10 Best Movies Like Netflix's Atlas

Summary Like many other sci-fi films, Atlas features a strong human-A.I. bond, but failed to impress critics with its execution.

Other movies like I Am Mother and Upgrade take the premise of A.I. control to new, more extreme levels of exploration.

The Creator and CHAPPiE offer deeper, more poignant dives into the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, post-Atlas.

Netflix's original science fiction film Atlas is one of the platform's most recent action adventures, but is far from the only film to tackle its subject matter. Taking place in the far future, Atlas stars Jennifer Lopez as the eponymous Atlas Sepherd, a data analyst with a deep mistrust of A.I. who is nevertheless forced to overcome her biases by working with a sentient program to save the world. Despite its fascinating premise, the film failed to impress critics, resulting in one of Jennifer Lopez's worst Rotten Tomatoes scores yet.

Luckily, Atlas is far from the only action fueled sci-fi saga to explore artificial intelligence, trust of non-human entities, and slick mech suit battles. Some of these stories are more similar in tone and surface-level visuals, whereas others can share the film's testimony of a human-A.I. bond. Even if Atlas isn't one of Jennifer Lopez's best movies, it clearly draws inspiration from some noteworthy places worth revisiting in the film's wake.

10 I Am Mother (2019)

Explores the possibilities of machine motherhood

Atlas' exploration of the possible bond between a human and an A.I. is nothing new. The film's own relationship between mech pilot Atlas and her suit's onboard computer, Smith, is vaguely reminiscent of the hit video game Titanfall 2. What's rarer is a story that's willing to take the bond between machine and flesh even further, presenting a human/A.I. relationship that becomes deeper than mere camaraderie.

Enter 2019's I Am Mother, a post-apocalyptic science fiction film that explores a broken planet in need of re-population. The film's duo, a young girl simply referred to as "Daughter", and her robot caretaker, Mother, have to navigate a ravaged world populated mostly by robots. Even if Atlas' twist ending is far different from that of I Am Mother, both films are fascinating explorations of human and A.I. relationships in the wake of disastrous events caused by the latter.

9 Next Gen (2018)

Tells the same story with a kid-friendly flare

A fellow Netflix original, Next Gen follows a similar premise and trajectory to Atlas through the lens of a family-friendly animated picture. The film stars a lonely girl named Mai who lives in a futuristic world in which over-reliance on robots has become the norm, fostering an immense hatred for the artificial beings everyone else seems to love. Her world is turned upside-down when she forms an unexpected bond with an escaped top-secret military robot, called 7723.

Next Gen follows a very similar arc to Atlas, with a female protagonist weary of artificial intelligence that is slowly won over by a helpful robotic companion. Even if it is family-friendly, Next Gen has a certain callousness to it that oozes out of Mai's caustic coping mechanisms and liberal robot-on-robot violence, making it closer in tone to Atlas' PG-13 rating than one might expect. With genuinely impressive 3-D animation and a similarly enjoyable unlikely duo, Next Gen is a great dessert to reach for upon finishing Atlas.

8 Upgrade (2018)

Takes A.I. control to a whole new level

Like many movies similar to Atlas, Upgrade puts a human protagonist opposite a friendly, if off-putting A.I. Where Upgrade raises the stakes is in the invasive nature of the program's level of control, exerting its will on not just a mechanized suit, but the very human body itself. Blurring the line between user and technology like never before, Upgrade takes Atlas' premise in a far more brutal and extreme direction.

Logan-Marshall Green stars as Grey Trace, a technophobic auto mechanic who swears revenge after his wife is murdered by mysterious interests. Implanted with an A.I. chip called STEM, capable of enhancing his movements, Grey goes on a revenge-fueled rampage, made all the more stylish by the film's daring cinematography and brutal fight choreography. With a similar premise but a far darker tone and ending compared to Atlas, Upgrade deserves to be in the running for scariest movies about artificial intelligence run amok.

7 I, Robot (2004)

One of the earliest, best-known examples of Atlas' subgenre

If the idea of a man-and-machine team-up action movie has become popular enough to be a sci-fi subgenre in its own right, I, Robot could be argued to be the first major release to perfect the formula. Loosely based on the Isaac Asimov's short story of the same name, I, Robot has Will Smith's Del Spooner, a homicide detective with a personal distaste for robots, investigating the mysterious suicide of a genius titan of the industry. Along the way, he reluctantly accepts the help of Sonny, a particularly gifted android.

Spooner and Sonny have a fantastic buddy-cop dynamic that matures naturally over the course of the movie, with Spooner's venomous distrust gradually easing into a measure of respect for his newfound robotic companion. The action scenes and world building I, Robot's futuristic world have also held up surprisingly well 20 years later, making the film well worth a re-visit. Clearly inspiring at least some sliver of Atlas and Smith's dynamic, Spooner and Sonny were the first to represent man and machine in a big-budget action movie.

6 District 9 (2009)

Fulfills a similar niche with an alien twist

Not every movie bearing a passing resemblance to Atlas necessarily focuses on artifical intelligence, specifically. Some human and nonhuman relationships explore similar ideas of prejudice and interspecies wariness without the meta-commentary of technological advancement, and do so just as well. Neill Blomkamp's directorial debut, District 9 explores a world much like our own in which a population of insectoid alien refugees appeared on Earth in the early eighties, forever changing political discourse.

