Jennifer Lopez suffers grievously in her heroic efforts to save mankind from a rogue A. I. in "Rampage" helmer Brad Peyton's straight-to-streaming sci-fi saga "Atlas" that dreams of making mankind take a knee. As it turns out, this clash of titans is largely personal. Indeed,data analyst Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez of "Hustlers"), our caffeine craving misanthrope, knows her adversary, Harlan Shepherd (Simu Liu of "Arthur the King"), as only a sister could a brother. Technically, Harlan is a cunning android who amounts to a futuristic Fu Manchu sans the facial hair and fingernails. He is the sharpest robot on the block, and he qualifies as a worthwhile, first-rate villain, too. Seems these two grew up together. Sadly, Harlan took advantage of Atlas' gullible sincerity and managed to reprogram himself, so he could mastermind an armed revolt and kill millions of people. Think of Thanos with far less screen time. That's a severe weakness since the best villains is often far more interesting that the protagonist. About the only thing interesting in this derivative nonsense is Atlas' ironic predicament. She abhors Artificial Intelligence with a passion and joins a combat mission to destroy Harlan. However, she must synchronize herself with an inquisitive on-board A. I. computer, Smith (voice of Gregory James Cohan), for "the mech suit" she occupies during the mission. At the same time, the beleaguered Atlas totes around enough guilt for two people in this Armageddon-esque showdown set in 2043 on a remote planet somewhere "in the Andromeda Galaxy." Harlan has fled from Earth to this volatile planet before he makes his final move against mankind. Atlas winds up seated in a giant robot that does a whole lot of stomping. This heavily armed module resembles the flawed police robot from the original "RoBoCop." This sophomoric sci-fi saga explores the controversial issue of trusting Artificial Intelligence and the prospective problem it poses. Nevertheless, Peyton and freshman scribe Leo Sardarian and "Star Trek: Discovery" scribe Aron Eli Coleite appear cautiously optimistic about mankind's relationship with A. I.. Had Ms. Lopez been far less histrionic, then the outcome might of "Atlas" might have been more tolerable.
