Who doesn't love giant mechs?

I've largely fallen out of the habit of watching movie trailers. I think my time out of a newsroom and being away from the daily grind of the entertainment news cycle has cured me of some of that impulse to immediately go into writing mode when I see news of one.

Or at least somewhat: Netflix released a trailer for an upcoming film, Atlas, directed by Brad Payton (San Andreas, Rampage, Sweet Girl), and it's the type of film that I'm perfectly tailored to enjoy. Here's the trailer:

The story sounds pretty interesting. Announced way back in 2021, it follows a government analyst named Atlas Shepherd (played by Jennifer Lopez), who's tasked with heading off to a dangerous planet to capture a rogue artificial intelligence that she has some prior connection to, and then has to learn to trust in order to survive. It also stars Simu Liu (Shang-Chi) and Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), which is promising.

Jennifer Lopez Will Defend Humanity From an Apocalyptic AI in Netflix’s Atlas

Jennifer Lopez has lined up her next movie, just a week after signing an overall deal with Netflix: Atlas, a science fiction thriller in which an artificial intelligence has determined that the best way to eliminate war is to eliminate humanity. According to Deadline, Lopez will produce the film, which

Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

Will it be good? Who can say? Netflix has a mixed track record when it comes to original films, but as I wrote back when it was announced, while it sounds like a generic human vs. AI story, the script landed on the vaunted Black List in 2017, which is a good sign.

And even if it isn't – it feels like it could fit alongside films like Battle: LA or Edge of Tomorrow, which are perfectly fine military SF action films. And, y'know: giant mechs. I get some neat Titanfall vibes from this, and it's making me think that I should dust off the draft that I've got of a mech story (written for an anthology eons ago that I never ended up finishing) and take another swing at it.