Good for Hollywood, bad for movies

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2004)

You can tell a lot about the viewer by their comments on movies and I, Robot tells a lot. There are the art house viewers who expect slow, thoughtful musings; there are the sci- fi historians who expect the spirit of Asimov to rise out of the movie; there are the mindless summer viewers who say, "look at the pretty explosions... haha... that was funny... Will Smith is clever"; and there are jaded, whiners like me who watch the movie so they can add their comments to IMDb... ;-)
I, Robot is the classic example of a mediocre Hollywood effects movie with very good intentions that fails for the same reason many Hollywood movies fail: Bad dialogue, lack of suspension of disbelief and dubious casting. As usual, the effects are great, but there are too many. This review will have a few minor spoilers, but nothing, I expect, that will ruin the film for future viewers (as if they will pick this one out of the many).
Let's start with the good. The effects are top-notch and the CGI is mostly seamless except for some of the more ambitious outdoor scenes. Will Smith is his usual likable self and almost compensates for the dialogue. Bridget Moynahan does a credible job of playing a scientist with heart and pulls off the technobabble with a straight face and the sense she might know what she's talking about. The plot is somewhat clever with some stuff you can't see coming right away. The discussion of self-aware robots is delved into more than one would expect of a typical Hollywood film.
The bad. Why do sci-fi movies always expect huge leaps in technology in such a short period of time? Maybe it's just me, but besides the cell-phone and the ubiquitous wireless laptop is 1970 that much different from 2004? I guess I felt 2035 wasn't far enough int he future for me. Some of Will Smith's dialog is really awful with some really stupid and obvious one-liners that often fall a little flat. The relationship between Will's character and his lieutenant boss seemed very forced. The plot things that happen to Will's character also often fail to suspend disbelief, especially when he supposedly gets suspended for running 2 huge future trucks off the road (inside a tunnel, mind you) with his little sports-car Audi. Lots of the action and effects sequences seemed de rigeur (meaning they were there because a Hollywood blockbuster needs them more than the story). The final battle was almost boring. Lastly, but a mostly minor point, Bridget Moynahan was way too good-looking as the scientist character and her girly, emotional scenes had a bit too much crying. She kept making me think of the Supermodel- Scientist of the MIT ig-Nobel awards.
Overall, I, Robot is a watchable, entertaining summer flick, but not terribly memorable or praisable. Worth a matinée. Should be seen in the theatre if you watch it for the effects.