Weak start but gets way better

Rating: 8/10 (23 August 2004)

About ten minutes into this film I was really starting to wonder why my friend had recommended I go see it. The dialogue was poor and the characters seemed to be going down the well trodden path of misfit divorced cop who has an unconventional relationship with an older figure saves the day while having an unsympathetic boss who also happens to be his friend. Some of that turned out to be true but as the film moves along it does other things as well.
Gone is the endlessly wise cracking Will Smith that everyone expects after films like MIB and Independence Day, to be replaced with a more serious and, once you realise why he hates robots, more believable person.
I especially likes the way the film puts ideas out there and then does nothing with them, allowing the audience to speculate before coming back later to add an explanation. Spooners relationship with Lanning is mentioned several times but its not until the film is two-thirds done that its explained. It doesn't patronise instead asking that you just stick with it and everything will become clear.
The ending was good and the special effects were, to my mind at least, some of the best I've ever seen. The robots themselves are the best example of this. Beyond the first couple of scenes where the director deliberately sticks them in your face they never look at all out of place.
The film is thought provoking too, prompting everyone to ask questions about when a machine becomes a living thing.
By the end of the movie my initial reservations were gone, although he unconvincing dialogue does return from time to time.
Definitely worth seeing.