I, Robot: 6/10

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2004)

Once upon a time, there was a Russian author who had incredible foresight into the world of modern technology. He decided to publish his thoughts into a book called I, Robot. Later on, Oscar winning writer Akiva Goldsman wrote a movie about a bunch of killer robots. He titled the movie I, Robot. Are there any similarities between the two pieces of writing? Besides the classic three rules of robotics and two characters having the same name, absolutely nothing. I knew it would be completely different, so I'll try to refrain from commenting on the differences between the two. It may be hard to do, but I'll do my best.
Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is in the Chicago PD who doesn't like robots becoming helpers in society. One day, a robot called Sonny (voiced by Alan Tudyk, last seen in Dodgeball) supposedly commits a crime. No one believes that he did it except for Del, because robots follow the three laws: a robot must do anything to save humans, a robot must follow orders unless it would conflict with the first law, and a robot must save itself unless it would conflict with the firs two laws. Therefore, no one believes that Sonny could do it. But Del goes out and tries to prove them wrong, along with Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan).
Movies like this can be simple action movies held together with a loose plot and a wise-cracking (but unfunny), buff action hero star who kicks ass whenever possible. That's all fine and dandy, except that that has become a cliché. At least the Terminator couldn't really speak. All of Spooner's wisecracks were unfunny (I take that back-one was pretty good) and unnecessary. But not only was that character clichéd, but so was most of the plot. There's a cold, genius female scientist whom the male action hero gets to open up. There's the one-dimensional bad guy (Bruce Greenwood) who's just thrown into a few scenes. But what else would you expect? It's a summer blockbuster.
And much like other summer blockbusters, I, Robot is entertaining on a general scale. The futuristic set is pretty cool (although they drew themselves into a hole-that's not what Chicago will look like in 2035. I had the same problem with Minority Report), as they almost always are. The robots were also pretty cool, although, once again, it seemed too extreme for 30 years from now. Plus, it annoyed me that they all walked like cowboys. But that's a moot point. Although the editing was too quick, the action scenes were fun to watch. Sure, Smith's just fighting computer generated images, but that doesn't make it uncool to watch. In fact, they're some of the best action scenes of the year.
Smith is on another train of losers when it comes to acting. I actually only liked him in Men in Black. He's just not that good, no matter what studios think. He doesn't really have drawing power anymore-I don't know anyone who is going to this movie for Smith. Everyone else is bland, as is expected, but movies like this usually don't go on character. They don't even go on plot, like the inanity of the ending can show. It goes on an entertaining time, and if that's all you walk into I, Robot expecting, you definitely won't be disappointed. If you go in expecting some low-key version of Asimov's collection of short stories, you'd better go see something else, because that this isn't.
My rating: 6/10
Rated PG-13 for intense stylized action, and some brief partial nudity.