Help the environment recycle you're sci-fi films

Rating: 4/10 (24 August 2004)

From the trailers it was easy to see that this film was going to be a basic robot revolt film that has been toyed with in both literature and films many times in the past. Though it is fair to say that Asimov was a strong sci-fi writer in his own right, this movie comes at an opportune moment in the cinema time-line; when it is guaranteed success. People would have wanted to see the Matrix robot revolt in live action, but we had to settle for an animated version of it all in the Animatrix.
However, this film takes only a small element of the Matrix in this respect, but then smashes this together with all the other sci-fi-robot related films ever made. I am talking about a very long list of quite good films that have all been, basically, ripped-off;
Short Circuit, Blade Runner, A.I, Bicentennial Man, Terminator, the list is (probably) endless.
Of course, there is one saving grace for this film Alex Proyas. Thankfully for everyone involved a great director was employed as the visionary for the production and it shows with many of his great shots and angles that he has used to great effect in previous efforts and does so again here to help keep the film from being too bland and too much of a blatant rehash of older films.
Top marks to the man for his daring creativity that takes a computer generated character and makes it a key player with good effect, unlike the Jar Jar Binks disaster of Phantom Menace fame. Sonny is a good character that gives a good show in his own right ,but it must be said again, a recycled element  HAL of 2001 a Space Odyssey, but with a body to run around in. Shame that not even the good visual elements of this film could been original either.
However, it is good to see that CGI is finally making big leaps towards top quality and soon will make films better instead of being an over used thorn in our side.
2/5