Entertaining but formulaic ** minor spoilers **

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2004)

It's Chicago in 2035; someone who stands out physically from the crowd is running with a woman's handbag; a policeman assumes robbery and gives chase, only to find that the robot was simply collecting the bag for an asthmatic woman. It seems that prejudice (and allergy) is still prevalent in the future and you'd expect the cop to know better because he's black. But since this is Will Smith in his traditional summer blockbuster, we know that somewhere down the line he's going to be able to tell us "I told you so" and that - like "Blade Runner" and "Robocop" - a wicked corporation will be at the centre of the conspiracy.
"I, Robot" is billed as "inspired" by the nine stories of Isaac Asimov published in 1950, so we have the spirit but none of the narrative of Asimov's seminal work. In truth, the central theme of 'machines try to take over the world' is now rather hackneyed, done much better in "Blade Runner", more recently in "The Matrix" trilogy, and to death in the "Terminator" series.
What makes this film a little different are the stars and the special effects, welded together effectively by director Alex Pryas. A beefed-up and charismatic Will Smith shows that he can act and former model Bridget Moynahan demonstrates the potential that Sandra Bullock exhibited in "Demolition Man", while the CGI-generated robots look good, especially when set out in endless serried ranks in the manufacturing plant or when represented by the spirited android Sonny (Alan Tudyk).
Ultimately what prevents "I, Robot" rising above the entertaining, but formulaic and unmemorable, is the lack of originality, a stronger script, and deeper characterisation - the failures of most movies - and I hope that the timid ending is not setting us up for a sequel of robot wars. It could have been so much cleverer, especially if the script had picked up on the ambiguity that the robot-hating detective is part-android himself.