I Robot
As reported by Mike Kelly
There’s a new ‘bot movie in town. It is a solid action movie with some nice scenes, however much of the plot has been seen before. Loosely "inspired" by sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov's 1950 collection of robot stories - "I, Robot" travels awfully familiar sci-fi territory, even if it is great fun.
"I, Robot" may not be as inspired as "A.I." or "Minority Report" - which share its concerns about personal liberty and the risks posed by technology - but thankfully, it's light years ahead of similar summer fare such as "Terminator 3" and "The Matrix Revolutions."
Will Smith is treading in the well-worn footsteps of Harrison Ford and "Blade Runner" as the police detective “Spooner†- but he does it with great panache and humorous line delivery. The movie’s director Proyas gets the best performance in a movie to date out of Smith, who combines the one-liners of his earlier blockbusters with some serious acting.
The plot of the movie is that robots (almost android robots in fact) have taken over menial tasks from trash collection to FedEx deliveries. Humans are protected by the Three Laws of Robotics, which state robots cannot harm humans, must obey humans, and can only protect themselves by following the first two laws.
So when the robots' sage inventor (James Cromwell) is found dead of an apparent suicide - and leaves behind a series of cryptic hologram messages - Spooner is quick to suspect the inventor's latest creation, the robot named “Sonny.â€
There is also the beautiful robot psychologist who at the outset seems as rigid as her subjects; Spooner's exasperated but sympathetic supervisor, who at one point, yes, asks for his badge; and the sinister corporate force behind the robots.
There aren't many surprises as Spooner uncovers a conspiracy that climaxes with a full-blown robot rebellion, one of several first-rate action sequences - another, an attack by a squad of robots on Spooner in a car tunnel.
This movie has some things to do with the book I, Robot, but has no real relation to the book aside from the theme being around the Three Laws of Robots. Saying that, I still found the movie very enjoyable because it was able to incorporate major themes from sections of the book.
The special effects are much better than most of the CGI we see nowadays, but it was somewhat gratuitous but still was close to flawless. Some of the scenes reminded me of 1980's blow-them-up movies and included a great car chase.
As far as acting goes, it is Will Smith being Will Smith in an action role. He did portray some of the more serious parts such as hating robots well. On the whole he was fine in the lead role and a better actor than what’s in most of the movies that come out today.
On the whole, I see it as one of the better movies of the year and far and away a good deal better than many movies that get passed off as Science Fiction recently.
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