I, Robot

This movie is definitely a hard one to review. I’m still trying to decide if I liked it or not. “I, Robot” is just an average, summer action flick. The title comes from Isaac Asimov’s famous short stories of the same name. This is just about the only thing they have in common. Will Smith, of course, added plenty of appeal, but his talent was dumbed down with stupid actions sequences and too many one-liners. One of the best actors was a robot. The CG effects look okay, if you pretend it’s 2004. If you’re looking for proof that Hollywood is completely out of ideas, then look no further.

This film takes place in 2035, in Manhattan, where robots are part of everyone’s lives. They take the butler role in middle to upper class homes, and all of the menial jobs that humans don’t want, such as the janitor or lumberjack. The biggest issue in “I, Robot” is how Will Smith suspects all these robots of violence towards humans and eventual rebellion. In the original Isaac Asimov short stories, this instance never once came up. The idea of robots breaking their programmed laws was unthinkable to him. While the movie shares the title, and a few character names, everything else was just a completely different story, and didn’t need to shame Asimov’s work with its pointless action and its juvenile mystery.

Most of the box office return in “I, Robot,” of course, came from the people’s love of Will Smith. A great actor like him deserved better. Most of the movie’s running time, he was either spamming bad jokes or performing stupid action stunts like jumping off of high-speed motorcycles while precision-firing pistols at evil robots. A much better performance came from Bridget Moynahan, a previously unknown actress who performed her stiff, awkward role with perfection. Another great performance came from a robot, of all things. It was only a voice-over, but it contained more emotion than Smith’s character could ever have encompassed.

The special effects in this movie were not all that wonderful. When it first came out in 2004, I thought the same thing. Whichever year you choose, the CGI was sub par. The robots all looked pretty fake, and since that was what we saw the majority of the screen time, then that made the whole shebang kind of lame.

“I, Robot” was not the greatest summer flick I’ve ever seen. It bared only the slightest resemblance to Isaac Asimov’s short stories, Will Smith didn’t get a chance to show off his skills, and the special effects were not very good. It is worth seeing, once, but I wouldn’t waste money buying it. I give it 6 out of 10 stars.