I, Robot (2004)
a review by
Wahid Sharif
"I, Robot", the latest film from Alex Proyas (director of the
brilliant
"Dark City"), is based off an Issac Asimov story and it stars Will Smith
as Del
Spooner - a Chicago detective in the year 2035 who investigates an
apparent
homicide commited by a robot against its maker, Dr. Alfred Lanning (played
by
James Cromwell). Spooner is predjudiced against robots as he is convinced
that
a robot - one in particular named "Sonny" is responsible for this
"murder".
However, there are many others, including a robo-psychiatrist named Susan
Calvin (played by Bridget Moynahan) who feel that a robot couldn't have
possibly committed a crime because of the Three Laws of Robotics (1. A
robot
may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow human beings to
come
to harm. 2. A robot mut 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). Spooner is determined to prove that like any law, these are
made
to be broken.
This film doesn't break any new ground here as the design of the
robots
look like rejected drawings and designs of those Stormtroopers in the
early
Star Wars films. Some of the dialogue is bland, and Smith's wisecracking
often
wears thin. In fact, the film would have been much if it had played it a
lot
more straight, with just a few touches of humor. In terms of his
character's
predjudice against robots, I would have liked it more if his predjudice
came
from something a lot more personal than what's presented here. Although,
we do
find out why he has shoulder trouble.
Having said this, the film is an entertaining popcorn movie, and
that's
what summer films should do. There are soild action sequences, and the
cast is
good, despite the weak script (My hometown of Chicago looks really nice
here).
I find it interesting that an African-American actor is casted in the role
of a
man who's predjudice against beings who are different from us, and the
casting
of Smith is a nice use of irony. It makes you think about the history of
our
country and the current climate that exists today. Asimov, like many other
Science-Fiction writers was making a statement then (using technological
paranoia as a way to write about the social problems of our society), and
this
film is making a subtle statement now.
GRADE: B-
Wahid Sharif
moodybastard_717@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
38295
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1298297
X-RT-TitleID: 1134097
X-RT-AuthorID: 10692
X-RT-RatingText: B-
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