Netflix fans slam trailer for new sci-fi thriller with Hollywood star

The trailer for a new sci-fi thriller on Netflix has been blasted by fans as ‘awful’ and ‘absolute garbage’ – despite the movie featuring a prominent Hollywood star. 

Atlas is set to be released on Netflix on May 24, and is produced by Jennifer Lopez, who will also star as the film’s protagonist, data analyst Atlas Shepherd.

Lopez is producing Atlas through her production company Nuyorican Productions and their deal with Netflix, where they will produce a slate of films, TV series, scripted and unscripted content with a focus on supporting diverse industry talent.

Atlas centers on a brilliant data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence who joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past.

But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it, said a press release. 

The sci-fi adventure also costars Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla and Mark Strong.

Lopez said of the film: ‘I loved that this is a big sci-fi action movie, but at its core, it’s a story of friendship – and a love story, in a way. 

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‘I always see everything as a love story, but this is a different kind of love between two beings who connect in disastrous circumstances, and teach each other how to be more human.’

Netflix dropped a full trailer for Atlas on April 23, with the almost three-minute trailer introducing viewers us to a highly-advanced technological universe, as well as some of the main characters. 

However, some fans have complained that the trailer reveals too much of the movie, while others branded the plot ‘dreadful’ and ‘forgettable popcorn watching.’

Taking to X, over 200 fans left comments below the trailer posted by Netflix on its official account in April.

One person wrote, ‘The movie looks great, but could they not give out the whole plot sheesh,’ while another said, ‘I feel like I just watched the whole movie.’

Meanwhile, some viewers were a little more critical, with one person fuming, ‘I don’t think the lead has the charisma to carry the focus in an FX heavy role like this. I’d rate this as forgettable popcorn watching,’ while another complained, ‘This looks awful.’

Another said, ‘What is this, 1999?’ while a third wrote, ‘Absolutely garbage, that’s as much as I’ll watch of this, the acting is hollow. Hard to watch even this amount of it.’

A fourth viewer wrote, ‘Why as a society we keep doing this. Not sure I was looking for a JLo action movie,’ while a final critic said, ‘Just like every Netflix film hype hype but no substance.’ 

One Lopez fan, who expressed excitement after watching the trailer, wrote: ‘She has been working like the rent is due daily. I respect it.’

It comes after Netflix fans slammed a 2024 movie starring Sydney Sweeney and Dakota Johnson as the ‘dumbest’ they have ever seen, after it was given a new lease of life by being uploaded to the streaming platform.

The Sony superhero film, Madame Web, was roasted by critics and fans, who branded it an ’embarrassing mess’ and the ‘worst comic book movie ever’ when it hit cinemas back in February.