Not great, but okay (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2004)

In the future, a homicide detective (Smith) investigates the apparent suicide of the founder of robotics (James Cromwell). He has his doubts, and they flare into suspicion when he finds a strange robot lurking around the crime scene.
Nothing particularly special, but a decent crime story set in the future where robots are integrated into daily life. Doesn't have a lot to do with Asimov's book, although some elements are shoehorned in. More importantly, here and there the writers manage to capture the spirit of Asimov's work -- some of the dialog has the same earnest, somewhat naive quality one associates with Asimov.
Smith is not one of my favorite actors, but he rings a few interesting changes on the cliched "rebellious cop bucking the system" role. The rest are routine, although I liked the actor they based the robot on: his voice acting, especially, is sweet and convincingly innocent.

The solution to the whodunit is somewhat surprising, although once we know the bad guy the climax becomes a retread of countless "insane computer killing humanity to save it" stories. On the other hand, the action sequences, particularly here at the finale as our heroes race to stop The Evil Computer, are extremely well done. (The battle between robots is a highlight.) It's not exactly enough to make you forget you've seen it many times before, but it's close.
Despite all the money thrown at it, this is a relatively small movie in spirit, limited in scope and ambition. I wouldn't be surprised to see a spin-off tv series a few years down the pike -- it's that kind of movie. But I still liked it. It makes sense, the story's paced well, the action is exciting and the movie poses it's questions without giving any simple answers, which was nice. A mild recommendation.