Enjoyable Sci-Fi action thriller blockbuster.

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2008)

I, Robot is set in Chicago, 2035 where the headquarters of US Robotics is located. US Robotics is the largest manufacturer of robots in the world & the use of Robot servants by humans is common, the Robots are governed by three laws which prevent them from harming a human but homicide detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is suspicious of them. Spooner then gets a holographic message from US Robotics founder & Robot creator Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell) who has recently committed suicide. Del suspects that Lanning discovered something about his Robots & that they killed him but no-one believes him. Together with Robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan) detective Spooner investigates Lannings suicide & becomes convinced it was murder & that the Robots which are everywhere & in almost every home in the world are planning something...
This American German co-production was originally developed under the title Hardwired & was directed by Alex Proyas, I must admit I actually really rather liked this big budget CGI laden Sci-Fi action blockbuster. Apparently taking the works of Isaac Asimov (the Robotic three laws in particular) as inspiration the script by Jeff Vintar & Akiva Goldsman starts off in intriguing murder mystery fashion, an old school detective thriller set in the future as it were but then with about thirty odd minutes to go it turns into the predicted overblown noisy Hollywood action vehicle which is fine since I suppose that's all anyone really expected it to be anyway. The neat murder mystery elements are a good bonus while they last & I liked I, Robot more when it was dealing with the murder & various conspiracies than when it decides to go down the huge action set-piece route. The character's are a bit thin on the ground & it takes Will Smith to really carry the film which he does. Love him or loathe him one has to say he sure has made some great films & his acting is getting better, I must admit I thought he was great in I, Robot & he turns Spooner into a really charismatic likable hero with plenty of amusing one-liners & quips. I loved the exchange he has with Dr. Calvin where she ask's if he has 'Ever had a normal day?' to which he replies 'Yeah, once. It was a Thursday'. Well it made me laugh anyway. The film has a good pace, it moves along in a logical & interesting way which keeps you watching & overall it's an effective & enjoyable futuristic thriller.
The vision of the future that I, Robot paints is actually very hard to believe if you think about it, upright walking Robotics is more or less dead & has no practical use. Even now there's no great desire or need for Robots like the ones in the film & they wouldn't work in reality as in the film anyway. I, Robot is packed with CGI computer effects, in fact I would bet there aren't too many scenes which don't feature some sort of optical effect. While they look nice enough & are animated with great detail you just know that what your looking at is a CGI computer graphic. Not once during I, Robot did I actually think I was looking at a real Robot. There are some good set-pieces including a house being demolished while Will Smith is still inside it, there's some nice motorbike stunts, an expensive looking CGI sequence set in a tunnel where Will Smith in his car is attacked by dozens of Robots & a dizzying final sequence set inside a huge computer core control room.
With a supposed budget of about $120,000,000 I, Robot had the budget of a small country at it's disposable (although Will Smith apparently got paid $28,000,000) so as one would expect it looks great with expensive looking CGI, big set-pieces, immaculate production design & a really clean futuristic look. Apparently Denzel Washington was offered the role of Del Spooner, luckily he either didn't accept it or he was replaced & I doubt I, Robot would be as much fun without Will Smith. The rest of the acting is alright although no-one is given much to do.
I, Robot is a fun big budget blockbuster that I must admit I really liked, at the end of the day it's nothing more than good fun but what else do you want? Thanks to a charismatic performance from Will Smith & plenty of action I say this one is well worth a watch. According to the IMDb I, Robot 2 (2010) is currently in development.