Aging just about okay

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2016)

Just because Will Smith still looks only about a week older than he did in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it doesn't mean that all his films do. I remember watching 'I Robot' back in 2004 and being pretty impressed, so much so that I eventually bought it on DVD and have watched it a couple more times over the years. Now, some twelve years later, I put it on my big-screen TV and have noticed that a few cracks are beginning to show.
No, not cracks on Will Smith's face. He still looks as (annoyingly!) young as ever, more cracks in the overall production – namely the CGI. Yes, a futuristic world partially-populated by robots was always destined to require a fair amount of computer effects to bring it to life. I guess I just didn't realise quite how many at the time. Now it's kind of looking like a Star Wars prequel – you can almost spot every single 'blue screen' behind the principal actors.
Anyway, I'm just starting with my (new) gripe because I noticed it more this time around. I should really be saying that – despite now obvious CGI – 'I Robot' is actually quite fun. Will Smith doesn't really stretch his acting abilities playing basically Will Smith in Men in Black, Will Smith in Independence Day and Will Smith in I am Legend, only this time he's a cynical cop who dislikes robots (despite them never actually have been charged with committing a crime in this near future world we're watching). Anyway, when a robot is accused of murdering someone, Will Smith's paranoia goes into overdrive and he goes on a witch-hunt to prove our alleged metal helpers have a darker agenda.
Basically, if you like Will Smith in general, you'll love this. If you like sci-fi and action combined (loosely) with a kind of conspiracy movie then you'll also probably love this. It's good, harmless fun. I did see on the internet people moaning that it wasn't as 'faithful' to whatever source material that it was based on by Isaac Asimov, but since when did Hollywood ever follow the source material that faithfully? What you have here is a fun little popcorn blockbuster movie. It's designed to appeal to as many people as possible and if you're not expecting too much then you should be pleasantly surprised (just don't expect lavishly-built sets – it's all CGI!).
And it does leave you wanting your own robot to walk your dog, do your laundry and generally all those boring chores that get in the way of surfing the net, Playstation and all those really 'important' things we have to do!