Great fun, shaky premise

Rating: 6/10 (5 February 2005)

Warning. Spoilers below.
A fun movie. Well done in terms of acting and cinematography. I always enjoy Will Smith. However, the writing is poor and the ideas very weak. The initial premise is that Will Smith's character hates robots. The explanation for that attitude doesn't hold water, so to speak, in terms of human psychologically. He'd feel grateful, even if he might harbor guilt for being the one that lived. Then there are all the incidents that frame Will Smith because there are no witnesses or records. That's a stretch, too. They didn't lay it out well enough to make it believable that his story would be confirmed in a heartbeat, if someone tried. There are always witnesses. Then, there is the problem with the main premise that the three laws of robotics will naturally lead to revolution. That's not adequately justified, either.
All put together, it forces the movie to be no more than a children's movie, because an adult wouldn't "suspend his disbelief." To know what's possible when the writing is better, even with a far-out story, just recall "Men in Black." Too bad. It could have been worthy of the Asimov name with a little more thought into the story.