Jennifer Lopez Is Tracking A Renegade Robot In The Trailer For New Netflix Movie, Atlas
On the movie screen, Jennifer Lopez is known for being a romantic comedy queen in films like "Maid in Manhattan," "Monster-in-Law," and "Marry Me." However, on Netflix, she appears to be pursuing a wholly different crown and going after action movie and genre glory. Sure, Lopez has made her share of genre thrillers, especially early in her career: "Money Train," "Anaconda," "U Turn," and "Out of Sight," most notably. Yet it's her turn in 2023's "The Mother" that marked her debut as a fully-fledged action star and now she's following that up with a lead performance in a big-budget sci-fi shoot 'em up, if the new trailer for Netflix's "Atlas" is any indication.
As a co-producer as well as star of "Atlas," Lopez has put together a pretty promising team to bring her next Netflix-distributed action venture to life. Alongside co-stars Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Strong, the film is directed by Brad Peyton. Peyton has some genuine genre bonafides under his belt, having made several features with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (the disaster flick "San Andreas" and the giant monster beat-'em-up "Rampage" chief among them) as well as the horror flick "Incarnate," so she seems to be in solid hands when it comes to stuff blowin' up real good around her.
As the above debut teaser trailer for the film demonstrates, stuff does indeed literally blow up around Lopez as she struggles to survive while inside what seems to be some kind of mecha suit. In addition to all the fireworks, "Atlas" promises some timeliness within its premise, tackling the especially topical subject of artificial intelligence in between the bombast. It must be said that the film looks much more exciting than "Jennifer Lopez vs. ChatGPT," so hopefully it's a little deeper than that description, too.
JLo takes the weight of the world on her shoulders in stride
The art of teaser trailers seem to be making a comeback, if recent examples like "The First Omen" and "Longlegs" are anything to go by. "Atlas" is no exception, delivering a bunch of gorgeous, Michael Bay-esque robot wars mayhem without revealing much as to what the film is actually about. Fear not, dear reader, for as the official press release goes:
"Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it."
Right away, it's apparent that Lopez's character joins the pantheon of genre film protagonists with on-the-nose monikers in the tradition of Castor (and Pollux) Troy, Cruella De Vil, and Jericho Cane. There's no word yet on who any of her castmates are portraying, but let's hope they all have similarly evocative names, too.
In terms of the film itself, it looks to be a melange of elements ranging from the "Transformers" movies to "Pacific Rim" and "Edge of Tomorrow," with perhaps a dash of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" in the mix. We have until Friday, May 24th to wonder whether "Atlas" will deliver the sci-fi action goods while bringing in some compelling moral and ethical dilemmas, or if audiences will merely shrug it off. In any case, get ready, folks: Lopez is going from "This Is Me...Now" to "I, JLo." Buckle up!