Admittedly, District 9 is a rather on-the-nose metaphor for aparthied in South Africa, even taking place in the same nation. Still, the film's message is worth exploring even if it is done so somewhat clumsily, supplemented by some incredible CGI that looks better than a lot of contemporary sci-fi movies. Like Atlas, District 9 explores the limits of human bonds between nonhuman entities punctuated with some explosive mech suit action. It's a shame the sequel, District 10, has languished in development limbo for so long.

5 Westworld (1973)

Posed some difficult questions about human nature

Long before it was a sprawling epic streaming saga on Max, Westworld was one of the earliest films to thoughtfully explore the implications of artificial intelligence. Based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, Westworld introduces the viewer to a cowboy-themed amusement park populated by robotic human fakes, a paradise of hedonism in which guests could act out every fantasy on the park's nonhuman denizens free of repercussions. It's not until the robots begin fighting back that the drama, and horror, truly begins.

Unlike Atlas, Westworld has no cutesy robot sidekick to balance out the nightmarish artificial horrors. Like Simu Liu's Harlan, the rebellious androids of Westworld have no pity for their creators, chasing protagonist Peter on a lengthy series of close-calls with his android assailants. Westworld offers some thoughtful commentary on human nature and the development of technology that may be worth engaging with for those coming out of Atlas with a thirst for something headier.

4 The Creator (2023)

Preaches peaceful co-existence with A.I. creations

Of all the other science fiction films that explore artificial intelligence, The Creator takes place in a world very similar to that of Atlas. In a world in which an A.I. population has declared war on Western civilization with a nuclear detonation, a military sergeant finds a young android with the ability to control technology, wrestling with his allegiances to humanity and his very morals. The Creator could be said to take place in the aftermath of an attack like the one Atlas is trying to prevent in her own film, making for an interesting film to follow-up with.

The Creator's world-building goes in some fascinating directions rare in similar sci-fi stories, including a group of humans who peacefully co-exist with a robot population. The Creator also boasts an excellent soundtrack, engaging visuals, and a tender bond between military operative Taylor and the technopathic Alphie. More poignant and bittersweet than the more light-hearted tone of Atlas, The Creator exists as a nice next evolution of the premise to engage with for those left wanting more.

3 CHAPPiE (2015)

Puts its adorable robot underdog front and center

Bearing Neill Blomkamp's distinctive visual aesthetic, CHAPPiE is a grim, yet altogether hopeful exploration of the positive impact A.I. can have. Like Atlas and Smith, the film centers on the bond between a nascent A.I. and a rag-tag group of criminals in South Africa's slums, though their dynamic is far less even than that of Jennifer Lopez and her charming disembodied voice. Chappie is an artifical intelligence downloaded into the archive of a police-keeping android, repurposed by a gang for their own selfish needs.

Chappie's bond with his creator, Deon, is a touching thing, making him one of the most down-to-earth recreations of a human mind ever put to screen. Interestingly, Chappie is also capable of rage and being deceived, making him far more flawed than most A.I. companions such as Smith. Whereas Atlas proves the possible value of A.I. in human lives, CHAPPiE poses the opposite question, making for a fascinating counterpoint that'll scratch some of the same action itches as Atlas with Blomkamp's ever-impressive vision.

2 Bumblebee (2018)

A charming tale of machine companionship

The live-action Transformers films might not have the best reputation as legitimate pieces of science fiction, but the first film in the franchise produced sans the influence of Michael Bay proves the concept is capable of conceiving its own charm. A soft re-boot of the entire series, Bumblebee tells the story of the beloved yellow Transformer's earliest days on Earth, befriending human teen Charlie while evading the sights of several dangerous Decepticons. The resulting relationship is not at all dissimilar to the starring duo of Atlas.

Even if Bumblebee himself isn't of human origin, he's still very much an alien mind, struggling to navigate a strange new world alone without a proper way to communicate. In this way, his "us against the world" relationship with the isolated Charlie is just as compelling as Atlas and Smith's, even if in a very different context. With giant robot action, great performances, and some fun banter to keep things moving, Bumblebee is a similarly-light action flick with a comparable appeal to Atlas.

1 Real Steel (2011)

Forges its bonds over machines, rather than with them

A somewhat forgotten entry in Hugh Jackman's impressive star-studded catalog, Real Steel is a quietly fantastic movie that blends science fiction with sports drama. The story follows Charlie, a former boxer whose sport has become eclipsed by giant robot fighting competitions, who unexpectedly gains custody of his estranged son after the death of his mother. Far lighter in tone and stakes than Atlas, Real Steel touches on some oblique themes that just keep it within the same cinematic neighborhood.

Rather than forging a bond with a machine, as in Atlas' case, Real Steel has its starring duo bond through them, with Charlie and Max restoring an old, beat-up training robot to become the world champion. The spectacle of the mechanical boxing matches can also match any action featured in Atlas, with director Shawn Levy effortlessly blending CGI and practical effects similarly. Bearing a passing visual cohesion worn under the same beating heart, Real Steel could easily share a double-feature with Atlas.