I have some nice shoes to show you

Rating: 6/10 (17 September 2019)

I Robot isn't that bad flick, it does some things pretty well but unfortunately along with the good bits the makers of this film decided to deliver a huge kick in the teeth to its audience. Yes I'm talking about he Converse product placement, it is so obtrusive it's almost like it's intended to satirise the Hollywood practice of sprinkling brand names throughout film productions. We get a big dollop of Audi too but that's handled a little more conventionally.
It's a Will Smith vehicle because he was a huge draw back when this flic was made and as a consequence there's no much room for anyone else in the picture except for -- wait for it, Shia LaBeouf. Yes unfortunately as well as the aggressive product placement, this film suffers from, -is there a part for Shia LaBeouf- syndrome. Thankfully Shia's involvement is brief but let's take a moment to congratulate his agent because that man/woman really does deserve the, Best Representation for a Marginal Actor Oscar.
Anyway back to the flick, Will does his thing showing off his pecks, abs etcetera, as well as giving the gays in the audience a scene of him showering naked early on. While I don't begrudge our fruitier brethren their eye candy, it's not really my thing and the sight of Wills huge hairy arse, even if it is tastefully silhouetted, is fairly disturbing. As the narrative progresses we see Will dominating every scene, he's always got some dazzling repartee, quip or eccentricity to exercise for the benefit of his fans and while this might work for those who adore him, it doesn't make for effective drama. We do see him on at a disadvantage in two scenes but they are literally solo efforts with no other characters present.
The cgi is pretty good, there's quite a nice swarm of robots slithering towards our heroes as they reach the climax that's quite effective and Alan Tudyk (that's really his name and shouldn't it be pluralised?) gives the robot a certain amount of character. As I mentioned It's not really a bad flick but to really appreciate it, you need to be a Smith fan.
One major point of contention I'd like to raise is the script's attempt at exploring the issues raised by synthetic brains and robotics, ie that of consciousness and freewill. This is attempted mostly through James Cromwell's character, who from beyond the grave delivers an oration that mentions 'random segments of code' and 'unexpected protocols'. Uh, where did they get that twaddle from, the scriptwriter crib it from Windows NT blue screen. Honestly it's so asinine it's beyond belief, yet they actually reiterate almost the entire speech later in the film, as if it was something to be proud of. Come on people, if you're gonna flirt with such questions at least think about it for five minutes so you don't come across as complete idiot.