A kinder, gentler version of The Terminator

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2004)

Many of the same principles (man vs. unpredictable machine) from The Terminator series is used in I, Robot, so a comparison is inevitable, and I, Robot isn't as hard hitting. Will Smith and Bridget Moynahan make decent leads; Smith gets his vanity shots in (flexing as he gets out of bed, throwing in some "aw, hell naw"'s along the way) and Moynahan plays the beautiful scientist role that practically any just-over 30 ex-model could have played. Smith shows more range than normal, though, playing Det. Del Spooner as a guy so obsessed with his job that not much else matters, even though he loves his grandma and watches out for some little street punk (Shia LeBeouf). The premise is basically the same as The Terminator's, just that in this version, someone smells something wrong before Judgement Day. The head renegade robot sounds like David Hyde Pierce, which is hardly a replacement for Schwarzenegger or even Robert Patrick.