After being in a string of dismal summer films, I’m here to tell you that Will Smith is back, and he finally does a good movie! After taking on a giant robot spider, aliens, and drug kingpins, Mr. July tries his hand at Killer Robots.
Based on the book, “”I. Robot”” by Isaac Asimov, Will Smith plays detective Del Spooner a retro kind of guy living in a futuristic world. While everyone else in the year 2035 love gadgets of all kinds, Spooner loathes them. He doesn’t like it when his car automatically drive for him, he uses an old fashioned remote control stereo system, listens to old music by Stevie Wonder, and wears retro 2004 sneakers by Converse. So it’s not surprising that Spooner hates Robots. The reason for his seemingly irrational hatred is explained later in the film. Every Robot in the world has three rules hard coded into their systems: 1) Never harm a human 2) Always protect a human, unless that protection conflicts with rule number 1, and rule 3) Self preservation, unless it conflicts with rules 1 and 2. So when Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) the inventor of Robot technology turns up dead, Spooner’s investigation leads him to a Robot who calls himself “”Sonny.”” What’s unique about Sonny is that not only does this particular Robot have a name, but he also dreams, displays independence and shows emotions, all things that prove to Sonny that this Robot is not to be trusted. Unfortunately no one believes Spooner. The police have bought into the hype that Robots are completely infallible.The writing and story in “”I. Robot”” is very good and strong. The film keeps you guessing throughout its two hour running time, and almost never goes in a direction that you expect it to go. There are several surprises and a real nice double twist of an ending. With one noticeable exception; all of the material that dealt with the police station felt and looked as if it was written by some Hollywood screenwriting program and not a real person. When Spooner’s Police Lt. John Bergin (Chi McBride) suspended him for his over the top behavior, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he pulled out a box of aspirin or Maalox, sat in his office and said “”I’m getting too old for this shit!”” I haven’t read the original books, so I won’t comment on if this is a faithful adaptation or not.Director, Alex Proyas does a fantastic job of creating a world that is both, fantastic and futuristic, yet retro enough to make you feel like his vision of Chicago in 2035 could be our Chicago in just a few years. There are lots of nice little touches like futuristic cars riding on everyday highways and tunnels the L Train that looks just as it does today, but for some reason Lake Michigan is a desert now. Proyas flexes his muscles during the film’s numerous action sequences and it’s not all good. There are a couple scenes, like the chase in the beginning, where he simply doesn’t know how to park a camera and let the scene take over. His frenetic, fast cutting, and strobe lighting editing style was nauseating. Luckily for the film he uses this technique sparingly, in favor of his constant use of bullet time. Midway through the film when Smith and the Robots are diving around like they are Xeon, you can’t help but laugh out loud.The special effects in this film were all top notch, and Sonny (Alan Tudyk) the Robot was just plain freaky! His facial expressions, and the way his eyes moved had the desired effect and totally weirded me out. “”I. Robot”” is a fun, if not flawed sci-fi film, definitely worth watching at least once on the big screen. Final Grade BEM Review by Michelle AlexandriaOriginal Posted 7/16/04