Netflix has a new number one movie - just don't read the reviews
There may still be fun to be had with this latest Netflix movie, though
There’s a new number one movie on Netflix, and it has some of the ingredients of the streamer’s biggest movie hits to date.
Atlas is the number one Netflix movie at the moment, having hit the top spot in no fewer than 71 countries, according to Flixpatrol.
Like many of the top 10 most popular English language moves on Netflix, Atlas is a Netflix original, features a strong female lead who also happens to be a bit of a cinematic and cultural icon, Jennifer Lopez. And much like her current entry in the all-time top 10, 2023’s The Mother, Atlas is picking up middling reviews at best.
Atlas is a sci-fi story about AI, and its threat to humanity’s continued existence.
Lopez plays Atlas Shepherd, a scientist who has a deep mistrust of AI. And, to be honest, that kind of makes sense when an AI, played by MCU star Simu Liu, has decided to try and end humanity outright.
However, in order to defeat that AI, she will have to put her trust in another AI to save the day. It’s that old The Terminator story, in the broadest strokes, but Atlas doesn't have anything like the reviews of that action sci-fi classic.
Atlas currently sits at 17% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, propelled by a glut of 2/5 reviews. But let's take a more positive view for a moment.
There are also several Atlas reviews in the 3/5 ballpark that paint Atlas as just what we often look for in made-for-Netflix movie. “Sturdy popcorn entertainment,” is what IGN calls it in its 6/10 review.
“The script might be paper-thin, and its themes may be written in bright neon lights, but with a movie star like Lopez at the controls, Atlas never falters,” says the review.
AVForums reached the same conclusion, but via a totally different route.
The reviewer found Lopez’s Atlas landed as a bad parody of Alien’s Ripley, but didn't hate the movie as a whole.
“That Atlas remains pretty frivolously watchable in spite of her is frequently rather shocking… still only barely edging that very familiar Netflix-6/10 level of just about above-average churn, and, even so, that's admittedly generously delivered in the wake of truly abysmal fare like Rebel Moon,” it says.
Come with the right lowered expectations and there are some good times to be had here. And we'll be on the watch to see if Atlas has a chance of making it into the all-time Netflix charts, rather than just a fleeting moment on the top 10 list.