Will Smith Was Jigga With It...

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2004)

A robot may not harm a human or, by inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. Those are the 3 simple laws of robotics. Alex Proyas takes this concept and turns it into a Terminator-like film that turns out surprisingly good.
Del Spooner (Will Smith) plays a detective that has a vendetta against robots in the year 2035 in Chicago. He despises robots, and one day he catches his break and finds a case that involves a robot. Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the creator of the robots and the three falls from his office window in what looks like a suicide. Spooner has a suspicion that it wasn't suicide, but that it could have been murder, and with the help of Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) he reveals a deep mystery focused around a certain robot, and his capability to defy the three laws.
Going into I, Robot, I was expecting an unstable plot with overdone CGI. What I got was a surprisingly pleasing plot with excellent CGI. It was so perfect that you almost couldn't tell it was CGI. It was probably the best CGI I have ever seen in a film. The film did share a lot of similar ideas with films such as The Terminator and The Matrix, but not enough where you can say the whole film was mimicking those films. The script was strong enough to hold on it's own without any unneeded side stories. A big plus was the relatively small cast with the script being based on the main idea rather than going into off into unneeded side-stories that would interfere an already complex story. Everything had a connection that concluded the story without a problem.
Will Smith portrayed his character superbly. Sure, the acting could always be better, but he didn't have much of an impact to say that the whole movie revolved around him. It was a simple role, and Will Smith was perfect for the job. Although this wasn't a breakthrough role for Will Smith, it was one of his better movies as far as acting goes. Bridget Moynahan wasn't all that great, and the rest of the cast was adequate.
The visuals were stunning. Patrick Tatopoulos, the production designer, built a realistic universe and Proyas made it visually outstanding. I would have never dreamed to see CGI be this good. It fit perfectly with how the movie flowed with the plot. You wouldn't be able to tell if it was CGI or not. Visually, everything was up-to-par with the recent standard sci-fi films, but I, Robot stood out with its awe-inspiring unique visualizes.
I, Robot stands out as a very interesting film that made a new standard for visuals. I loved how the film used a concept such as Wal-Mart and independent stores with the idea of robots and humans. Wal-Mart is so cheap, so it forces independent stores to close if no one buys anything from the store, whereas in the movie robots take the place of human jobs because they do a better and faster job. That made the film feel more interested. I could say this movie would be in the top 3 movie roles that Will Smith played, and probably his best acting job. I, Robot offered action, amazing visuals, a delightful plot, a little bit of humor, with so-so acting, which adds up to a must-see film if your into the sci-fi genre, or if you just want to catch a enjoyable film.
Story: B+ Acting: C+ Visuals: A+ Cinematography: B Overall: B+ (Not an average)