Surprisingly Good

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2006)

When I first heard of 'I, Robot', I felt that it was just going to be a mindless action film that thought it was, in some way, being intelligent in its execution. I was pleasantly surprised. The year is 2035. Human-like robots have become the norm in modern society. They clean our homes, they make our furniture, they deliver our parcels. In Chicago, police detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) possesses a seemingly irrational dislike of robots. He is immediately suspicious that an apparent suicide could be the doing of a disobedient robot. His suspicions are quickly dismissed by his peers. After all, such an action would violate the Three Laws, which every robot is programmed to obey.
The film is very good. The acting is generally very good- Smith is a very likable sci-fi hero. The stand-out performance would be that of Alan Tudyk who perfectly voices the implicated Robot, named Sunny. The special effects are very good, and the cinematography perfectly displays the future landscape of Chicago. Based on an Isaac Assimov story, 'I, Robot' makes for a genuinely intelligent look at where human technology is heading. I'd rate it just a shade below Spielberg's 'Minority Report' and I'd give it 7/10. Well worth your time!