I, Robot - Mobile Edition

Movie Reviews
I, Robot
By Hervé St-Louis
July 22, 2004 - 11:33

Studios: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Will Smith (Del Spooner), Bridget Moynahan (Susan Calvin), Bruce Greenwood (Lawrence Robertson), James Cromwell (Dr. Alfred Lanning), Chi McBride (Lt. John Bergin), Shia LaBeouf (Farber), Adrian L. Ricard (Granny) and Alan Tudyk (Sonny)
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Produced by: Laurence Mark, John Davis, Topher Dow and Wyck Godfrey
Running Time: 110 minutes
Release Date: July 16, 2004
Rating: PG13
Distributors: 20th Century Fox

Director of photography, Simon Duggan; edited by Richard Learoyd, Armen Minasian and William Hoy; music by Marco Beltrami; production designer, Patrick Tatopoulos;

Set in 2035, I Robot is loosely based on Isaac Asimov's work. The creator of the term robot, he foresaw, the implications of mechanical domestics in our lives. In I, Robot, Spooner, played by Smith, is paranoid detective investigating the death of the inventor of all robots. He thinks a robot did the crime. The more he digs, he suspects the new NS-5 models are preparing a rebellion.

This is a good sci-fi thriller that didn't morph into a Will Smith movie. It's great to see that the actor is capable moving beyond the stereotype he created. This story offers lots of twists and action. The bad treatment robots receive in this film explain why they would rebel. Still, they overdo the emphasis on robots' safety. If no accident ever happens, why always mention how safe they are?

Whether they used animatronics or 3D characters, this film's designers provided a good depiction of the near future, although the new Chicago looked too plastic and too clean and not very probable. I wish they had spent more time on the visual designs of humans, providing realist displays of their clothing, instead of using product placement ads, like they did with Spooner.