...and this is quite refreshing, compared to the current offerings.
Let me explain: I watched True Detective 4 expecting a detective story and got a soap opera instead. Watched The Marvels and got a musical number. Watched Rogue Moon and got an inchoate mess instead of a story. Watched The Creator (a movie that shares the basic premise of Atlas) and got a warmed-up soup.
Somebody is apparently trying to re-invent storytelling to "modernize" it, and is failing miserably.
Atlas on the other hand has a simple story, it's developed with craft (if not with art) to its logical end, it has no glaring plot holes and doesn't slap you in the face with CGI: the special effects are there, but add flavour to the story instead of replacing it.
Acting is adequate; some dialogues may feel forced but most of them aren't; the director is competent.
To summarize, Atlas would have been an average movie ten or twenty years ago; nowadays it stands a head above the rest - mostly because average movie quality has fallen quite low.
Special mentions to JLo who manages to carry the movie and to convey some emotions from time to time; her character feels realistic enough and doesn't do stupid things just for the sake of the plot.
Simu Liu is creepy enough as the unstoppable villain; his motivations are refreshingly different from the usual desire to conquer the world - he just has a goal he deems worthy and is determined to achieve it at any cost.
The explosion of the ship near the end of the movie is amazing! The CGI crew somehow managed to inject some novelty into something as mundane as a Hollywood explosion. I'll have to re-watch that scene.
