Lackluster blockbuster

Rating: 4/10 (23 July 2004)

A dry, unimaginative and derivative futuristic thriller that, despite a running time of less than two hours, makes for laborious viewing.
Scripted by Jeff Vintar (from his script, "Hardwired") and Akiva Goldsman, "I, Robot" borrows from Isaac Asimov and steals plenty from "Men in Black," "The Terminator" films and "Star Wars." A fight sequence could very well have been an outtake from "The Terminator" (1984), and an early chase sequence seems awfully reminiscent of Will Smith pursuing an alien in "Men in Black" (1997).
The landscape director Alex Proyas and his production designers create looks impressive, but there's nothing in the story to keep us hooked. This is simply another Will Smith vehicle. Again, he's a smart-talking, wisecracking cop, except the wisecracks aren't any good. And he's chasing robots, not aliens.
The straight sidekick falls to poor Bridget Moynahan in a thankless, terribly underwritten part as robotic engineer cum shrink Susan Calvin, whose sole purpose is to be there when Smith's Del Spooner needs access to high-security areas. Also, I have no qualms about nudity in films, why exactly do we need to see shots of Smith and Moynahan showering?
This is one of those films where when the hero needs to get into a secure area, there's someone there to help him. Even when it appears he might be foiled, voila, someone knows exactly how to get in through an area that isn't monitored.
Moynahan and Smith generate no sparks. They fizzle when they should sizzle. With absolutely no chemistry between the stars, all we're left with are two good-looking actors spouting horrible dialogue.
It's awfully hard to respect a film that actually revels in product-placement. As insidious as it is to blatantly place products in films, it's unconscionable that screenwriters would stoop so low to actually include product-placement in the dialogue. There are times "I, Robot" feels like a commercial for Converse Shoes.
I don't know if both Vintar and Goldsman should be faulted for the pedestrian plotting and dialogue, but this is hackwork. Goldsman might very well be the most over-rated screenwriter in Hollywood. He's prolific, but seems to pen clunkers - "Silent Fall" (1994), "The Client" (1994), "Batman Forever" (1995), "Batman & Robin" (1997), "Practical Magic" (1998) and "Lost in Space" (1998). True, he won an Oscar for adapting "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), but that was an overpraised film and consider writers who should have won that year - Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes for "Ghost World" or Rob Festinger and Todd Field for "In the Bedroom."
The setting's Chicago 2035, but "I, Robot" is a conventional cop film complete with the iconoclastic cop, his black commander, a smarmy entrepreneur, good scientist, and the pretty aide who works for the entrepreneur but helps out the hero. The film is heavy on CGI, but surprisingly devoid of novelty. Even the robots seem mundane.
That Spooner is a black cop who's biased against robots should make for great drama. But Proyas cares not for irony or nuance in his characters. He's so wowed by the advanced technology that he and his writers forgot there was a human story. It's almost as if this is exactly what Asimov warned us about.