, where they go on this journey and she has to learn how to trust. … It’s very timely and relevant right now. It’s the human story about Atlas that made me want to do it.”
In addition to Lopez, Atlas stars Simu Liu as Harlan, a robot Atlas grew up with that later becomes the world’s first A.I. terrorist, and Sterling K. Brown as Colonel Elias Banks, the leader of the mission to capture Harlan.
“I thought it was a great story,” Brown, 48, told Space.com of the film. “It was an opportunity for me to do something that my young son could watch.”
Atlas was written by Leo Sardaraian and Aron Eli Colette and directed by Brad Peyton. It is now streaming on Netflix.
