A little disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2004)

This was a mediocre film that didn't live up to all of the hype. It is sort of like Independence Day, with Robots instead of Aliens, but without the really strong supporting cast. There are some decent action scenes, and the premise is pretty cool, but all in all it seems like they rushed it (maybe for a big summer release) instead of taking their time and doing it right. In summary, Will Smith plays a cop "prejudiced" against the robots that now make up a large portion of the population. The robots are benign servants who are governed by the 3 Rules that forbid them from harming humans and mandating their carrying out of all of bidding. Smith gets drawn into an apparent suicide of the top scientist and co-founder of US Robotics; who coincidentally is planning on rolling out the next generation of robots to the human population. It gets a little predictable from there. Worth a matinée price, but not much more.