Surprised

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2004)

So, it's a big budget action film and all. It's not Gosford Park but then it's closer to that than other sci-fi treasures-become-film like Battlefield Earth.
I don't think it's fair to review this movie without making note of the outrage expressed by the sci-fi fan base over the plot of this film. Apparently the film is pretty substantially different from the book. Having a beloved book taken from you and turned into a different movie is disappointing and usually a disaster.
Now, to one who doesn't know the book: This is a good movie. It takes a number of ideas such as reliance on technology, racial prejudice, survivor's guilt and the nature of the soul and frames them in a high-tech big budget actioner. That's a good thing.
There were a couple of scenes that I think show the problem of making this kind of movie in Hollywood. The big robots-jumping-on-the-Audi scene that made all the trailers and advertisements didn't need to be done so lavishly. It reminded me of the Death Star battle in Jedi where swarms of ships appear on screen at once. It was too much for me to appreciate visually. It may be though that without the combination of forces at work this wouldn't have been as good as it turned out to be. Not terrific. I'm not saying that, but it's a good film.
Of note: Will Smith's acting in this is pretty damn good. His character's tend to be extensions of Fresh Prince. They're highly exuberant and cocky. This time, he's subdued and a bit more cynical. It's a nice change. Let's see... There's the presence of James Cromwell, which helps any film. And here's something: I noticed that many of the characters in the film are black. I appreciated seeing this since these characters are not by necessity black characters, they're just people and these are black. That kind of racial mix made sense to me and I feel it needs to be done a lot more often.
Anyway, it's not dull, it's not silly and it's got something to say. I think you might give it a try.