I, ROBOT
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
20th Century Fox
Grade: B
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Written by: Jeff Vintar, stories by Isaac Asimov
Cast: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, Chi
McBride, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell
Screened at: Ziegfeld, NYC, 7/13/04
Science fiction movies, like those of any other genre, must be
entertaining to be watchable. What makes for grand
entertainment? The stories should be infused with warmth,
humanity, wit, humor, and, of course, since sci-fi is concerned
more about the future than the past, with special effects. For
warmth and humanity, you can't do much better than Chris
Colombus's "Bicentennial Man," about a family that
buys an all-purpose robot which turns out to have human
emotions and to want, more than anything else, to be a human
being. For special effects, we think first of the "Star Wars"
series, films that attempt to make up for their lack of humanity
with awesome computer generated imagery. There is one more
element possessed by the best of science fiction pics, and that
is satire. A look at a society of the future can be a way of
showing the writers' and directors' visions of what is going
wrong with our own era. Think of Michael Anderson's "Logan's
Run," which takes place in the year 2274, exhibiting a society
that dissolves human beings when they become "useless" at
age thirty. America may not use thirty as a cut-off point, but try
getting a good job once you've reached the age of fifty,
especially if you want to start anew and tackle a different field
from the one that has burned you out.
Alex Proyas's "I, Robot," possesses all of the above
requirements for the genre. For humor, think Will Smith, who
does best in comic roles. Consider his comic talents in the
TV role that made made his name a household word, "The
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," or the studied indifference he adopts in
Barry Sonnenfeld's "Men in Black." He can do just fine in more
serious work, such as his enactment of the serene interloper
who might be Sidney Poitier's son in Fred Schepisi's "Six
Degrees of Separation." He's pretty-much given his head in
"I,Robot, where his cool dude persona as Detective Del
Spooner contrasts amiably with the stiffness of the automatons
constructed and given mechanical life by the scientists at a
robotics corporation. Yet surprisingly enough, the best parts of
the movie take place when Smith visits his mom, a woman he'd
obviously love even if she had never baked for him a sweet
potato pie.
The audience, however, is likely to show up for "I, Robot" for
its kick-butt special effects, and ticket buyers get what they
came for as Proyas ("The Crow," "Dark City") unwraps the
thousands of robots turned out by the company to do not only
the jobs that human beings find tiresome, but those that require
a modicum of soignee as well. (Think of these metal objects
acting as maitre d's at restaurants like "Nobu" and "The Cote
Basque" or whatever stands in for those memorable
establishments in the Chicago of 2035 that we drop into.) The
fights between humans and robots and the internecine battles
as well, pitting metal against metal, occur when some of the
creations of the chief scientist, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James
Cromwell) "evolve" to the detriment of the warm-blooded
civilians in the story. The robots appear to rebel against the
immutable Three Laws of Robotics, which are: 1) A robot may
not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human
begins to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey orders given to it
by human beings except where such orders would conflict with
the First Law; 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long
as such protection does not conflict with the First and Second
Laws.
The rebellion of Chicago's servants is not exactly what it
seems. We learn–too late in the game when that important
element of sci-fi, the satirical influence, is announced rather
than conveyed subliminally –that they act not out of hate for
their human creators like the thousands of Frankenstein
monsters that they seem to be, but are doing so for our own
good. In other words, the laws, in their interpretation, are not
violated at all.
As Detective Spooner, who owes a personal debt to Dr. Alfred
Lanning, pursues the runaway robots with the help of robot
programmer and psychiatrist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget
Moynahan) and despite the resistance of the company's CEO,
Lance Robertson (Bruce Greenwood) and Spooner's boss, Lt.
John Bergin (Chi McBride), we enjoy the incredible special
effects created by computers, the creations looking every bit like
real statues turned out by F.A.O. Schwartz. The robots turn
somersaults and climb walls like Spiderman, but like Spidey
they are not immortal. Police guns can disable them but as they
surround their human resistors, we get the impression that their
sheer numbers will mean the end of humanity in Chicago.
There is, however, one robot who is unique, different from the
others and, in fact, is given a name: Sonny (Alan Tudyk) .
Sonny can feel human emotions like anger, sadness and joy,
allowing him to serve as liaison between the people and his own
kind.
Where "I, Robot" falls short, however, is in emphasizing the
battle scenes at the expense of the human. Though we watch
Dr. Calvin evolve in her own way under the influence of the laid-
back Spooner from a stick-in-the-butt scientist speaking in
scientific jargon to a warm human being who speaks English,
and take pleasure in the dialogue between Spooner and his
boss, Lt. Bergin, the battles supplant the development of
character that is, or should be, obligatory in movies of any
genre. "I, Robot," is inspired by the nine short stories of Isaac
Asimov in his book of interrelated tales of the same title.
Rated PG-13. 111 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
at harveycritic@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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X-RT-TitleID: 1134097
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X-RT-RatingText: B
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