“I, Robot”




 

 

"I, Robot"


Directed by: Alex Proyas


Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood


Rating: PG-13 (for adult language, partial nudity, intense CGI action and fight scenes, minor bloodletting)


Running time: 111 minutes


Best suited for: Sci-fi and futuristic thriller addicts, Will Smith fans


Least suited for: Isaac Asimov purists


Acorn’s Rating Guide:

I’ll admit to immediately liking "I, Robot" on numerous levels. It’s a glossy and stylized hi-tech thriller that hooked me from the first frame. Underpinnings of several genres roil beneath the surface. There’s a bit of post-noir gumshoe in Del Spooner (played by Will Smith). He’s a 21st-Century Phillip Marlow, an emotionally-scarred loner working society’s fringe. And I can’t help but compare Spooner to Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford in the sci-fi masterpiece "Blade Runner." Both men are technophobes in a world becoming increasingly complicated and alien. Both men have trouble coping.


In "I, Robot," Detective Spooner is tormented by a foreboding sense of doom. Nobody else sees the impending threat and, as a small cog in a big machine, Spooner can do nothing but wait for the inevitable.


That threat is the advent of the series NS5—the newest, brightest model of artificial intelligence created by U.S. Robotics. The year is 2035 and robots have become the de rigueur household appliance: a race of unflinching indentured servants capable of both mundane and hazardous duties. Yes, there are varying subplots of prejudice and morality at play here, intriguing and important, but blink twice and you’ll miss them.


When U.S. Robotics’ co-founder Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) is murdered—apparently by a robot—Spooner is called to the scene. Just so happens that Spooner hates robots. Why? It’s a mystery. The other mystery is, of course, the murder itself—and the fact that robots are programmed to avoid harming human beings under any circumstance. But a human is dead and a prototype NS5 is the only suspect.


Okay, so there’s much to nitpick—especially for Isaac Asimov fans. The adaptation only vaguely resembles the classic anthology penned by the sci-fi icon. And, as murder mysteries go, there are more than a few holes concerning character motivation and plot structure.


But we’re in the dog days of summer, and in Hollywood, plot and motivation are Christmas concerns. This one’s all about action and adventure and never running out of bullets. Alas, throw reasonable doubt to the wind. As potential blockbusters go, "I, Robot" is a slick, riveting and fun summer flick.


At the forefront of frivolity is the buff and brooding Will Smith, playing a cop with a bad ’tude and a fondness for antiquities (Converse Hi-Tops and Stevie Wonder, for instance). And even though Will Smith is best at playing Will Smith, there’s a semblance of growth in his performance here.


Despite Spooner’s cynical sniping and a secret inner turmoil that’s kept from the audience way too long, Smith keeps things irreverent enough to keep the story from bogging down in its own sincerity. There’s some cute banter between Smith and uptight robot-shrink Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) and a nicely building tension with the ultra-cool (and entirely computer-animated) army of NS5s, robots with humanized faces and deceivingly polite countenances. Just don’t get one peeved.


"I, Robot" unfolds a decent number of plot twists as Detective Spooner digs to uncover the truth behind Dr. Lanning’s murder. As in all good mysteries, uncovered clues and clever deductions shouldn’t be snatched from thin air, and that’s where this one falls short of being a classic sci-fi yarn. I like a film that respects my intelligence, but sometimes Spooner’s reasoning comes from the most circumstantial of evidence or the tiniest wisp of intuition. While Spooner isn’t always convinced he’s on the right path to solving the crime, he usually is. There’s little to get in his way—until the robots turn ugly.


Then again, that’s when the fun begins, and the special effects (including a nifty futuristic chase scene) are splendid and free-flowing. So sit back, enjoy the ride and don’t take your movies too seriously until Thanksgiving.


In a nutshell: "I, Robot" is probably the best thriller of its type since "Minority Report"—a cautionary glimpse of the not-too-distant future. Yet many sci-fi fans won’t find the payoff unique. There are hints of "Blade Runner," "Terminator," "Starship Troopers"—heck, and a half-dozen others at play. But the film manages to retain enough variation on the theme to keep fresh that increasingly perturbing question: After mankind’s bumbling evolutionary ascent, what next?


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *