Entertaining action sci fi flick, marred by product placement and weak adaptation

Rating: 6/10 (26 October 2005)

Asimov is not quite spinning in his grave, but I think he would have a difficult time recognizing his influence in this adaptation of one of his best novels. Yes, the three laws of AI are here, and yes, the basics of the plot are preserved, but that's about where the similarities end. This is an explosive action film with some simple messages about humanity and person hood which have been explored many times before and in more intelligent and challenging ways. Nevertheless, it's also a much better film than I expected it to be.
I, Robot asks questions about souls and whether they are a product of human biology or intelligence, but doesn't explore them very deeply. Any depth in this film is directly attributable to Asimov's original material. Mostly, this is a murder mystery with a great deal of unnecessary mechanized violence, car chases, and high speed action. A top cyberneticist has died as a result of a fall from a glass enclosed lab, and the only witness is a robot endowed with not just human intellect, but human emotion. Will Smith is a luddite technophobic detective who quickly becomes convinced that this machine may have murdered the scientist, but why? Will Smith is decent, but the material isn't much of a challenge for him. Bridget Moynahan is good in a somewhat more difficult role. However, the star of the show is a CGI robot played by the wonderful Alan Tudyk - "Sonny".
This is definitely a genre film. Even the casting attempts to pull in the sci fi audience - the very recognizable genre star James Cromwell (Star Trek...) Tudyk (Serenity, Firefly). The directing has its moments and the camera-work is sometimes Spielburgian in scope.
Recommended for sci-fi action enthusiasts. Others will likely be bored.