Seven Stars Is About Right

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2010)

Will Smith stars as the clichéd cop-with-attitude, and it's particularly an attitude towards robots, in this otherwise fairly formulaic who-done-it.
Set somewhen 'in the future' where technology has advanced in a curiously ad-hoc way. Robots are apparently commonplace. Strangely; they are all of the same type. The kind of variety we might associate with - say - vehicles has not apparently been realised in the world of robotics. There, the i-Pod clone appears to rule.
Some robots are good. Some are bad. One is uniquely smart, like Johnny-5 from 'Short Circuit'. When their inventor dies in a fall through a window, this prodigy becomes Will Smith's prime suspect. Though things are naturally more complicated, and the conspiracy runs deeper.
At a technical level, a lot of money has been spent. Music and especially sound track are competent. All other issues such as lighting and editing are on the money. The whole thing is just a wee bit too formulaic for its own good. But special effects vary. The CGI is often so naff that the spell of believability is almost broken. The robots in particular lack substance. Sometimes its almost like watching two movies simultaneously, one with humans in it and another cartoonish equivalent featuring the CGI cybernetics. Which, of course, is exactly how it was put together. It takes a REAL machine to look REAL - as in 'Short Circuit'; but clearly the hundreds of robots featured here could not possibly have been individually constructed within a viable budget. It's just a pity that at least one two were not; that would have greatly enhanced plausibility.
Finally; Will (lobes) Smith was the least suitable lead. He himself has the face of a cartoon creature, and what with those preposterous ears of his it is almost impossible to take him seriously. He may not be a comic, but he's certainly comical. A more serious actor would have raised the movie's threshold considerably. Perhaps Denzel Washington...
This work is a Hollywood fantasy take on Asimov's academic fiction. It's worth a watch, but just don't expect any serious evaluation about life and personal identity; there was more of that even in T2. And don't look too closely at the CGI/human interface. Finally; try not to laugh at Will Smith's Mickey-Mouse ears.