Rage against the machines in "I, Robot"

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2004)

The Three Robot safe laws:
1. A robot may not injure a human being
2. A robot must obey orders given it
3. A robot must protect its own existence
In "I, Robot," the latest sci-fi film that's an adaptation of stories written by a revered author to receive the Hollywood treatment in order to capitalize on post-9/11-era paranoia, you'll find a few shreds of genius and not much of anything resembling the works of Isaac Asimov.
Asimov devised the "3 Laws Safe" paradox that I listed way back in the year 1940, and it doesn't take much deciphering to realize that law #3 is in obvious conflict with the first two: it states that a robot must protect its own life, but only if it's not in conflict with the first two laws, which states that a robot could harm a human being if it has to.
The "3 Laws Safe" and their likenesses have been prevalent in science fiction ever since Asimov began writing the robot stories that he's most famous for today. I'm not going to waste my time with a useless book vs. movie comparison, but I'm only going to review the movie, which has its own merits but Asimov fans will be understandably sore.
In Chicago 2035, Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) has a deep resentment of robots, which have been seamlessly integrated into American society and now are able to take on common, everyday tasks such as cleaning the house or providing companionship to humans. When a prominent robotics engineer and inventor, Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), dies under heavily suspicious circumstances, Spooner is sent to investigate.
His investigation leads him to the scientist's most prized invention, an "NS-5" model robot named "Sonny" (voiced by Alan Tudyk), whom of which Spooner is convinced committed a brutal murder and covered it up to make it look like a suicide. He aligns himself with another robotics engineer, Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), and the two soon discover that a sinister element lurks amongst robot society that yields something in the way of total annihilation of human beings.
"I, Robot" was directed by Alex Proyas, the gifted filmmaker behind "The Crow" (1994) and "Dark City" (1998), the latter film which was centered on an individual who tried to make sense of the deceptive environment he was trapped in. Will Smith plays such paranoia to full effect and he ends up being accurate in his conspiracy charges.
Can a robot commit a murder? That's the central question at the helm of this thriller, and the dead scientist (using hologram technology) clues Spooner in on the deceptiveness of the world around him. He even says that robots can naturally evolve and develop emotions and such; he calls it a "ghost in the machine" and this terminology may strike fans of the Anime' "Ghost in the Shell" as eerily familiar.
Much can be said about the film's production values, which are superb, but I wonder if Proyas had a think-tank come up with this future Chicago, much like Steven Spielberg did when he made "Minority Report" two years ago?
"I, Robot" is an action movie first and foremost, which was quick to cash in at the box office this summer. Smith's humor borders almost unnecessary at certain points, but it could be because of "I, Robot's" bleak and frightening premise. The robots themselves, once their plot is exposed, quickly become video game targets and are easily dispatched by the frightened humans who fight back in whatever ways that they can.
Despite these elements, when there is no action and the story settles down a bit to play with paranoia, it's actually quite interesting to see the characters interact with one another, accuse one another of not understanding a fellow human being, and yet the robots (for the most part) are able to cooperate with each other and nearly doom mankind.
7/10