I, Robot

Rating: 10/10 (8 April 2005)

How can a movie that is full of missed opportunities still be such an entertaining feature? Alex Proyas must know the answer to this, as this movie is better than it should be. It's wall to wall special effects (none convincing) and action sequences, but none of it stirs the viewer. It's good and entertaining, but it should have been exciting as well. Set in the future, Will Smith plays a cop with distrust for robots who believes the suicide of a top scientist (James Cromwell) was actually a murder committed by a robot. Of course, no one else believes him. Smith seems to be on autopilot here, delivering a performance that lacks emotion. Then again, everyone is lacking of emotion. They just stand there and recite their lines and run from the effects. Finally, in the last half hour we get an exciting action sequence that was rousing. Maybe this was because what came before was not as interesting, or maybe it was truly impressive. After Proyas' far-superior Dark City, I was hoping for more. But, when all was said and done, I liked this movie. A lot. I like the robots and the sequence in the tunnel, as well as the finale. Seeing a mass of robots attack a high-rise was thrilling. I'll just tuck this one away under guilty pleasures.