With "Atlas," Netflix is clearly embracing bombastic summer spectacle in the vein of Amazon's "The Tomorrow War." That is, 'original' sci-fi flicks with hefty production budgets and killer casts to make up for the pastiche of well-trodden ideas. After 20th Century Studios' stunningly-crafted "The Creator" bombed in theaters last year, maybe these should be released via streaming for the foreseeable future.
After a ho-hum "Atlas" teaser (beyond the striking visuals) released for Brad Peyton's Atlas – which has an interesting cast to say the least – Netflix has put the pedal to the metal in the official trailer for the upcoming sci-fi action-adventure movie.
You won't be hearing us complain about mechs blowing stuff up in outer space though, and this look at the movie solidifies the feeling that it might deliver on that front quite well. You can watch the official trailer below:
This means that Apple isn't the only streaming giant doubling down on science fiction and space-centric content (see "Constellation" and "Fly Me to the Moon"); this year Netflix has already put out the Adam Sandler-led drama "Spaceman" and David Benioff and D. B. Weiss' huge "3 Body Problem" series adaptation, with more to come.
Related: The best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix
The seemingly thin story of "Atlas" follows the titular Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), "a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence" who wants to help capture a renegade AI with whom she shares a troubled past.
This hunt takes Atlas (and less fortunate troops) to another planet where the AI named Harlan has taken refuge and is plotting to launch another strike against Earth. The twist? She'll have to get over her distrust of robots and team up with a mech-bound AI named Smith to get the job done.
At its core, it's all strongly reminiscent of Titanfall 2's story campaign, and we mean that as a compliment. However, the surrounding world-building and plotting don't look too strong. Again, our expectations aren't super high, but it'd be nice to get a robust sci-fi movie out of this one. At the very least, Brad Peyton's knack for strong visuals after making up for "San Andreas" and "Rampage"'s paper-thin scripts is on display here.
Netflix also shared a simple but imposing poster to go with this trailer that's all about the protagonists and reminds subscribers that Atlas drops on May 24:
Joining J.Lo as Atlas Shepherd, the cast has Simu Liu ("Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," "Barbie") as the rogue AI Harlan, Sterling K. Brown ("The Predator") as Colonel Elias Banks, Gregory James Cohan ("The VelociPastor") voicing the friendly AI Smith, Abraham Popoola ("The Great") as Casca Decius, Lana Parrilla ("Once Upon a Time") as Val Shepherd, and the always reliable Mark Strong ("Kingsman") as General Jake Boothe.
Brad Peyton directs a script originally written by Leo Sardarian ("StartUp") and later rewritten by Aron Eli Coleite ("Ultimate X-Men" comic books). The cinematography was handled by John Schwartzman ("Jurassic World"). Andrew Lockington ("Argo") is the composer behind the original soundtrack.
